The real madness resumes tonight, but our fake yet fun Big East football madness is rolling along. Let's check the results from the third game in our first round:
No. 3 Cincinnati (2009) vs. No. 6 Rutgers (2006)
Score: Cincinnati 28, Rutgers 23
On the face of it, this game shouldn't be all that close. The '09 Bearcats went 12-0 in the regular season, while the '06 Scarlet Knights lost two games, including one to Cincinnati that year. Brian Kelly's teams never lost to Rutgers. Still, that 2006 Scarlet Knights bunch had a terrific running game with Ray Rice that could have caused some problems for the Bearcats' defense, and Greg Schiano's blitzing schemes from one of his best defenses might have slowed down Tony Pike, Mardy Gilyard & Co.
In the end, though, I think the Bearcats just had a little too much offensive firepower, and Rutgers' game wasn't really built to play catchup. I think this could play out a little like the 2009 Cincinnati-West Virginia game, where the Bearcats got a lead and simply had to hold on late.
So now we come to the last game of our first round, and it's even more personal than brother vs. brother.
No. 4 West Virginia (2007) vs. No. 5 West Virginia (2006)
You'll have to suspend your disbelief here since it would be impossible for this game to happen without some major advances in cloning technology. You might wonder why the '07 Mountaineers, who nearly played for the BCS title and beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, are just the No. 4 seed. Well, I tried to seed this like the NCAA men's basketball committee would, and that team lost two games and finished just 5-2 in the Big East, unlike our top three seeds. And if you look at the body of work, the Mountaineers really didn't have many impressive wins before the BCS game. Their nonconference schedule included wins over Western Michigan, Marshall, Maryland, East Carolina and Mississippi State, not exactly murderer's row. And of course they lost at home to a Pitt team with a losing record.
In fact, the 2006 bunch finished with the same number of losses and its defeats (against a Top 5 Louisville team and South Florida, which also beat West Virginia in '07) are better than the '07 team.
So let's hear it, especially from West Virginia fans. Which team wins this matchup, and why?
No. 3 Cincinnati (2009) vs. No. 6 Rutgers (2006)
Score: Cincinnati 28, Rutgers 23
On the face of it, this game shouldn't be all that close. The '09 Bearcats went 12-0 in the regular season, while the '06 Scarlet Knights lost two games, including one to Cincinnati that year. Brian Kelly's teams never lost to Rutgers. Still, that 2006 Scarlet Knights bunch had a terrific running game with Ray Rice that could have caused some problems for the Bearcats' defense, and Greg Schiano's blitzing schemes from one of his best defenses might have slowed down Tony Pike, Mardy Gilyard & Co.
In the end, though, I think the Bearcats just had a little too much offensive firepower, and Rutgers' game wasn't really built to play catchup. I think this could play out a little like the 2009 Cincinnati-West Virginia game, where the Bearcats got a lead and simply had to hold on late.
So now we come to the last game of our first round, and it's even more personal than brother vs. brother.
No. 4 West Virginia (2007) vs. No. 5 West Virginia (2006)
You'll have to suspend your disbelief here since it would be impossible for this game to happen without some major advances in cloning technology. You might wonder why the '07 Mountaineers, who nearly played for the BCS title and beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, are just the No. 4 seed. Well, I tried to seed this like the NCAA men's basketball committee would, and that team lost two games and finished just 5-2 in the Big East, unlike our top three seeds. And if you look at the body of work, the Mountaineers really didn't have many impressive wins before the BCS game. Their nonconference schedule included wins over Western Michigan, Marshall, Maryland, East Carolina and Mississippi State, not exactly murderer's row. And of course they lost at home to a Pitt team with a losing record.
In fact, the 2006 bunch finished with the same number of losses and its defeats (against a Top 5 Louisville team and South Florida, which also beat West Virginia in '07) are better than the '07 team.
So let's hear it, especially from West Virginia fans. Which team wins this matchup, and why?
Brian Bennett | email
College Football- ESPN.com Big Ten blogger
- Joined ESPN.com in 2008
- Wrote for The Courier-Journal
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Andrea Adelson
Adelson joined ESPN.com in 2010 after spending time as a college football columnist at The Orlando Sentinel. She has covered college football since her days as a University of Florida student, and lives in Orlando, Fla.
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