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The full list of bowls and times is out, so let's do a little way-too-early prognosticating for the Big East postseason, shall we?

Since it's only May, it's too soon to try and start slotting specific teams in specific bowls. So let's look instead at which teams have the best and most realistic shots at playing beyond the regular season:

Count on it

Cincinnati: The Bearcats have won 23 games the last two seasons, and even with the coaching change to Butch Jones and a tough nonconference schedule, they're not going to fall back too much.

Pittsburgh: Despite nonleague games against Utah, Miami and Notre Dame, this team has tons of talent and will make a third straight bowl game under Dave Wannstedt.

West Virginia: Mountaineers' fans may feel like the program has slipped a bit of late, but most places would love to have back-to-back nine-win campaigns. With a slew of returning starters, West Virginia could easily surpass that total this year.

Connecticut: It wasn't long ago when the Huskies were considered far from an annual bowl lock. The program is in excellent shape now, though, and has loads of experience and ability that should equate to another postseason trip in 2010.

Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights may be young with a shaky (at this point) offensive line. But with a schedule that includes games against Army, Norfolk State, Florida International and Tulane, it's exceedingly difficult to imagine Rutgers not getting to at least six wins.

Most likely

South Florida: The Bulls have become an yearly postseason participant and have the athletes to do big things this year for first-year coach Skip Holtz. The only concern would be an injury to quarterback B.J. Daniels, which could cause problems along with a schedule that includes games at Florida and at Miami.

Outside shot

Syracuse: The Orange have one of their most manageable schedules in recent years and should make progress in the second year under coach Doug Marrone. With two FCS schools on the schedule, however, Syracuse will have to shoot for at least seven wins or hope not enough teams finish 6-6 this year to fill all 70 NCAA bowl slots.

Wait 'til next year


Louisville: First-year head coach Charlie Strong will have to turn in perhaps his best work to mold this rebuilding roster into a bowl team. Tricky games against Kentucky, Oregon State and Memphis don't offer a cakewalk to six wins.

I've talked here in the past about how important bowl attendance is for the future of the Big East. The other big factor for bowls is TV ratings.

The Birmingham News reports that bowl TV ratings were up eight percent across the board and has a chart with the rating for every game. Here are the important details for the Big East:

• The Allstate Sugar Bowl drew an 8.5 rating, making it the third-highest rated game of bowl season, behind only the BCS title game and the Rose Bowl and up nine percent over last year. Having Florida and Tim Tebow certainly helped, and there may have been some curiosity about undefeated Cincinnati.
• The Konica Minolta Gator Bowl drew a 4.0, the sixth-highest rated non-BCS game. That's not surprising, given the hype about Bobby Bowden's last game. Yet, the game's rating was down two percent from last year.
• The Meineke Car Care Bowl, which featured an exciting finish between Pitt and North Carolina, attracted a 3.9 rating. That tied it for No. 7 among non-BCS games.
• The other three bowl games were not nearly as popular.The Papajohns.com, St. Petersburg and International bowls were among the six lowest-rated games of the 34 bowls. The Papajohns.com and St. Petersburg bowls each drew a 1.6 rating, though St. Pete was up a whopping 45 percent from last year. That may owe to Rutgers' large TV market presence. The International Bowl had just a 1.1 rating, beating only the New Orleans and Insight games, the latter of which was aired on the NFL Network. The International Bowl was down 39 percent from a year ago, likely because it was moved up to Jan. 2 instead of the later, stand-alone date it enjoyed last year.

Big East blogger Brian Bennett looks at which team had the most impressive bowl season, picking UConn after its win over South Carolina in the Papajohns.com Bowl.

We're going to be previewing bowl season all afternoon in our Virtual Pressbox, with several ESPN.com writers stopping by to join the conversation.

I'll be in the discussion from 1 to 2 p.m. ET to talk about the Big East and its bowls.

Come on by and chat with us or just follow along. Here's the link.

Brian Bennett examines the challenges the Big East teams will face in their bowl games.

