ACC,BIG TEN, BIG EAST: THE WORST BCS CONFERENCES

They say the proof is in the pudding. Well, on this the inaugural weekend of the new college football season, the ACC and Big Ten puddings just spoiled.

While the Big Ten tried to put up a fight and keep their games close, the ACC lost big and lost often.

Starting out with the ABC Game of the Week, the Number 9 team in the nation, Clemson, just flat out laid an egg against a middle-of-the-road SEC team, Alabama, as the Tide swept over the Tigers, 34-10. Ouch!

The University of Virginia, which went to the Gator Bowl last season, must have thought someone unleashed a slew of gators in Scott Stadium yesterday as the USC Trojans ate them alive 52-7. Grrrr!

In the opening game of the season on Thursday night, N. C. State forgot to load up as they fired nothing but blanks at Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks and lost 34-0.

An overrated Virginia Tech at Number 17 played Hokie-Pokie against East Carolina with too much hokie and not enough pokie and got upset 27-25. Close, but sorry, no pokie, no hokie.

In a couple of forgettable patsy games, Maryland barely beat a Division II Delaware Hens, 14-7. Talk about laying an egg. Cluck! Boston College meanwhile could only put up 21 points against an anemic Kent State.

The only ACC teams that showed any kind of strength at all were Wake Forest, 41-13 over Baylor; Georgia Tech, 41-14 over Jacksonville State (a real biggie); and Miami, 52-7 over Charleston Southern. Where did the U find them, on the internet?

Now for a look at the Big Ten, which is actually the Big Eleven. But they’re always lying to themselves anyway, thinking they’re actually a relevant BCS conference.

In their marquis game, the Missouri Tigers, ranked Number 6, squeezed all the juice out of Number 20, Illinois, 52-42. We know Missouri doesn’t have such a hot defense, but now it looks like the Illini could become the sieve of the Big Ten.

Going up against Jeff Tedford’s unheralded California Bears with their flip-flopping quarterback, Michigan State got whipped 38-31 in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the score would indicate. Teford finally decided to stick with Kevin Riley after Nate Longshore’s first interception cost the Bears a score, and then his second one gave the Spartans 7 points. The officiating (It’s the Pac-10, what do you expect?) spotted the Spartans another 7.

The other team from Michigan, the Wolverines, lost the initial battle of Rich Rodriguez’ tenure to Utah, 25-23, giving up over 305 yards in the air. It was the second year in a row that Michigan lost their opener to a non-BCS team.

In their patsy games, extending their fall camp an extra week, Northwestern handled a pathetic (what else can you say about the Big East?) Syracuse 30-10. Number 13 Wisconsin punctured Akron 38-17. Number 2 Ohio State shutout Youngstown State 43-0 but may have lost Beanie Wells. Hm? Doesn’t sound like an even exchange to me?

Finally Penn State mauled Coastal Carolina, 66-10, Coastal Carolina? Aren’t they one of those internet colleges? Maybe next year Joe Pa should schedule the University of Phoenix.

Without question, the Big East is beyond worst. It’s simply pathetic. In fact, the BCS should drop them and add the Mountain West. If you don’t thinks so, just watch tomorrow’s game between Fresno State and Rutgers.

Anyway, back to the usual suspects.

We start off with a Big East victory, if you can call it that. West Virginia beat a Division II Villanova, 42-21. Very impressive if it were a basketball game. But football? How can any true Number 8 team give up 21 points to a Division II also-ran. Scratch your head Coach Stewart.

And then there’s the Pathetic East made up of Pitt and Syracuse. As noted above, Syracuse lost to a scraping-the-bottom Big Ten team, Northwestern, 30-10. And Bowling Green bowled over the hapless Pitt Panthers, 27-17. Who ranked them Number 25, Mrs. Wannstedt?

Number 19 South Florida and UConn both played patsies, Tennessee-Martin and Hofstra respectively. So, there nothing those games can tell us about either of these teams.

Currently, Kentucky is shutting out Louisville, 10-0 in the third quarter, and tomorrow the Rutgers Red Knights will have a tough time jousting with the Fresno State Bulldogs.

There you have it. The two worst conferences in the BCS and one conference that is beyond worst. I’m convinced that no team from these three conferences will make it to the National Championship game.

What’s more, I expect them to do poorly in bowl games in general against teams from the SEC, the Big 12 and the Pac-10.