ESPN BCS article with comments from UofL, USF, and UC

[TyBull]

ESPN BCS article with comments from UofL, USF, and UC

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview07/...id=2965756

Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, whose team moved into the Big East in 2005, said he believes that difference is significant. Life in Conference USA proved frustrating for the Cardinals.

"You'd see all these bottom-feeders from major conferences recruiting against you and they'd say, 'Well, we're going to play for the national title,' when we all knew they were never even going to get in the upper half of their own conference," Jurich said. "The best thing we could do is shoot for the Liberty Bowl."

"When they want us to play Sunday mornings at 2, I'm going to play. … If you want to be a great program, as we aspire to be, you want to be a highly ranked program, you play on the nights that are going to help you," Jurich said. "What that did was get us in homes from a recruiting standpoint. Kids aren't watching games on Saturdays. Weekdays, you have a captive audience."

The change has given the schools in the nonguaranteed conferences hope, says South Florida coach Jim Leavitt. The Bulls, like Louisville, left C-USA for the Big East two years ago.

"That team is still going to have to be undefeated, top 10, whatever, to have a shot," said Leavitt, whose Bulls went 9-4 last season. "It at least gave a crack to all those other 60 schools [from nonguaranteed leagues]."

Brian Kelly, who left Central Michigan in the Mid-American Conference to coach Cincinnati in the Big East in December 2006, echoed Leavitt's sentiments. The prize may be available to more teams, Kelly said, but the chance for any one team to win it remains markedly easier for the schools in the guaranteed conferences.

Kelly explained his reasoning in dollars: Central Michigan came home from the Motor City Bowl with a $75,000 deficit. Cincinnati, which he coached in the International Bowl, came home to find a $1.6 million check from the Big East.

"Does that not mean you can't once in a while have a team pop out? No, I think you definitely can," Kelly said. "But on a consistent basis? Look at Bowling Green."

The Falcons won 37 games in four seasons (2001-2004), the first two under Urban Meyer and the last two under his successor, Gregg Brandon. They have won 10 games over the past two years.

"Bowling Green was beating Big Ten teams left and right three or four years ago," Kelly said. "Gregg Brandon is a heck of a football coach. He didn't just all of a sudden get dumb. But they're nowhere where they were. It's because you can't keep progressing your program because of the lack of the monies. Cincinnati is able to reinvest its dollars into its program. It's a huge disparity.

"It's a little like the Yankees and their ability to free-spend, compared to a small-market team like the Twins that has to develop its talent. You've got to develop your talent in the MAC and hope that can offset the big-market, high-profile guys."

[crambone]

Good read.