At this point I'd say that it's in the best interest of the Big East Conference to have Connecticut represent them in the BCS Bowl game. Will it happen, I hope so. Am I biased, COMPLETELY. However, I have a reason.
The perception is that there aren't many good football teams in the Big East Conference. People think of West Virginia and Pittsburgh and thats about it. Even then, neither of those schools are thought of as top 10 national programs...maybe West Virginia is considered a top 25. That's about it. A West Virginia win in a BCS game doesn't do as much for the league as the possibility of adding a credible program to the league. I'd say that there are two schools that are credible nationally. Pitt and WVU. It's going to be much easier for the BIG EAST to sell it's parity and depth than it will be to sell it's top program. The lack of percieved tradition in football hurts the conference. People don't think that it means much to beat Connecticut, Syracuse, Rutgers, Cinci, South Florida or Louisville. People say that these programs are mediocre at best and are not credible wins in other BCS conferences. What the BIG EAST needs are for all of their teams to say they have done something credible nationally. Connecticut beat Notre Dame last year and as an underdog outplayed the SEC's South Carolina in a bowl game. The program also produced a boatload of early draft picks in 2008. They are showing signs of getting closer to one of the more elite programs and a BCS trip would only help the trajectory of the program go higher.
I think the BIG EAST, although struggling for a big win nationally this year, had a good season because a team with the tradition of Syracuse is showing signs of life. A team that was ranked and thought of highly just back in 2006 and 2007, Louisville, appears to have things going in the right direction.
I think it's good that Cincinnati went to the BCS bowl for the BIG EAST the last two years because it helps legitimize that program. Going to back to back BCS bowls had to have take Cincinnati football to a higher level in terms of the recruits it gets and it's national significance. The BIG EAST needs more teams that will raise their national credibility.
Anyway, back to my main point.
Connecticut, like Cincinnati the past two years, would be yet another program that has atleast accomplished something noteworthy by getting themselves in the BCS picture and in a Big Bowl. Getting Connecticut into a BCS game could help take Connecticut's young program to even higher heights. With the proven consistent success of the basketball programs I think it's slightly easier for Connecticut to establish themselves than it is for Cincinnati. It's also easier for Connecticut to take over Boston College as the premier New England Division I Football School. The BIG EAST would love to have a program like Connecticut be considered the best in the Northeast, even if it's only the Northeast. Connecticut going to a BCS game could help the program and conference in more ways than WVU or Pitt would. The BIG EAST needs Syracuse to get better and needs Connecticut to keep improving so that the conference can get back to the level of competitiveness and national significance that it had before Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College left. Connecticut becoming a traditional force to be reckon with is another step towards respectability for a conference clearly lacking it.
Winning the Bowl would be even better for the conference, but if the conference is going to send a 4 loss team to a BCS bowl (even if that team lost to Temple and Michigan) it would be so much better for the conference if it was a new team, and not a traditionally good team just having a down year.
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