Why Cincy must win the Big East outright
And no, it's not for conference bragging rights or their potential for upgraded facilities or for Brian Kelly or anything else you might be thinking. In fact, the answer it quite selfish (if by "self" I mean the University of South Florida). Currently, the only alternative to an outright Cincy victory is a co-championship with Cincy and Pitt, which would take place only if Pitt wins out, including beating Cincy, giving Pitt a share of the championship and the BCS bid.The problem with this? A Pitt championship would mean that since USF joined the Big East in 2005, five of the eight schools in the conference will have won a share of the conference championship. Those without? USF,

You just can't hide that Tiger Pride
I believe you've rarely, if ever, heard me talk high school football in this blog. That is for several good reasons. One is that I haven't lived in my hometown during football season since, well, high school, (and I've got a 10 year reunion coming up this year, for reference) so the one team I'm most inclined to follow hasn't really been on my radar. That said, as with most of the other sports I follow, keeping an eye on a program from a distance is not a problem for me, if I have reason to care.The top reason? A.I. duPont football, for as long as I've had reason to follow it, has not been good. I don't know the exact numbers, but a friend of mine from my graduating class stated

Disgusted
This is the first time I can recall turning off a Bulls game in utter disgust. I can't watch this. Not on a Thursday night. Not against Rutgers.I'm turning to Project Runway from LA instead of Project Runaway in NJ.

It's the same old song...
One of my favorite podcasts is the ESPNU College Football Podcast. But something struck me this morning that just seemed like not being able to change one's tune. On Mondays (they come out mid-day, so I usually listen to the previous day's podcast during my commute) Ivan Maisel is joined by Gene Wojciechowski to discuss the world of college football. After revealing their own personal top fives, each of which contained Cincinnati this week, and continuing on to inquire if Cincy plays anyone. Granted, what are likely to be their two toughest conference matchups--WVU and Pitt--still lie ahead, but I think at this point in the season we should be beyond the thinly-veiled Big East bashing. Curr

Score one for the little guys!
Honda Battle of the Bands has announced its lineup for the 2010 invitational showcase, and it's a little different than you may have expected.For the past several years, Honda has been a 10 band showcase, featuring two bands each from the MEAC, the SWAC, the CIAA, the SIAC, and HBCU independents. Earlier this year, Honda changed the format: eight bands, featuring one band from each of the conferences above (plus one independent) and three at-large bands. Think the BCS, except that there's no cap on the number of bands that can participate from one conference.All the prognosticators figured that the MEAC and SWAC (to