Unleash the BEast

I was wrong. It happens often, and it happened recently. I did something I don't think I'll ever do again. I dogged the Big East. But I was wrong.

Turns out, there's some pretty darn good football being played over there, and it isn't all down in Miami. Virginia Tech was supposed to be the team that challenged Miami this year, but after losing three straight, the Hokies are on a downward spiral that they haven't seen since Frank Beamer became head coach. But it was after watching Thursday's game between Pittsburgh and Miami that I started to realize just how wrong I'd been.

Rutgers is easily the best 1-10 team in the country, for whatever that's worth. They hung in against Miami, Notre Dame, and Tennessee (quite a courageous non-conference schedule for these perennial whipping boys.) The program is building strongly, and depth is all that's lacking right now. When they become as good at every position as they are at some positions, this team is going to be very good. Their recruiting priority this year has to be on the offensive and defensive lines.

Pittsburgh and Syracuse are bothly highly underrated, despite posting good seasons last year. Pitt has done it with Rod Rutherford at quarterback and Syracuse has just, well, done it. Add into the mix teams like West Virginia, Temple, Boston College, and Connecticut (not yet a Big East team in football, but they soon will be) and you've got some second-tier schools that have a good chance of coming up with a few upsets. Is the Big East as good as the Big Ten, Pac Ten, SEC, or Big XII? No. Not yet. But they're working on it.

One need look no further than Big East players in the NFL to see what quality players these schools are putting out:

Miami: The list is long and distinguished, and includes guys like Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis, Najeh Davenport, Ed Reed, Vinny Testaverde, Ray Lewis, Bubba Franks, Jeremy Shockey, Warren Sapp, Jessie Armstead, Michael Barrow, Duane Starks, Ryan McNeil, Dan Morgan... like I said: long and distinguished.

Virginia Tech: You have to start with Michael Vick, but don't forget Antonio Freeman, Waverly Jackson, John Engelberger, Bruce Smith, and Cory Bird.

Syracuse: How about future Hall-of-Famer Donovan McNabb? While you're at it, add James Mungro, Dwight Freeney, Marvin Harrison, Rob Konrad, Donovin Darius, Will Allen, and Kevin Johnson.

West Virginia: A special teams dream: Todd Sauerbrun and Mike Vanderjagt were both Mountaineers. Don't forget recent Rams stopgap Mark Bulger. Did I mention Solomon Page? How about Anthony Becht? Aaron Beasley?

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