Critics find it amusing to call the Big East the Big Least in reference to its paltry football. But the conference might not be as pathetic as many think, as it’s sending Rutgers to a bowl.

But the conference champion, West Virginia, turned out to be a worthy representative in the Bowl Championship Series and Louisville is a formidable second-place team. While Syracuse and Pittsburgh – two of the conference’s higher-profile schools – struggled, they were phasing in new coaches and could soon turn their prospects around.

South Florida is on the rise and Rutgers met the apocalypse. Not all is bad for the Big East. But when the Heisman Trophy is distributed Saturday night, there will be no Big East players vying for the award. And when the national championship is decided in January, the Big East won’t be there either. If it’s any consolation, though, The Daily Orange’s Big East Notebook hands out hardware of its own:

Team of the year: West Virginia

The Mountaineers shocked many college football fans, rising from third in the preseason conference poll to the clear champion. They finished 10-1 and ran the table in the Big East. The lone loss came to Virginia Tech, one of the top teams in all of college football. If West Virginia can somehow upset Georgia on Jan. 2 in the Sugar Bowl – WVU opened as 8.5-point underdogs – it will be a major boon for the Big East.

Surprise of the year: South Florida

USF earns the honors after bursting onto the conference scene with a 6-5 record, 4-3 in the Big East, earning the school’s first ever postseason date with a bid to the Meineke Car Care Bowl against North Carolina State on Dec. 31 in Charlotte, N.C. The Bulls were projected to finish seventh in the conference but wowed the nation with a 45-14 win over Louisville on Sept. 24. USF, a sleeping giant, might have just scratched the surface of its potential: head coach Jim Leavitt spurned overtures from Kansas State to stay in Tampa and build the program.

Disappointment of the year: Syracuse

This has already been well-documented, but from a conference perspective, the Big East needs SU to become a good team in order to earn respect. The Orange has a national profile and rich tradition – something that’s hard for upstart schools to create – and if it’s a walking punch line, so, too, is its conference.

Offensive Player of the Year: Andre Hall

The speedy South Florida running back led the Big East with 1,256 rushing yards and 1,528 all-purpose yards. He scored 15 overall touchdowns, 12 of which came on the ground. What’s more important, though, was Hall accumulated the impressive numbers with a weak passing attack and defenses focused on him. In his senior year, he’s helped turn the Bulls’ program around.

Defensive Player of the Year: Elvis Dumervil

He didn’t sack the NCAA sacks record, but the Louisville defensive end led the nation with 20 quarterback takedowns. He also registered 23 tackles for a loss. Dumervil was a disruptive force all season for the Cardinals and the undersized senior figures to be a hot name in April’s NFL Draft.

Newcomer of the year: Steve Slaton

West Virginia’s freshman running back wasn’t even a contributor to the Mountaineers in the first month of the season. Once he became the team’s top rusher, though, he never relinquished the role. Slaton finished the season with 924 rushing yards and 16 overall touchdowns (14 rushing, 2 receiving). Slaton eclipsed the 100-yard plateau in four of the last six games.

Coach of the year: Rich Rodriguez

In his fifth season as West Virginia head coach, Rodriguez leads the Mountaineers to their first BCS bowl. With question marks surrounding the team’s youth entering the season, WVU’s 10-1 record was its best since Rodriguez returned to his alma mater. The coach proved that a traditional mix of an imposing defense and a sound rushing attack is still an effective way to win championships.

Story of the year: Rutgers making a bowl game

Football writers around the country are searching for a new punch line after the Scarlet Knights finished 7-4 (4-3 in the Big East) and earned a bid to the Insight Bowl, where they’ll play Arizona State on Dec. 27 in Phoenix. Coincidentally, the last time Rutgers made a bowl game was 1978 when they played – you guessed it – Arizona State in the Garden State Bowl.

While these awards don’t take the place of the Heisman or BCS title, only one Big East player has ever won the Heisman – Miami’s Gino Torretta in 1992 – and the Hurricanes were the only Big East team to ever win a national title. The Hurricanes aren’t even in the conference anymore.

So maybe the Big East is the Big Least after all.

Published on December 4, 2005 at 12:00 pm