…from the weekend that was. For your use in elevator rides, trips to the water cooler and other awkward moments on a Monday. 

– Seems to me bowls are a hot topic. Here is the scenario as it involves the Big East, Notre Dame, the Sun Bowl and the Gator Bowl. I’ll make it as simple as possible:

If USC wins at home Saturday against Notre Dame and Rutgers wins at home against Louisville Dec. 4, the Gator and Sun can’t take Notre Dame. That’s it. Really.

Notre Dame would be 6-6 and Cincinnati, Pitt, WVU, UConn, USF and Rutgers would all have seven wins and therefore be eligible for the Big East’s six bowl slots … and you can thank South Florida for all of this. Its win Sunday against UConn pushed the Bulls to seven wins with one game (at WVU) remaining.

Anyhow, as a rule — an unwritten one that’s more of a guideline than anything else — the Big East’s bowls have to take Big East bowl-eligible teams. 

The Gator has the first pick between a Big 12 or Big East team and the Sun has to take a team from the conference the Gator did not choose. As it relates to WVU, assume USC beats Notre Dame, Cincinnati wins the Big East and Rutgers beats Louisville:

– Wins against the Panthers and the Bulls makes WVU a strong possibility for the Gator Bowl.
- A win over Pitt and a loss to USF makes the Mountaineers a strong possibility for the Sun Bowl.
– A loss to Pitt and a win against USF leaves the decision up to the bowls, and likely the Sun Bowl, as to which Big East team it takes. The Gator will  probably scoop up a Big 12 team and the Sun then chooses between the Pitt team that beat WVU and could be 9-3 or a WVU team that lost to Pitt and finished either 8-4 or 7-5, but travels a heck of a lot better than the Panthers.
– Losses to Pitt and USF probably knocks WVU to the Meineke Car Care Bowl, but not definitely.

Now, if Notre Dame beats USC or if Cincinnati wins the Big East and Louisville beats Rutgers, WVU is probably stuck in the Car Care bowl in Charlotte, N.C., or the PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., no matter how it finishes the season. 

Quick programming note: This week is going to be nuts and the blog is going to be a little light. Schedules are crunched and deadlines are earlier than they are in a normal week. On top of that, I’m headed to Vegas Wednesday morning for the Las Vegas Invitational. There will be stories up on the web shortly after Friday and Saturday’s games and there’s a chance I’ll have something going on the blog for Friday’s football game. Tell everyone you know!