In a game that was never in doubt Pitt crushed Loyola-Maryland 93-57 this evening. Probably the most damning praise about Pitt’s scheduling came from the Loyola coach.

Loyola, a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference member, is winless so far
under [Jimmy] Patsos, a former Maryland assistant who repeatedly thanked Dixon
for the game.

“A lot of people won’t even book us for a money game because we’re so
low in the RPI,” Patsos said. “So this was a great opportunity for our kids and
an honor to play.”

How bad does an opponent have to be to make you feel embarrassed that your team even played them?

Does Colorado deserve to play for a BCS bid? How about Tennessee? To the exclusion of Texas and Georgia?

Next week they do. They play in the their respective conference championships. If they beat Oklahoma and/or Auburn they would automatically get into a BCS bowl. Despite teams within their own conference having better records and higher rankings, the division format seems to unfairly reward these teams with an extra opportunity to make it into the BCS. Yeah, maybe the odds are long, and no one really believes they have a chance.

But that’s just it. They get a chance.

So does any team in a BCS confernence. Duke, Vandy, Wake Forest, Baylor, Kansas, Missouri, Oregon St., Washington St., Indiana, Iowa St., and Kentucky. Other than conference affiliation, what have any of these teams done in the last 20-35 years done to earn an easier path to a BCS bowl and/or a national championship than teams like Pitt, WVU and Syracuse?

They haven’t. Pitt won the national championship in ’77. Was a regular contender for the national title for ’70s and early ’80s. WVU nearly won it in ’88 or ’89. Syracuse got close in the ’90s.

The system is set up for the benefit of conferences not teams. Until college football establishes some sort of European soccer rules for teams and moving between divisions as you achieve and improve (dear god, I just sort of gave some props to soccer), you go by conferences and their champions.

So if you are going to allow all teams from the SEC, Big XII, Big 11, ACC and PAC-10 to have a shot every year, you can’t dis the Big East because this is a down year. They are not playing for a national championship. Just like teams from the ACC, Big 11 and either the Big XII or SEC won’t be this year. They are playing for money and prestige (mainly money).

So the sanctimonious crap about who deserves what is just white noise. The Big East isn’t going anywhere, neither are the teams within the Big East. You can’t have it all ways. And guess what? Even if there was a playoff, it would still be very, very dependent on conferences. That’s just the nature of the beast.

As Lee posted earlier, BC blew their big chance. Hell, they didn’t just blow it. They came up smaller than anything Pitt did last year. Even with a young, untested QB, there was no excuse for that lame a performance on both sides of the ball. That BC couldn’t run against the Orange was pathetic. Syracuse was without it’s star running back, the second running back was gimpy, and the safety for Syracuse was filling the position and scoring. That’s just an epic gak.

Now Pitt makes up a game from September. A game that Coach Walt Harris has, in a way, been waiting 3 years to play. That game 3 years ago that really took the luster off of his star with the Pitt fans. A loss one dark Saturday in September 2001. The first time the University of South Florida Bulls — a freshly minted Division I-A team — had ever won a road game against a Div. I-A opponent. And they didn’t just win. They dominated and humiliated a Pitt team expected to be top 25.

This Bulls team just got crushed, and had its bowl hopes dashed (they needed a win today and against Pitt). Think they wouldn’t mind playing spoiler? I mean, let’s not kid anyone. This is not a particularly good team. Still they will be at home. This will be their bowl game. They have nothing to lose. Pitt has everything.

LET’S GO PITT!! Or as my 2-year old daughter says in response to that phrase, “MUST GO PITT!!”

Well, thanks to Syracuse’s 43-17 upset drubbing of Boston College, it’s official. If Pitt can beat South Florida next Saturday (and yes, that’s a big if for those of us who sat through that fiasco back in 2001), we’re suddenly going to a BCS Bowl. According to ESPN’s College Gameday Scoreboard, we might even be going to the BCS if we LOSE to USF (Pasqualoni doesn’t have a vote in the Coaches Poll, Harris does).

Of course, everybody that I’ve heard both on ESPN Radio and on Gameday Scoreboard is incensed that Pitt somehow got in to the BCS. Suddenly, it’s a fiasco that the Big East gets an automatic BCS birth… as if Virginia Tech and Miami’s sudden departure was somehow our fault. Trev Alberts even went so far as to suggest that Big East Commissioner should, out of the goodness of his heart, give the Big East’s BCS bid to #7 Louisville on the grounds that (1) they actually deserve it, and (2) they’ll be a Big East Conference member next year. Mark May reminded Trev that this would mean that the Big East would surrender $14 million to Conference USA, and correctly stated that NOBODY is that generous.

Somehow, I don’t feel the need to apologize for rules that were agreed on by everybody at the beginning of this season (however goofy they may be). And I definitely don’t feel the need to apologize for the suddenly weak state of the Big East. You can take that crap right to Blacksburg or Coral Gables (one of which will shortly be wishing that they had STAYED in the Big East).

Thus, I’m overjoyed. Our beloved Panthers finally caught a break. A HUGE break. Gimme. And if you don’t like it, @#*% off.

I only have two worries right now. One, whether or not we can beat USF. Two, whether or not I should follow the Panthers to their BCS Bowl. We’re known as a team that doesn’t travel well. I sometimes feel a little guilty about this. I’ve seen my other alma mater (Ohio State) play in several bowls (including the 1998 Sugar Bowl), but I’ve never followed Pitt anywhere. Heck, as has been pointed out REPEATEDLY on this site, I even skipped the Backyard Brawl. Is anybody else thinking of following the Panthers to New Orleans (hopefully) or Tempe?

And as was just pointed out at halftime in the USC-Notre Dame game, what a comeback for Walt Harris. From people (including myself) wanting him fired to the BCS in just a few weeks. I’ll be more than happy to apologize and sit down to a nice plate full of crow on that one… PROVIDED that we don’t choke at USF.

A strange day. A very strange day. But a wonderful day nonetheless. Hell, I’m wearing my Panther tie to church tomorrow.

Er… I meant, heck… sorry…

Hail to Syracuse. It’s about time you did something that doesn’t piss me off.