Taking Stab as Big East Goes Bowling

Before we take a quick review of last week, here's one final stab at the Big East's bowl projections.

Remember, the Big East bowls may select any league bowl-eligible team and are not required to select teams based on where they finish in the league standings. After the champion gets a BCS bowl berth, the Gator Bowl gets the next pick followed by the Meineke Car Care Bowl. Papajohns.com, St. Petersburg and International all share the final three picks and work together to make their selections.

Saturday's Cincinnati-Pittsburgh winner earns the league's BCS bowl berth and that looks like it will be the Sugar Bowl -- unless Nebraska upsets Texas in the Big 12 title game and all heck breaks loose.

The difference in the bowl destinations is tricky depending on who wins Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh. Besides the scenarios below, there's a rumor out there of a "swamp" agreement in the works where the Big East team sent to the International Bowl could, instead, go to the Little Caesar's Bowl.

The biggest shocker is that it appears West Virginia will be headed to the Gator Bowl instead of the Cincinnati-Pittsburgh loser. That just illustrates how much a huge traveling fan base plays into the decision of the bowls.

We'll find out Sunday where everyone is headed, but here's my final guess:

If Cincinnati defeats Pittsburgh:

BCS -- Cincinnati
Gator -- West Virginia
Meineke Car Care -- Rutgers
Papajohns.com -- Pittsburgh
St. Petersburg -- UConn
International -- South Florida

If Pittsburgh defeats Cincinnati:

BCS -- Pittsburgh
Gator -- West Virginia
Meineke Car Care -- Cincinnati
Papajohns.com -- UConn
St. Petersburg -- Rutgers
International -- South Florida

Some things we may have figured out in the past week:

1. Nick Carparelli is a certified genius

Forget spending $20 on the preseason college football magazines next year to see how the Big East will end up, just take a look at next year's schedule to figure out how the league will shake out. Nick Carparelli, an associate commissioner for the Big East, is in charge of the league's scheduling and he "backloads" the league schedule with the schools he thinks will be the better teams each year so they play later in the year with more at stake. All he did this year was schedule the No. 1 vs. 2 teams (Cincinnati vs. Pitt) No. 3 vs. 4 (West Virginia vs. Rutgers) and No. 5 vs. 6 (UConn vs. USF) to play this week, while ending the regular season of the league's worst two teams (Syracuse and Louisville) last week. Brilliant.

2. Steve Kragthorpe didn't have the best luck at Louisville

When Steve Kragthorpe came to Louisville from Tulsa, Kragthorpe was considered a good hire for the 'Ville. You can debate whether ultimately he was a good coach -- I think he was, but he had to clean up some internal issues in the program that reduced his talent base -- but he did not have the best of luck. In his first two seasons, he lost games on a last-second blown coverage (Kentucky), a referee's blown fair catch call (UConn, 2007) and a last-minute interception return (UConn, 2008). Who knows? Had those games gone the other way, UL would have gone bowling both years and maybe Kragthorpe might be employed at UL

3. There's no such thing as a Big Four in Florida

USF hoped it could turn the state's Big Three of Florida, Florida State and Miami into a Big Four. Not this year. The Bulls are 7-4 with three wins against two FCS teams and woeful Western Kentucky. In Saturday's 31-10 home loss to Miami, the Bulls weren't competitive and were outgained, 401-220. True, USF beat FSU (ultimately a bad FSU team) 17-7, but the Bulls -- along with Jacksonville State -- were the only teams held to less than 26 points by the Seminoles.

Re-Tweeting Week 13

Ranking the league from top to bottom and summarizing each team, in 140 characters or less.

1. Cincinnati: QB Tony Pike looked pret-ty, pret-ty good in first start since Oct. 15: 399 yards, school-record six TD passes.
2. Pitt: Panthers' last-second loss in Backyard Brawl will be forgotten if Pittsburgh beats Cincinnati for Big East title
3. West Virginia: Mountaineers can't win Big East, but they completed their first undefeated season at home.
4. UConn: Randy Edsall won't win it, but he deserves Coach of the Year honors after what the Huskies have accomplished.
5. Rutgers: RU has won eight games for fourth consecutive year. Cincinnati, WVU only other league teams that can make that claim.
6. South Florida: Bulls and Syracuse remain league's only teams in past five years that have not finished first or second in the Big East.
7. Louisville: One fan's sign summed up UL's loss to Rutgers Saturday: "Coach K's Going Away Party."
8. Syracuse: Give the Orange credit for one thing: they're consistent. Syracuse finished 1-6 in league play for fourth consecutive year

Follow Brett McMurphy on Twitter at twitter.com/BrettmcmurphY