West Virginia coach Bill Stewart, whose club visits Auburn this weekend, said he's never been to historic Jordan-Hare Stadium.
UConn will be making its first visit to Waco, Texas, in what will be longest road trip in school history when the Huskies play Baylor.
And then there's the Cincinnati Bearcats, who head to the Left Coast to visit Oregon State. Earlier this week, Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly joked that a couple of his players "would have a hard time finding Oregon on the map."
Big East teams might be unfamiliar with where they're headed this week, but they should have a better idea where they're located on the national landscape after this weekend's games.
The Arizona Cardinals used the 54th overall pick of the 2003 draft on Anquan Boldin, and while it's a credit to their scouting staff and front office for selecting him, they owe a massive thank you to Dave Wannstedt and the Miami Dolphins for making it all possible.
As we get ready for the Wild Card Weekend matchup of the Dolphins and Ravens, Brian Miller from PhinPhanatic and Tony Lombardi from ProFootball24x7 were nice enough to offer some insights on their teams for this week's Behind Enemy Lines feature.
SportzAssassin: How do both of you feel about how your teams are playing heading into the playoffs?
Brian Miller (PhinPhanatic): I like the fact that no one is giving us any real credit for getting there. Jim Mora says on air that the best AFC East team is New England and there has been little "props" for winning the division as most of the kudos surrounds simply the turnaround. The Ravens are three-point favorites in this game and the Phins are getting tired of feeling second rate.
Tony Lombardi (ProFootball24x7): The Ravens are really beginning to gel in Cam Cameron's offense and now they are getting contributions from Mark Clayton and Willis McGahee. Joe Flacco has come on strong since the last meeting with the Dolphins and has the third highest road QB rating among NFL quarterbacks. And of course the team's defense is always dependable. The Ravens could be a dangerous post season participant.
Turkey Legs to Go is FanHouse's complete travel guide for all of the 2008-2009 college bowl games. Here, we cover the Sun Bowl (El Paso, Texas), which pits Pittsburgh against Oregon State.
Overview/Matchup: You know that anytime you can end up with Dave Wannstedt's mustache wandering through the desert sands of Texas, well, you've had a pretty freaking good season. Actually, it would be rather unfair to dog Wanny that much -- a 9-3 record in the Big East with only Cincy and Rutgers as conference blemishes is pretty good. Oregon State, meanwhile, inexplicably beat USC only to fall to Utah the next week ... and then close out the season by losing to the in-state rival Ducks after reeling off six straight wins. In other words, this should be a nice game.
Hotels: The Camino Real El Paso is arguably the finest hotel in El Paso. The Camino's downtown location and historic décor (the former Hilton features a Tiffany glass dome over the lobby and leather wingback chairs) are of exceptionally high quality for the midrange rates. Closer to the airport, the Hyatt Place El Paso Airport offers more traditional midrange accommodation and atmosphere at similar rates to the Camino. The Hyatt's a good alternative for travelers who are worried about the stuffiness of a four-star hotel (i.e. the Camino). Budget-minded travelers should stay at the Holiday Inn Express downtown. Just blocks from the Camino and within a mile of Sun Bowl Stadium, the Holiday Inn can't be beat for convenience and price.
Prop Bets for the College Football Junkie is a weekly post that cares not for your silly point spreads. If you have the money and the gumption, we'll lay down a weekly gauntlet of propositions that'll take you from the penthouse to the outhouse faster than you can guess the number of times Lee Corso will say "not so fast my friend." As always, this is for entertainment purposes only.
-Back in the good old days of eastern football, before the Big East, Joe Paterno used to wear us out with ramblings about a winless Temple team that was much better than their record indicated. Naturally, Penn State would win by 50+. But as we care not for point spreads or actual outcomes, we'll look at something more intriguing. Like the over/under on the number of times the off field incidents at Penn State will be brought up by the announcing crew. Given that this game could get out of hand quickly, we'll put that number at +/-10. Just as a way to make your money back, I'll give you a straight up prop on if Joe will make an impromptu run to the bathroom while the game is going on.
-Literally a half hour after I wrote this post I was out and helped a person move their broken down diesel truck out of an intersection. I only had to push it about 20 feet, but was completely out of breath by the time it was safely out of the intersection. Given West Virginia's total lack of respect for the effects of the change in altitude, I'm putting the over/under on the number of Mountaineers that pass out during the game at 15.
ABOVE: The average college football fan's perception of Ohio State's reputation after last Saturday's USC game.
College football needs better villains.
In the wake of Ohio State's soul-shredding loss to Southern Cal last Saturday, the Grave Dancers' Union has been establishing new locals in 49 of the 50 states. It was a terrible performance by a team that was supposed to be better than they've looked so far, but why all the glee? Because the Buckeyes got humbled? I'd say the last two title games were humbling enough. Because the Big Ten got drug down? Here's a message for you, SEC Fan: We get it. We got it two years ago.