Colleague Mark Schlabach undertook the gargantuan task of ranking all 32 bowl games from 1-to-32 today. Here's how the Big East bowls fared in those rankings:

4. Allstate Sugar: Cincinnati vs. Florida

6. Konica Minolta Gator Bowl: West Virginia vs. Florida State

15. Meineke Car Care Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. North Carolina

23. Papajohns.com Bowl: South Carolina vs. Connecticut

27. St. Petersburg Bowl: Central Florida vs. Rutgers

32. International Bowl: South Florida vs. Northern Illinois

This list raises one immediate question: There are actually two games that will be less interesting than South Florida vs. Northern Illinois?

Other than that, it's a good reflection of the games' interest level. The Gator Bowl, of course, is far more appealing because of the Bobby Bowden factor than anything else since Florida State is not any good.

I'm actually slightly more intrigued by the Papajohns.com Bowl than the Meineke Car Care Bowl. That's because it's always a big deal for the Big East to take on an SEC team, and because UConn is such a good story. And I want to see how that Huskies' running game fares against the Gamecocks' defense.

Cincinnati-Florida speaks for itself. If I were doing the rankings, I'd have put it third overall, ahead of the Rose Bowl.

Big East blogger Brian Bennett gives his first take on the conference bowl lineup.

In what would have been considered an upset early Saturday afternoon, Pitt is going to the Meineke Car Care Bowl after all, the Big East has confirmed.

Meineke officials had been leaning toward Rutgers and were said to be leery of the Panthers, but perhaps Pitt's strong performance in a losing cause changed their minds. Now it will be up to Pittsburgh fans to buy tickets to Charlotte and improve the program's reputation.

That wrinkle changes the Big East's pecking order. You can now count on Rutgers going to the St. Petersburg Bowl to play Central Florida. Connecticut will, in all likelihood, take the Papajohns.com Bowl slot against South Carolina. And that leaves South Florida heading north of the border to the International Bowl unless there's a swap with the Little Caesar's Bowl in Detroit.

PITTSBURGH -- While last year's Orange Bowl appearance represented the high-water mark for the Cincinnati program, the game marked the low point in quarterback Tony Pike's career.

Pike threw four interceptions in that loss to Virginia Tech. People wondered why coach Brian Kelly didn't pull his struggling starter for Dustin Grutza. Kelly did, however, question Pike's maturity and toughness this summer by pointing back to that game.

On Saturday, in the Bearcats' biggest game since that night in Miami, Pike seemed to be reliving the same nightmare. Through three quarters, he was just 11-for-29 for 174 yards and three interceptions at Pittsburgh, with the Big East title and an undefeated season slipping away.


After his third pick, an ugly underthrown ball that doubled his season total for interceptions coming into the day, Pike grabbed his helmet in frustration and disbelief. Kelly said something to him on the sideline, and backup Zach Collaros began warming up in earnest. Collaros had played so well while Pike was injured in October and November that some questioned why he didn't keep the job permanently.

Kelly could have made the switch right then, and everyone would have understood. Instead, he stuck with Pike again. This time, it worked as Pike threw two fourth-quarter touchdowns -- including the game-winner with 33 seconds left -- in a 45-44 victory.

Kelly said it wouldn't have been possible if not for the experience last year in Miami.

"He made some of the same mistakes as he did in the Orange Bowl, but today he fought through it," Kelly said. "The Orange Bowl came back to help us."

Pike said the message from Kelly after that third interception was, "You're my guy."

"I feel like coach Kelly has a lot of faith in me," he said.

The senior went 11-for-15 for 128 yards in the fourth quarter. His final drive was the stuff of future lore.

Cincinnati took over at its 39, trailing by six with 1:36 to go. Pike needed just 63 seconds to complete four passes, the last of which hit a stretched-out Armon Binns in the corner of the end zone for a 29-yard score.

"That pass was something I missed two or three times in the game," Pike said. "The defense came up and basically said it was going to go man-to-man. I don't think any team in the country can man up on our receivers. This time, it was Armon who had man coverage, so I looked the safety off a little bit and came back to Armon."

That simple decision is what Pike lacked earlier in the game. He was getting pressured heavily by the Pitt defensive line in the first half. His receivers also had some drops and missteps. But Pike also admitted he tried to go for the big play a few too many times. Not until the team was in full fourth-quarter comeback mode did he settle down.

