Politic

But we're not waiting on Villanova around here. It's time for Friday mail.

Chris from Morgantown, W. Va., writes: Brian, great job on the schedule analysis features! My question is this: if we'd get a miracle and some BE teams win big Non-Conference games (like Syracuse over USC and WVU over LSU), how would it affect the nation's view on the conference?

Brian Bennett: The only way to change perception is to win big games, and the Big East didn't do much of that last year. There aren't a ton of marquee out-of-conference games this year for the league, but if West Virginia and Syracuse can pull those off, and if Pitt and South Florida can win their big matchups or Cincinnati can win at Tennessee, then respect will slowly come the Big East's way. Ultimately, the league needs to win its BCS game, too, because the three-game losing streak is not doing it any favors.

Chris from Wallingford, Conn., writes: Brian, I have to respectfully disagree with you about something. I think you have continually underrated Lawrence Wilson the past couple of years. All this kid has done, as you state, is put up ridiculous numbers. And he's done it for three years straight. It's not a fluke and I would think after leading the league in tackles for two years in a row he'd get a lot more talk for defensive player of the year. He was, without question, a top 5 player in the league last year. Even if you forget for a moment that he's amassed 263 tackles in the last two years, or that he had over 110 tackles in 3 of his 4 years, or that he pretty much won two big games over his career with pick-6's (Louisville 07/USF 10), he still led the league in tackles this year. Eighth-best is too low.

Brian Bennett: I agree with most of what you say, Chris, and I was a big fan of Wilson's work during his Huskies career. However, the top 25 list was based on 2010 performance alone, so I did not consider his career achievements. Wilson had another really good year this past season, but I didn't think it was quite as strong as his 2009. He and the entire defense weren't playing that great in the first half of the season, and you could argue that Sio Moore had a bigger impact at linebacker in a couple of UConn's major victories. Tackle numbers aren't the entire story; I also like to see tackles for losses, sacks and forced turnovers, and Wilson didn't put up huge numbers in those categories this year.

Corey from Baton Rouge, La., writes: So let's say with the addition of TCU in 2012, the Big East does end with a $450+ million television contract. Would that money do anything to pursuade a team to jump ship from the ACC? If it happened before 2012, couldn't the Big East push the number up to $500 million?

Brian Bennett: Bloomberg had a story earlier this week speculating that the Big East could more than double its current contract to about $460 million. But understand two things about that. One, it was mostly speculation. And two, that number is based on the current six-year, $200 million contract. So that would be $460 million over six years. The ACC recently signed its deal worth a reported $155 million annually. And, of course, the Big East has 17 teams to split the pie. So there's still no financial incentive for a team from another BCS league to come aboard.

Ray from Rahway, N.J., writes: Re: Pitt this upcoming season. I am expecting HUGE things from Ray Graham. Entering his junior year bigger, stronger, faster, more experienced at the collegiate level, coming off a productive season averaging 6.2 per carry and almost 1,000 yards (missing two games) (Dion Lewis averaged 4.8 per carry last year), the only returning upper class RB, the new offensive scheme sure to give him more touches both running and receiving and coming at the defenses from such a variety of angles (unpredictable). He could be a Heisman candidate by mid-season.

Brian Bennett: There's no question that this could be a monster season for Graham. It kind of has to be, because right now Pittsburgh doesn't have anybody else at tailback. I worry about him staying healthy all year, and whether he can fix his fumbling problems. Still, Todd Graham and Calvin Magee are going to use him as much as possible. Interestingly, Tulsa finished 15th nationally in rushing offense last year but didn't have anybody run for more than 561 yards, and its leading rusher was the quarterback.

John from New Jersey writes: Rutgers has the highest winning percentage in opponents combined record: 35-28 (.556). Rutgers has the most TEAMS from out-of-conference who went to 2010 bowl teams: 4. But only one BCS opponent. There are so many teams with BCS tie-ins that are not good. Why does Rutgers not give itself more credit and play those lower BCS teams?

Brian Bennett: I'll say this for Rutgers' schedule: Navy is usually better than most lower-tier BCS conference opponents you can find. The schedule does have more marquee names coming on it in the near future. But the less said about the Scarlet Knights' scheduling, the better.

Dave from Missouri writes: Is it sad that we live our lives for football given to us by arguably the worst league in college football? At least you get paid for it.

Brian Bennett: That might be the saddest e-mail I've ever received. Cheer up, Dave. It's almost spring.

Kelly from Tampa writes: BB, when are you going to post your own trick shot video?

Brian Bennett: If you saw my workout video, you know that's a poor idea.

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