College Football Predictions: Retribution Games Portend Bitter Irony

Miami's game with Pitt on September 23 has raised a few eyebrows. It seems odd that these former Big East rivals would meet on a late September evening by the Ohio River.  Neither team is lacking tough September opposition. Miami travels to Columbus to take on Ohio State on the 11th and Pitt opens its season at Utah on the third.

The Canes-Panthers matchup was actually scheduled in 2005 as part of the ACC raid settlement with the Big East. Although terms remained hushed the leagues couldn't conceal scheduling matchups between aggrieved parties.

The settlement specifies home-and-home series between Florida State and West Virginia, North Carolina and Rutgers, North Carolina State and Pittsburgh, and Virginia and Connecticut. Miami will receive an appearance fee of $225,000 for playing at Pittsburgh on Sept. 11, 2010.

Remember between 2003-2005 no one in college sports was more vilified than ACC Commissioner John Swofford for stealing away Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College from the Big East.

In retrospect, John Swofford deserves praise for his visionary, proactive recruitment, although he should have been forthright with the Big East's Mike Tranghese from the beginning. Joining the ACC was the best move these three universities could have made.

The ACC nearly doubled the value of their last broadcast contract, which will mean an additional $7 million to each member school and $7 million to the conference. Virginia Tech, Boston College, and Miami will earn about $12 million just for being ACC members beginning in 2011. Had they stayed in the Big East their earnings would be half that.

Big East football teams only receive four to six million per year in contracts with ESPN and CBS. These contracts do not expire until 2013.

Unlike Swofford, Big East Commissioner John Marinatto has been running his mouth all summer about what the league is planning to do in the future. Even though four other BCS conferences have negotiated contracts that are at the very least double the value of the Big East's, Marinatto refuses to do anything now.

Apparently, Marinatto devalues his football schools. How else to interpret his refusal to ask ESPN and CBS to renegotiate early based on changing market value.

If the Big Ten calls for Rutgers, the next most likely expansion candidate, the Scarlet Knights will be gone quicker than a New Yorker can exit a subway. Onthebanks.com, a fan site for Rutgers on SB Nation, encourages fans to start packing.

Along with Rutgers, UConn and Syracuse are viewed as strong Big Ten expansion candidates.

If the Big East implodes, Pitt will be begging the ACC for admission.

In the future, Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg might want to think twice before rushing to sue. His beloved Big East has been sitting around doing nothing as college football becomes an ever more valuable commodity.

Nordenberg may need his former adversaries to become his advocates. He'll have to swallow hard. The taste will be bitter.