For the sake of the football program and its fan base, Virginia should immediately high tail it to the very conference the ACC raided last year -- the Big East.Believe me, I know as well as anyone that Virginia is now part of one of the nation's great super-conferences, a league that will soon be on par with the SEC and Big-12.
This newly formed conference will give the Cavaliers a chance to compete on a national level in every sport, particularly football, the sport that benefited the most from the additions of Virginia Tech and Miami to the ACC. I also don't have a problem with losing to these two schools, because we play the Hokies every year anyway, and Miami has at least three players I know of who can beat you by themselves (Roscoe Parrish, Devin Hester and Frank Gore) and probably at least five more on the bench.
In fact, I didn't have any complaints about the new ACC until I saw that by beating Boston College last Saturday, Syracuse has a chance at the Big East's Bowl Championship Series bid. That's the same Syracuse team that Virginia did not play particularly well against earlier this year and still beat handily, 31-10. The Cavaliers rolled up 427 yards of total offense against Syracuse, and now there is a chance that they could be headed to the Fiesta Bowl, going into the final week of the season.Now, Syracuse's chances are not good, because the team standing between them and the BCS is Pittsburgh, and the Panthers would have to essentially not show up in Tampa to play South Florida this weekend.Wait, the Pittsburgh Panthers? The team that Virginia knocked off in last year's Continental Tire Bowl 23-16? That's correct, Pittsburgh lost Rod Rutherford and Larry Fitzgerald to the NFL after last season, doesn't seem to want to extend head coach Walt Harris' contract and their fans are buying tickets for Phoenix as we speak.
A standard column now would rip on the BCS, take some pot shots at how the system works and make the requisite call for a playoff. I think that's a moot point by now -- most of America has made it clear that they want a playoff. Forget about it, it's not happening this season or next, and barring a fan-led boycott of the bowls, probably never. Since the system isn't changing, Virginia needs to embrace the BCS for all it's worth. The Cavaliers must now escape through the ACC's backdoor and head to a conference where mediocrity is excellence: the Big East.I think it's important to take on the big time opponents like Florida State and Miami, but at this point, it is simply a character building exercise. Sure we beat Florida State in 1995, but the Seminoles have been paying us back for that one victory for close to 10 years now. Let's play those teams, but by leaving the ACC, we can eliminate those automatic losses from our conference tally and add juggernauts Rutgers and Connecticut to our regular season slate.The Scarlet Knights aren't concerned with revenge like the Seminoles. Rutgers could care less if you come in and shell them every year because only about 500 fans will see the beating if you travel to Piscataway. Connecticut is an even better opponent to have count as a conference win. The Huskies just moved up to Division 1-A four years ago, and will likely face North Carolina in the Tire Bowl this year. The Tire Bowl bid is UConn's reward for a 3-3 record in the Big East and out of conference wins against Murray State, Army and Buffalo. If Virginia had played a normal Big East schedule this season, the Cavaliers would have likely dropped one random game to a conference opponent and had the same loss last week against Virginia Tech. That would leave Virginia at 9-2 and on the fast track to a Fiesta Bowl matchup with Utah.
Instead, the Cavaliers will make the long trip to Idaho. Who else can't wait to fly out to Boise and the Smurf Turf for just $314 on Northwest Airlines?
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