Revis going pro is not a shock. That it has taken this long for it to leak is more surprising.
The final note that McKenzie Mathews is transferring is disappointing considering his potential at DE. I have to wonder if he’s going to go to a D-1AA school. Lots of the problems for him this year was homesickness. The Big East prevents players from transferring to another BE school on scholarship — ruling out Syracuse and even UConn. If he wants to be closer to home, maybe BC is a touch closer. Otherwise it’s dropping down a class.
UPDATE: Sure enough, after I post this, this comment from Coach Wannstedt.
“McKenzie is uncertain whether he wants to continue playing football,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said in a statement. “He has informed us that he will transfer from Pitt, perhaps to a smaller school closer to home. We wish him well in his future pursuits.”
To be honest, it is kind of a shame to see Mathews’ story play out like this. He is a very intelligent kid, but probably put the kibosh on any relevant football development with his decisions.
Ohio State couldn’t even gain 3 yards to create that CLOUD OF DUST.
So much for BIG TEN Football.
We’ll just have to keep at it as a conference – both on the field and off the field (lobbying by the BE administrators) to remain in the media’s eye. There was a good article on the web last night explaining how we have progressed as a conference…
BIG EAST AT THE TOP OF THE POLLS
For the first time in Big East history the conference had three teams finish in the Top 12 in both major polls. In the AP poll, Louisville finished sixth, West Virginia 10th and Rutgers 12th. Louisville finished seventh, West Virginia 10th and Rutgers 12th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll.
The last time the Big East had a pair of Top 10 teams was in 2002 when Miami finished second and Virginia Tech was sixth.
Three times the Big East has had four teams nationally ranked in 1993 (7. West Virginia, 13. Boston College, 15. Miami and 22.Virginia Tech), 2001 (1. Miami, 14. Syracuse, 18. Virginia Tech and 21. Boston College) and 2002 (2. Miami, 18. Virginia Tech, 19. Pitt and 25. West Virginia).
SAGARIN RATINGS
The computers also thought highly of the Big East this year. The conference finished second in the Sagarin rankings behind only the Southeastern Conference.
The SEC was the top overall conference with an 81.60 ranking, which was slightly ahead of the Big East’s 79.57 mark. Rounding out the top six were the Pac 10 (78.78), ACC (75.49), Big Ten (74.89) and the Big 12 (74.34).
All eight Big East teams were ranked among the Top 75 teams in the country – the only conference that can boast that. Louisville finished fifth, followed by West Virginia (10), Rutgers (12), South Florida (31), Cincinnati (43), Pitt (45), Syracuse (66) and Connecticut (73).
Note that never before have we had three teams in the top 12 like this year. Well, us PITT fans know that the conference is very competitive, and if we keep winning non-con games the rest of the country will have to sit up and take notice sooner or later.
Finally, I’ll always remember his missed tackles against U. Conn. If he was the best defensive player that the state of New York had to offer last year, perhaps we should stick to PA, NJ, and Fla.