By Chris O’Grady

I guess we all knew this would come. When Louisville moved from the Conference USA to the Big East Conference beginning in 2005, it seemed to everyone that it was to be a basketball conference, with football as a nice afterthought. Traditional Big East football schools Miami (FL), Virginia Tech and Boston College left for the Atlantic Coast Conference and were replaced by traditionally basketball-rich Louisville, Cincinnati and Marquette. But, five years later, some schools had us convinced the Big East could play some football as well.

Headlined by U of L’s magic almost undefeated run for the Orange Bowl 2007, the Big East used its first five years to break through the stereotype, while the ACC struggled. Rutgers thrived with Ray Rice at running back, West Virginia ran all over the Appalachians under quarterback Pat White, and last season’s Cincinnati team made a run to the Sugar Bowl. Improved programs at South Florida and Connecticut made the Big East relevan, among the elite.

But such an empire would be short lived. With only a couple weeks of non-conference games remaining this season, the Big East has looked pitiful – going 1-11 against other Bowl Championship Series opponents in the season’s first four weeks. It seems the trend of surprising success has run dry, and the lack of conference parity is sucking the Big East dry.

Perhaps it’s the allure of bigger lights and brighter places – see former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez or former U of L coach Bobby Petrino – or that many college prospects see playing in the SEC or ACC as more inviting.

Teams that were supposed to fill the void in the Big East this year – here’s looking at you Pittsburgh – have dropped the ball. Of the eight teams in the league, only four have winning records in non-conference play, which is where good teams pick up easy wins. Among the conference leaders thus far are Syracuse, who added more Division I-AA teams than you’ll see on any schedule, and South Florida, whose two wins came over Stony Brook and Western Kentucky.

Last year’s champion Cincinnati, who lost coach Brian Kelly to Notre Dame, has lost to Fresno State and North Carolina State already, with their only win coming over Indiana State. UConn, everyone’s sleeper pick for surprise team, came up very short against Michigan in the season opener, and then dropped a game to Temple. And let’s not forget Pittsburgh, this season’s most overrated team, who looked awful in a loss to Miami (FL). Running back Dion Lewis was heralded as the conference’s best player, but has managed a mere 3 yards per carry and is not even the leading rusher on his team.

It looks as if West Virginia is the best bet to win the conference, a team fighting to save the job of beloved coach Bill Stewart, who has failed to live up to the expectations left by Rodriguez. But the Mountaineers look little better than anyone else, as noticed in their overtime win against Marshall that required a steep last second comeback.

But all of this may actually be a positive for U of L fans. There is no frontrunner, no favorite, no BCS championship-bound team the caliber of which has come through in the last several seasons. And for a team in rebuilding, that may not be a bad thing. There will be no 40-point blowout at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. And while Louisville fans should probably not hop on the Cards-to-a-BCS-bowl bandwagon just yet, there should be plenty of competitive games remaining.

So, rather than sit through the growing pains and bad losses that come with Charlie Strong’s revival, Cardinal fans can watch some interesting games while waiting for the team to return to prominence. Well, that and wait for basketball season.

Chris O’Grady is a sophomore history major. E-mail him at sports@louisvillecardinal.com