Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which gets a little restless this time of year. There just isn’t a whole lot to write or talk about. It lasts just a few weeks, but it’s a drag. Fortunately, I have time to devote to other exercises and I’d like to share one with you today.

Press Ctrl + D. Press Enter. You’ve now bookmarked the blog and thus alleviated any future trouble finding the blog link on the Daily Mail homepage.  

Onto the abbreviated Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, master the keyboard!

Dave said:

Of course the Big Televen does not want to change anything. Ohio State plays the system perfectly … no real OOC and if they do lose OOC, it is early in the season and they can recover. Further with the layoff, they can lose late and still get a BCS invite based on … enough time to recover and their fans who travel well. So, you see a relatively undeserving conference getting 2 BCS bids every year to the MNC (Mythical National Championship game) and the Rose Bowl. And fans get to see the teams slaughtered.

The only real recourse is that yes, let the Big Ten hold tradition and not play conference championships but instead have 2 month layoffs only to get creamed in the bowls. If they’re going to block a playoff system, then let them suffer.  

I wonder if anyone has ever told the Big Televen this … with these very words. Imagine the ease with which decisions could be made! 

Karl said:

Why don’t the Big 10 teams just spread out their schedules a little more like we do? The Big East has played some pretty important games right around the same time the other leagues’ championship games lately.  

Shame on you, Karl, for making sense.  

Al said:

Dave, except for the SEC, all other conferences aren’t that much better. The Pac 10? ACC? Big East? Yes, the Big 12 is strong these days, but that’s only recent.

The Big 10 is fine, we’re happy with where we are, we’d like to add Notre Dame, obviously, but that’s hard to see happening. Our bowl record isn’t exactly stellar the past two years, but take into account we are technically playing road games against P10 or SEC teams that are in their own backyard.

By the way, we do love our tradition!! Nothing wrong with that!!  

Nothing wrong with tradition whatsoever — and don’t we get into that topic here all the time? The SEC wasn’t all that this year, either, and suddenly Ole Miss looks like maybe the best team in that conference. Ole Miss? I don’t think anything’s “wrong” with the Big Ten and a lot of the “problems” are in perception. Yeah, a few teams have been rolled in bowl games, but I don’t think one of those games we’re referencing has been a shocking upset. The other teams — all from the SEC, I believe — were better and for good reason. Things won’t change and maybe they don’t need to. In any case, the league doesn’t need to annex a Big East team.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

I hate to admit this, but I think Joe is right…….and wrong at the same time. Big 10 does need to add a 12th team, but the team is not one of his 3, but rather Notre Dame. They get a nationally known name, with great bowl tie-ins, and good number of their teams have established rivalries with them anyway. Problem is, until NBC wises up, ND does not need to join the Big 10 or Big East — they have their own channel.

I’ve said this before on the blog, but never really got a good response. Why does the Big East not turn the thumb screws to ND and force them to join for football.

Do we not have enough credit on a national level to remain in the BCS at this point? Does ND have another option for non-football sports at this point? I don’t see the Big 10 putting up with a non-football member at this point so I think this is a real possibility at this point, unless the Big East feels that ND adds to the Basketball revenue…..and I don’t think they add enough to justify the way they take the Big East to the cleaners at this point in football. 

I don’t think it’s a matter of credibility keeping the Big East from using strong-arm tactics against Notre Dame, which, by the way, just wouldn’t work. It’s money and identity and Notre Dame doesn’t need a boost in either. It wouldn’t make sense for Notre Dame to leave its arrangement with the Big East to take the same position with the Big Ten, even if the Big Ten was willing, which you’d have to imagine would be the case. It’d be the ultimate power play in college sports.    

Rob W. said:

All I want is for the Big East to be proactive and be a leader in the next round of changes. As a WVU fan, I don’t want to be in the reactive mode of several years ago when the conference was seemingly neutered. Now, with that being said, it is easier said than done. On the surface, the obvious options (i.e. CUSA schools) are not that attractive in terms of strengthening the conference – specifically on the football side. I just hope that the conference and institutions have an aggressive and workable plan in place. I said it at the time of the raid and I’ll say it now, my worst fear is becoming a CUSA caliber conference. That would be the death knell for WVU football as we’ve come to know it.  

That’s a reasonable wish. I just can’t picture a scenario in which the Big East is caught napping unless it’s high in-house treason. That whole ACC thing a few years ago was pretty unique, but there were lessons to be learned as far as anticipating another seismic event.

Karl said:

Good for Hogan. He got abused in the first couple of games, but it’s rare to see a player make such tangible strides from one game to the next. As he improved, so did the defense as a whole, since teams could no longer pick on our inexperienced coverage unit.

