ESPN College Football

Kit from Morgantown, W. Va. writes: Hey, Brian, you answered a question of mine in your chat on Tuesday I believe about giving coach Stew and company a grade so far. Well, I have a question about the movie "The Express," in which there is a scene wherre the Orangemen are playing at WVU and it has WVU fans throwing trash and stuff and calling Ernie Davis racial slurs. Well it turns out that all this is completely false and never happened. Do you think there should be a big deal made out of this?? Thanks for your time!

Brian Bennett: Kit, it doesn't surprise me at all that the movie apparently fabricated events. Hollywood just can't resist adding in drama to movies supposedly based on real stories. It's the same problem I had with the movie "Glory Road," which played loose with the facts. The thing I don't understand is, why add false drama to a story that's already compelling on its own merits? Anyway, I can see why West Virginia fans would be upset, but I wouldn't make too big of a deal about it. That's just what Hollywood does.

Orangeman from Long Island, N.Y., writes: Brian, Would you mind laying off the Syracuse potshots? Everyone knows we are down, we have been for a couple of years and it will take a lot of hard work and good salesmanship to bring the Orange back to respectability; somewhere we have been for the great majority of our history (including 60 years before Louisville even fielded a team?). .. I understand you don't hold SU in high opinion, but the Big East would be much better off with a strong program in Upstate New York. I am not of the opinion that SU was once (other than maybe 3 or 4 seasons) a major national power, but we were a regional program with national success and will be relevant again. Since when did journalists show such bias in their coverage of a team? I know this short email won't change anything but I have had enough of the weekly slamming of the SU Football Program. Please show some creativity and maybe be a little original in your coverage of the Orange. For your sake, I hope Louisville never has to go through something like the Orange are experiencing. Thanks.

Brian Bennett: Um, no. Sorry. I will always be objective when I'm reporting about the team or covering issues regarding the program. But when I'm giving my opinion on such things like predictions, power rankings and even these mailbags, I'm going to have some fun with it and be a little snarky. When you go 8-32, you get potshots. That's just how it works. I'd like to see Syracuse regain its status again as much as the next guy, because it would make the Big East more interesting. But it's not my fault that the Orange are a national embarrassment. Oh, and why in the world would I care if Louisville was down, up or in the middle?

Jim from Parts Unknown writes: Will the West Virginia offense finally have a breakout game? Do you believe West Virginia is still the team to beat in the Big East?

Brian Bennett: If the Mountaineers don't have a breakout game against Syracuse, it may never happen. That's four straight games now they have failed to break 30 points. West Virginia is the team to beat in that it is the defending champ, but I would not make the Mountaineers the favorite at this point.

Jim from Highland Park, N.J., writes: Brian, if your top ranking team in the Big East (Pitt) almost loses to the bottom ranking team (Syracuse), what does that say for the Big East. I'm thinking that the Big East Champ will finish 5-2 at best. When is the last time you have seen a BCS conference with so many average teams and parity from top to bottom?

Brian Bennett: I agree that 5-2 will probably be the winning record. And don't forget that the top-ranked team right now also lost at home to Bowling Green. I went into the season thinking this league had no elite teams but a lot of very good ones. Now it seems like there are a lot of above average teams and maybe one or two very good ones. The last time I saw something like this? How about the ACC in recent years?

Owen from Cincinnati writes: You mentioned in your most recent mailbag that Cincinnati hasn't exactly played the most impossible schedule, save OU, and that is why we remain unranked. This being besides the fact that we've given OU the best game of the year on their own turf. So, I decided to do some research. Besides UC, OU has played Chattanooga, Washington, & Baylor. Texas has played Florida Atlantic, UTEP, Rice & Arkansas. OSU has played Youngstown State, Ohio, Troy, & Minnesota outside USC (our OU) and we've gone on the road more by percentage of games played. I could keep going, but the problem I have is the BE gets belittled because of easy scheduling, but half the teams in the top 25 have an easier road to hoe in their first few games but don't pay a price. Why is it when a BE team loses a conference game it's because they weren't as good as advertised, but if an ACC, Big 10, or Big 12 team loses it's because of conference parity? Just curious why your record over the past 100 years means more than how you play today.

Brian Bennett: Owen, I agree that the Big East lacks some respect nationally, but I think you're missing a couple things when you compare Cincinnati to Texas or Oklahoma. A) The Sooners and Longhorns are undefeated, and 2) they've looked terrific in blowing people out. The Bearcats haven't looked as impressive. That's no knock on them; I think that if the quarterback situation stabilizes, Cincinnati can definitely be a Top 25-caliber team. Instead of worrying about rankings, though, it's better to just wait and see how the Bearcats do in conference play. October rankings don't mean much.

Drew from Pittsburgh writes: What does Pitt have to do to not have a letdown against Navy and Rutgers, and if they beat them do you feel they can win the Big East with LeSean McCoy?

Brian Bennett: I do wonder about Pitt's ability to handle prosperity, as they are still a young team that will have had two weeks of people congratulating them before they play again. But I think the fact that they lost to Navy will help them stay focused. Of course, that game will mean nothing for the Big East, and Pitt will have to handle Rutgers if it wants to be a serious title threat in this league. I'm more interested in the Panthers' games against Louisville and Cincinnati. Those are games in which they should be fairly evenly-matched, and if they can win both it will really show me something.

Brian from Shanghai writes: Your blog is appreciated in China as well. UConn's remaining Big East slate has away games at RU (win), SU (win), and USF (loss), and home games with Cincy (homecoming win), WVU (loss, but being conservative), and Pitt (win - last game at home against a team we've done well in recent years against). At 5-2 they'd likely be tied for first, but may lose tiebreaker to USF. Clearly that will be a pivotal game and potential BCS decider. GO HUSKIES!

Brian Bennett: Brian's e-mail didn't make the cut for my "Make Your Case" post, and there's not really a question in there. But if you write from China, you get in. Especially with a cool first name like that.