"In the beginning, I tried to force too many things," he said. "Once you get into the two-minute drill, you forget about thinking. You just go out there and make your reads.

"It's funny how you can go 11-0 and play so well, and the whole season comes down to a minute and 30 [seconds]."

Cincinnati is glad it kept Pike in control of that situation.

While other conferences are nailing down their bowl destinations, the Big East remains almost totally up in the air heading into the final week. In fact, the league's bowl arrangements might not be settled until Sunday morning, the day when all postseason lineups are announced.

Part of the reason is how smartly the league scheduled for the final weekend. On Saturday, all six bowl eligible teams are playing each other with, as of now, No. 1 facing No. 2, No. 3 vs No. 4 and No. 5 vs. No. 6. So much can change depending on what happens in those games.

The one near certainty seems to be West Virginia to the Gator Bowl, regardless of whether the Mountaineers beat Rutgers this weekend. The Gator Bowl, like any postseason game, wants to sell tickets and wants the Mountaineers' dependable traveling fan base. That sets up the potentially awkward situation of Cincinnati falling past the Gator Bowl should it lose to Pittsburgh and finish 11-1.

It's not a situation the Big East would like to see happen and it's one to which conference officials would probably object privately. But the league does not expect the Gator Bowl -- which is in its final year of alliance with the Big East -- to cut it any favors.

The precipice is even steeper for Pitt. Should the Panthers -- who were ranked in the Top 10 last week -- lose to Cincinnati, they could fall all the way to the Papajohns.com or St. Petersburg Bowl. The Meineke Car Care Bowl appears to have little interest in Pitt and would rather take Rutgers, which it believes will bring more fans.

The fates for UConn and South Florida are just as uncertain. The St. Petersburg Bowl is not very interested in having the Bulls back, even in a rivalry game against Central Florida. While the International Bowl makes no sense geographically for South Florida, that game took UConn last year and could wind up with Ohio as the MAC representative. UConn and Ohio played earlier this season.

The International and Little Caesars Pizza Bowl could also pull off a swap and send the Big East representative to Detroit instead of Toronto.

As one league official told me, "anything is possible at this point."

And don't expect much firm information on the Big East's bowl lineup until Sunday.

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

The Big East has officially announced, to no one's surprise, that it is extending its relationship with the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte from the 2010 through the 2013 season.

The game will continue to have the Big East's third selection, after the BCS representative and the Champs Sports Bowl berth have been determined. The Big East will continue to face an ACC team in the Meineke game.

The bowl began in 2002 with the Big East as a charter affiliate. West Virginia beat North Carolina 31-30 before a capacity crowd of 73,712 in last year's game. Only the BCS title game and Cotton and Fiesta bowls drew larger crowds for bowls last season.

The 2009 game will be played Saturday, Dec. 26 at 4:30 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN.

The rest of the bowl lineup is expected to include the new Yankee Bowl as the fourth selection, with the Papajohns.com and St. Petersburg bowls sharing the fifth and sixth selections.

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

With the Sun Bowl reportedly close to finalizing a deal to take an ACC team instead of the Big East, the Big East needs a spot for its No. 3 team to go.

Right now, the No. 3 team goes to the Meineke Car Care Bowl. The Big East could keep that current arrangement when the new deals begin after this season, but the league would like to upgrade if possible. A person close to the conference's bowl negotiations told me that representatives from several games called the Big East office yesterday when news of the Sun Bowl deal broke. 

Remember that every conference is renegotiating its affiliations for the next cycle after this season, so there could be some major shuffling going on. An advantage that the Big East has is that it can include Notre Dame in its deal for the No. 3. I know a lot of you get upset that the Irish are part of the league's postseason contracts, but in this case it may help the conference get a better slot than it could achieve on its own.

If the Big East has to stay in Charlotte with its No. 3 team, then Notre Dame would not be involved in that deal. And at that point, the league would have to try and broker good deals for its No. 4, 5 and 6 teams in order to say that it has significantly upgraded its overall lineup.