The fact that we’re talking about Devine possibly being the best offensive player in the Big East is kind of frightening. All signs point to this being the league’s worst year since the re-org, but you never know, sometimes teams can jump up and surprise. And sometimes, these low-expectation years can be the most fun for a fan. The best example of both is the 2005 Mountaineer team, which I thought would probably end up a little over .500.

Wide-open this year. Wide-open. I can’t wait to see the preseason poll. You could have four or five teams get first-place votes. Or you could see two. You could see a fifth- or sixth-place team win the league. You could see a tight end be the offensive player of the year. And, yes, these are often the most exciting years.

Country Roads said:

I think best defensive player goes to Selvie, hands down. Offensive player? I don’t think you can put Grothe there. To me, he is overhyped. He tries to make plays that aren’t there and ends up turning the ball over way too much as a result. Then again, I’m not sure who the best returning offensive player would be. Devine? Tony Pike? I think it’s safe to say the conference lacks star power this year—what a far cry from 2006 and 2007 with Brohm, Rice, Slaton and White.  

Grab your media guides. New stars will be born (non-WVU edition): Cincinnati RB Isaiah Pead, Rutgers RB Joe Martinek, Pitt WR Jon Baldwin, Louisville WR/KR/PR Doug Beaumont, UConn CB/PR Jasper Howard, Pitt DE Jabaal Sheard, Louisville LB Jon Dempsey, to name just a few. 

Karl said:

Alex Ruoff was the best defender? Yeesh.

Underrated defender, I say. Lest you forget the job Ruoff did on eventual lottery pick Jerryd Bayless in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Al was 6-foot-6 with long arms and if he wasn’t very fast back and forth, he was left to right. He learned to use his upper-body as he got bigger, which kept people from having their way with him on the way to or near the basket. The bigger point? That wasn’t a great defensive team last year.

Bob in Fairmont said:

My son is a decorated combat vet who fought two years in Iraq. Everywhere he went he made sure that his flying WV was prominently displayed. He was home on leave during the WVU-Louisville game two years ago. We asked WVU Athletics if he could have a ticket. They said no. We asked President Hardesty. He said no. We emailed Governor Manchin. His people said no. We emailed the Governor of Kentucky who made sure that my son had two tickets.  

Well, that’s terrible, but the story in the blog has a happy ending. WVU is working with the gentleman who e-mailed me to help get vets the tickets.

Homer said:

Interesting approach, but this suit will get spiked quickly because it is going after the wrong target – if the NCAA licenses use of the logos, etc., it is the one withholding potential payment from the players with its rules. Similar cases cropped up when MLB Players Association tried to keep fantasy sites from using player names and statistics – it’s been found that if you could have retrieved the information elsewhere (in this case, NCAA school rosters on web sites and media guides) and it’s newsworthy, then you don’t have the right to earn money off that information.  

I think you’re onto something there … and maybe Keller is, too. Perhaps he’s working his way toward a larger goal and this just opens the door.

JP said:

I don’t know what kind of a bug Sam Keller has in his ear, but student-athletes _should_ be better compensated for the revenues they bring to their schools.

I agree — and maybe this is the larger goal. Funnel some of that income to the students!

Erinn said:

Someone should give him a “Welcome to Huggs-town” shirt. 

Definitely.

JP said:

That’s almost as bad as Florida International Provost Ronald Berkman: “I’m glad to welcome you all and to welcome Isiah Thompson as FIU’s basketball coach.”  

No. It’s not even close to as bad as “Isaiah Thompson.” 

StraightOuttaNorthCentral said:

I’ve been laying low, comment-wise, recently for no other reason than I’ve been too busy to think of anything interesting to say about anything. However, for some reason, reading this made me immediately think that having Branko around will be good for keeping order on the field in practices and games. I mean, is there any way Marvin Graves flips out and hits Tommy Orr in the back of the head with the ball if he knows there’s an MMA guy on the field?

I can’t wait for Lil Bully. Stew always says there’s a method to the madness.

The real MMA fighter said:

I can enter MMA (mixed martial arts) and dominate that, too. What is this little kid thinking? MMA is a total different animal then in football. Maybe those rednecks in WV fighting in those 4th rated so-call half witted promoted barnhouse wanna a be UFC fights may call themselves MMA fighters NOT!
By the way which National event this boy place? HIGH SCHOOL because he did not and cannot place in Free or/and Greco (It is not called Nationals)
It is called National (If more then one country participates than it would be NationalS. If he has any chance he will get out of WV and come West.  

Really? 

Karl said:

Let’s just see if he can muster up the intestinal fortitude to head down to Charleston and take on the War Pig

Enjoy the weekend!