Right now hating on the Buckeyes is as useless and wasteful as hating the Buffalo Bills for losing four straight Super Bowls. It might ultimately prove as pointless as hating the New York Yankees has been for the past few seasons. The Yankees really aren't good enough to hate any more, and the Buckeyes might not be the best team in the Big Ten.
So there's no reason to act like Clubber Lang just got knocked out by Rocky Balboa. If OSU was your idea of a college football villain, what are you going to do when a real villain (think Erickson's Hurricanes, Spurrier's Gators, Switzer's Sooners) shows up?
The Petulant Graduate looks at worst aspects of college football from a post-educational, snarky attitude. Really, it's just an excuse to use "petulant".
The arrival of college football on campus is a significant moment on the calendar year -- it marks the beginning of fall, and most importantly, 12 hour days spent either on the couch or at the tailgate. There are upsets, there is heartbreak. There is sweet, glorious football again.
But not everything smells like roses. In fact, there are many moments, to paraphrase my boy Andre 3000, that "really smell like poo-poo-poo." Some of these are particular instances and some of them are general themes that echo across an entire weekend, or even an entire season. We will examine these, and appreciate your future nominations or corrections in the comments.
1. ACC Football Like any good dead horse, the ACC's utter failure in the first weekend of 2008 will be beaten mercifully into the ground via countless Sportscenter replies and verbal thaththayings between Lou Holtz and Mark May, so let's go ahead and get it out of the way -- the Atlantic Coast Conference = FAIL. Virginia Tech lost to East Carolina, Clemson was flat out embarrassed, NC State didn't score on national television, North Carolina and Maryland beat McNeese St. and Delaware by a combined 14 points and Virginia got rooster-slapped by USC at home.
This was to be the year that Pitt and head coach Dave Wannstedt got over the hump. Many, including me, had them in or near the top 25 and contending for the Big East title. It was a pretty picture that was easy to believe in after the upset of West Virginia last December. But the 2008 campaign got off to a bad start as the Panthers dropped their home opener to Bowling Green 27-17.
Pitt dominated the stat sheets, outgaining Bowling Green 393-254 in total yards. But the Panthers also led in turnovers 4-1. Turnovers are correctable in most cases, but the pressure that Pitt quarterback Bill Stull was under all day is something that might not be avoidable. He was sacked four times in the game.
LeSean McCoy had a hard time getting on track today as well. He only averaged 3.1 yards per run on 23 carries and one touchdown. The Pitt defense played well enough, but the turnovers by the offense gave Bowling Green a short field to work with too many times. The offensive line needs to get better quick, because this was supposed to be the easy game on the schedule for the Panthers.
As FanHouse previews each BCS conference, the college football songbook will cast an unflattering light on each conference in the only way we know how. It's getting hot for Big East coaches.
If you find yourself in this position it's probably at least partly your fault. Whether you're the coach of one of the most storied programs in college football or you inherit the head job at one of the nouveau rich schools, your fans expect you to win now. You had high hopes of continuing the tradition when you took over, but now you could turn a lump of coal into a diamond if inserted into the proper body cavity.
Greg Robinson - Hot Seat
If you took over a team that fired the last coach because he went 6-6 and it took you three years to get seven wins, you might be in trouble. If you took over the 14th winningest program in college football history and you are about to give up that distinction to a conference foe, you really need to produce. If any of this sounds like you, Greg Robinson, come on down. You're our first choice for coaches on the hot seat.
Syracuse was a team that had already fallen on hard times when Greg Robinson arrived. But still, this is Syracuse. You should be able to roll your helmet out there and get six wins. Right? Syracuse has gone 1-11, 4-8, and 2-10 under Robinson, and the prospect of that changing anytime soon are not good. Syracuse bloggers, for their part, are making the best of the situation. Robinson's attitude has been mostly positive through the whole ordeal. If not, at least a little cryptic. I hope he has that same attitude when this season is over. Because the world needs ditch diggers too.
West Virginia coach Bill Stewart, whose club visits Auburn this weekend, said he's never been to historic Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The Arizona Cardinals used the 54th overall pick of the 2003 draft on 
As we get ready for the Wild Card Weekend matchup of the Dolphins and Ravens, Brian Miller from 
Turkey Legs to Go
This was to be the year that Pitt and head coach Dave Wannstedt got over the hump. Many, including me, had them in or near the top 25 and contending for the Big East title. It was a pretty picture that was easy to believe in after the upset of West Virginia last December. But the 2008 campaign got off to a bad start as the Panthers dropped their home opener to Bowling Green 27-17.
If you took over a team that fired the last coach because he went 6-6 and it took you three years to get seven wins, you might be in trouble. If you took over the 14th winningest program in college football history and you are about to give up that distinction to a conference foe, you really need to produce. If any of this sounds like you, Greg Robinson, come on down. You're our first choice for coaches on the hot seat. 