Because right now, the Big East's only bragging point is that it has moved from Jacksonville to Orlando and can lose a spot to Notre Dame only once in four years instead of twice. On the flip side, the payout for the Champs Sports Bowl will be less than the Gator, and the Gator is a more prestigious game that has a New Year's Day badge of honor.

Dominoes are still falling. Stay tuned.

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

Bad news for the Big East.

The Sun Bowl won't be taking the Big East's No. 3 team after all and instead has decided to sign on with the ACC for that league's No. 5 choice, Brett McMurphy is reporting in the Tampa Tribune.

"At the end of the day it was based on what overall we thought is best for the people of El Paso,” bowl committee chairman John Folmer told the paper. "We haven't seen the ACC in so long, we think it will be good.

"It was a hard decision -- 10 times harder than last time. We've made so many good friends in the Big East. They did everything in their power to make it happen and I think the ACC did also. It was just the matter of how our people felt at the end of the day and we wanted to go in a different direction.” 

Obviously, this is a big blow to the Big East's plans. The league just officially agreed with the Champs Sports Bowl yesterday to send its No. 2 team to that game in Orlando, and the idea of taking its No. 3 to the Sun would have represented an upgrade over the previous agreement, in which the No. 2 team went to either the Sun or the Gator.

Now, though, the league could basically be trading the Gator/Sun alliance for the Champs Sports, with its No. 3 team still heading for the Meineke Car Care Bowl. The advantage is that the Champs Sports Bowl's Orlando location is more desirable than Jacksonville or El Paso, Texas. And that Notre Dame can only be taken once in four years, not twice as the Gator Bowl wanted.

But there's no doubt that the Gator is a higher-profile game than the Champs Sports, and the Sun has a lot more tradition. While we still don't know the rest of the new bowl lineup, it looks like the Big East will basically come away not much better than it was before if not worse. And considering that the last agreement was made when everybody questioned the new conference format's future, that's not a good sign at all.

I've been traveling all afternoon, but I'll try to find out more about this situation tomorrow morning.

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

A few more tidbits from today's announcement that the Champs Sports Bowl will have the top choice of Big East teams not participating in the BCS bowls for the next four years:

• The game will be played on Dec. 27, 28 or 29 with an exclusive window on ESPN. Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan pointed out that last year's game, held on a Saturday at 4 p.m. and featuring Florida State and Wisconsin, was the second-highest rated non-BCS game. He said he'd like the game to be held either in prime time or on Saturday afternoon each year.

• Of course, those dates mean that the Big East could be the only BCS league whose No. 2 team does not play on New Year's Day or Jan. 2. Big East commissioner John Marinatto said that wasn't one of the league's priorities, as the conference focused on a desirable destination, geographic fit and BCS conference opponent.

"The idea of playing on New Year's Day is so different than it was 20 years ago," he said. "There are 34 postseason bowls, and obviously most of them are not played New Year's Day.

"At the end of the day, we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish, based on the criteria we established. Not playing on New Year's Day is not a negative for us."

(Read full post)

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

There was an excellent question posted by one of the commenters, and so I double-checked: Yes, Notre Dame will also be included in the deal with the Sun Bowl. So the El Paso game will be able to select the Irish once every four years instead of a Big East team.

The Champs Sports Bowl has the same agreement, and that game would be sure to snatch up Notre Dame the first time the Irish become available. The Sun Bowl would only get Notre Dame if the Irish were eligible and the Champs Sports Bowl has already used up its one-time-in-four-years option.

• I'm also told that the payout from the Champs Sports Bowl is likely larger than what the Big East had been receiving as a payout from the Gator Bowl. Many of the bowl payouts seem to be increasing across the board in these negotiations. 

• One drawback to the Champs Sports Bowl is the aging Citrus Bowl, where the game will be played. Planned renovations to the stadium have stalled because of the state of the economy. It won't be nearly as comfortable as Jacksonville Municipal Stadium at the Gator Bowl or even Bank of America Stadium for the Meineke Car Care Bowl. 

Then again, if you're sitting in pleasant December weather in Orlando and it's a good game, would you really care that much?