| | By Bill Doherty
Special to ESPN.com
Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese is feeling pretty good about his football conference as it enters its 10th season.
Usually at Big East Media Day, Tranghese is peppered with questions about Miami leaving for the ACC or Syracuse going to the Big Ten as well as the ever-popular "What's Wrong with the Big East?" question.
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Mon, August 14
The Big East will be a three-way battle between Miami, Virginia Tech and Syracuse, but I like Miami's chances this year of making some noise in the national spotlight. The Hurricanes no longer have a quarterback controversy now that Kenny Kelly opted for professional baseball. Ken Dorsey is the quarterback. He threw 10 touchdown passes in six games last season with only two interceptions. But the big difference is that they are starting to get good again on defense. Damoine Lewis is one of the better defensive tackles in the country, and Dan Morgan is an All-America candidate at linebacker.
As for the defending Big East champion Hokies, what else can you say about Michael Vick? The sophomore quarterback gives the Hokies so many offensive options, but they will miss running back Shyrone Stith. The defense has lost eight starters, including national defensive player of the year Corey Moore, but with their defensive scheme, the Hokies can replace the departing players quickly. I don't think they will experience much of a dropoff. They must travel to both Miami and Syracuse, which is why I'm picking them to finish second this year.
The big question in Syracuse is who will be the quarterback -- Dee Brown, Troy Nunes or Madei Williams? Once they settle that question, the Orangemen will be a good football team. For the first time, nobody is picking them. If they can get by East Carolina on Sept. 23, the Orangemen could be 6-0 when they play Virginia Tech on Oct. 21.
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"Those questions have not just quieted down," Tranghese said. "They've been eliminated."
He's right. While there are still serious long-term concerns about whether perennial Big East weakling Temple will be replaced by UConn by the time the league turns 15, the Big East is pretty fair shape overall. Miami returns seven players who earned All-Big East honors of some sort last season and welcomes eight starters back on defense. They should give the Big East a national title threat for a second straight season, following Virginia Tech's magic carpet ride to the national tile game last season.
"We'll be in the hunt for a league title and hopefully, a national title this year," said Miami's big-play wide receiver Santana Moss. "We have a lot of returning seniors who are hungry. We've been ringless for a long time. No Big East rings. No national championship rings."
Of course, the folks in Blacksburg, Virginia aren't ready to hand over the keys to the Big East penthouse without a fight. In redshirt sophomore quarterback Michael Vick, they have a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate and probably the single most exciting player in the college game.
"We plan to stay on top of the college football world," said Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, who must rebuild his defense to beat out the Canes for the league's top spot. The two Big East powers meet on November 4 at Miami.
Aside from the presence of two of the nation's top 10 teams in Miami and Virginia Tech as well as a Heisman frontrunner in Vick, Tranghese has other reasons to smile. Syracuse and Boston College went bowling last season and if Pittsburgh hadn't lost to West Virginia, they probably would have joined them. League laughingtstocks Temple and Rutgers have lightened up their non-league loads considerably and could post a few more W's this fall. And with its CBS television contract set to expire at the end of this season, Tranghese landed a seven-year, $105 million deal with ABC and ESPN.
Now, there's a reason to smile.
Bill Doherty covers Big East football for ESPN.com
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