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 Friday, December 13, 2002
Miami-Va. Tech on line for trip to Pasadena
By Terry Bowden
Special to BCSfootball.com
Bowden's Weekly Chat Show
I'm tired of people ripping the Big East. Do you know why they don't call it the Big 13 or the Big 11? It's because it only has eight teams. The Big East isn't a lesser conference. It is a conference with less teams.
|  | | QB Ken Dorsey leads a powerful Hurricane offense. |
Two teams in the Big East are contenders for the national championship, while two teams are contenders for the morgue. The other four could play for any conference in the country. That's 25 percent cannon, 25 percent cannon fodder and 50 percent solid fighting machines. If you ask me, that's a pretty strong army of football teams.
The Big Ten, the Pac-10, the Big XII and the SEC are about history and tradition. College football is about what have you done for me lately. Lately, Miami and Virginia Tech are about as good as anybody in the country.
Miami is my preseason pick to win the national championship. The Hurricanes have more talent than any other team in the country -- bar none. I was looking at some of the mock NFL drafts for next year and no one has more potential first-round draft picks. They have a proven winner at quarterback, young but talented receivers, the best running backs in the country and an offensive line that kicks butt and takes no prisoners. And we haven't even gotten to the best part about this team -- its defense. Miami has nine starters back on the fastest, nastiest, most talented group of defenders in the land.
Does Miami have any weaknesses?
Well, the 'Canes have a tough schedule that includes Penn State, Virginia Tech and Florida State on the road. They also have the only team that beat them last year on their schedule again. Fortunately, Miami gets the Washington Huskies at home.
They also lost their head coach, Butch Davis. Defensive coordinator Greg Schiano also is MIA after being captured by Rutgers as its new head coach. Offensive coordinator Larry Coker is the new head man, and if he can find the right guy to lead the defense, the 'Canes should not lose a battle. It might be interesting to note that the only head coach to win a national championship in his first year as a Division I-A head man was Michigan's Bennie Oosterbaan in 1948 (just in case you wanted to factor in a little historical perspective).
Virginia Tech has only one obstacle in its quest for a title game appearance -- Miami. However, the Hokies do play the Hurricanes at home and they play them in the 11th game of the season. The rest of their schedule is almost a cakewalk.
|  | | Virginia Tech will call on Lee Suggs more in the absence of Michael Vick. |
They have a great running back in Lee Suggs, a great receiver in Andre Davis and a better defense than they had in 1999 when they played for the national championship. If they can avoid an upset and use the first 10 games to develop a quarterback, an upset over Miami could put them in the Rose Bowl. Not bad for a team that just lost the best player in college football.
Pittsburgh has the best wide receiver in the country in Antonio Bryant and the best chance to put a chink in Miami and Virginia Tech's armor.
West Virginia has hired the best new head coach in the Big East in Rich Rodriguez, and if his spread, no-huddle offensive system comes together quickly, the Mountaineers could be another factor in the Big East equation.
If Syracuse can find a quarterback that even resembles Donavan McNabb and Boston College can reload on defense, both teams are capable of ruining Miami and Virginia Tech's championship plans as well. Regardless, all of the top six Big East teams are capable of getting to a bowl game.
Temple will have an easier time getting victories than it will putting people in the stands this year. This should easily be head coach Bobby Wallace's best team since he's been there, and if he can make a run on his easy non-conference schedule and just grab a couple of conference wins, he may convince the Big East to keep the Owls in the league.
Rutgers has the state of New Jersey excited about the Scarlet Knights for the first time in forever, and new head coach Schiano was able to talk most of the homegrown talent to stay in state. However, don't look for the State University of New Jersey to find it's way out of the cellar for at least another year.
The Big East does not have as many strong teams as the traditional big four conferences. The reason is quiet simple: there are only eight teams in the conference. But when the national championship is played in Pasadena, Calif., there is a better chance a team from the Big East will be there than from any of these storied leagues.
Terry Bowden was the head coach at Salem College, Samford University and Auburn University. He is ABC's college football studio analyst and contributes regularly for BCSfootball.com.
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