Big East Football Schedule 2012: 7 Games That Will Bore Us to Death

While many college football fans are busy discussing spring practices and spring games, the Big East has quietly released the schedule for the 2012 season.

The Big East is without question the weakest BCS conference in all of college football. It's hard to pick a decent team from this conference, and with West Virginia leaving for the Big 12, its becoming even more unbearable to watch. But don't get me wrong, there are some solid athletes out there and a few teams that may surprise us; however, for the most part the Big East is about as irrelevant as it gets.

Here are seven games that you shouldn't have circled on your calendar that include Big East teams. (If you even had any circled to begin with.)

USF at Ball State

South Florida is probably the best team in this conference as they return eight starters on both sides of the ball.

Ball State was absolutely terrible last year at defense, giving up nearly 35 points per game. They struggled to score and they were ranked 72nd in the country. How they were able to win six games last season is beyond me.

These two teams met last year for the first time and the Bulls beat the Cardinals down by a score of 37-7.

Don't expect much of a different outcome this time around, either.

Maryland at Temple

Temple was a really solid team last year. They won nine games and their first bowl victory in school history since 1979.

But a large part of their success was because of running back Bernard Pierce, who has decided to leave early and enter the NFL draft. Maryland, on the other hand, won two games last year and didn't quite do much to indicate that record will change drastically this year.

These two teams met last season and Temple thumped the Terrapins by a score of 38-7. Unless you want to see true freshman Stefon Diggs put on a show, there is absolutely no reason to watch this game.

UConn at Syracuse

Fans nowadays want their games to feature a ton of offense to keep them entertained. Well, this will not be the game for them.

Syracuse returns six starters on the offensive side of the ball and UConn returns seven, but I'm not sure that's a good thing when they both were ranked in the 80s in points scored last season. Not to mention—four of the last five meetings between these two teams have been decided by 17 points or more.

When these two teams square off in a basketball game, it's must-see television. When they meet to play on the gridiron—not so much.

The problem is, this game will take place on a Friday night, so, we'll likely get stuck watching it because there's nothing else on.

Louisville at FIU

Florida International is a team that's heading in the right direction under head coach Mario Cristobal, but the offense is way beyond in terms of excitement. Louisville is also another team that struggles to provide enjoyment, despite having an emerging star in quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

Both of these teams are fantastic defensively, but with the lack of points being scored, it's enough to put an offensive lover to sleep.

Add the fact that FIU wide receiver T.Y. Hilton has graduated and only the hardcore Panther or Cardinal fans will be watching this one.

Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech (In Landover, MD)

The Bearcats were a surprise team last season winning a total of 10 games, including a solid bowl victory against Vanderbilt.

But now they only return four starters on the offensive side of the ball and lose five starters on defense. They'll be taking on a Hokies team that returns nine starters on defense and still has their talented quarterback in Logan Thomas.

Since 1987, Virginia Tech has won five of the last six meetings and that's simply because they're the more talented team. Don't expect Cincinnati to compete very long in this matchup.

This contest should be over by halftime.

Rutgers at Arkansas

Rutgers is one of the more talented teams in the country, and its defense—ranked eighth in the country—proves that.

They return 14 starters, including eight on the defensive side of the ball. But taking a trip to Arkansas to play the Razorbacks, an SEC favorite, is a completely different story. Rutgers simply don't have the offense to keep up with the high-scoring Razorbacks and the Scarlet Knights aren't physical enough to challenge them.

Rutgers is talented enough to win the conference, but I don't think anybody in the country sees them getting close enough to beat the Razorbacks.

Chattanooga at USF

Once again we'll go with the Bulls, who return majority of their team from a year ago.

Sure, they lost seven games last season, but they were one of the more balanced teams in the conference, ranked 48th in scoring offense and 37th in scoring defense. Chattanooga lost to Furman, Wofford and Citadel.

They also lost to Nebraska by 33 points last season.

Week 1 of the regular season features a lot of cupcake games, but this is a matchup that should be avoided by all college football fans across the country.