I was in my hotel room in Birmingham, Ala., Wednesday when the phone rang. On the other end was my boss, Jack Bogaczyk, who had the All-Big East football teams. He listed the WVU players, I scribbled the names down and then corrected Jack.

Me:…and Stanchek’s first-team?
Jack: Right.
Me: OK, because I didn’t hear you name him.
Jack: You know what? I didn’t. Let me check again…Nope…Not second-team either.
Me: Unbelievable…

This was only slightly less stunning than Saturday night. I really felt bad for Ryan Stanchek. I don’t know that I can tell you for certain who the four best offensive tackles are in the Big East, but having watched Stanchek all year, I felt he was one of the best.

Even worse, he’s probably a better guard and a lot of people think he can play guard in the NFL. Yet you just knew people would say, “Well, he wasn’t even all-Big East in 2007.”

Well, never fear.
Stanchek might not be one of the best four tackles in the conference, but he is one of the four best in the country. Stanchek was named to the Walter Camp Foundation’s All-American second team Thursday.

And you wonder why the Big East is so frequently mocked when compared to the other major conferences. One of the best players in the entire country isn’t considered by the Big East coaches to be one of the best in their conference.