from the blog of C. Trent Rosecrans, writer for the Cincinnati Post:

Cheer up, Mike

Although they would never publicly say it, I'm sure the Big East office was as unhappy with South Florida's victory at West Virginia as they were UC's win against Rutgers. Neither was good for the top teams in the Big East, although they could always say it proves the depth in Big East football.

Well, South Florida's victory at West Virginia cost the Mountaineers a BCS spot and just about any chance of getting two Big East teams in the BCS. It also cost each Big East school, including UC and South Florida, about $400,000 each (from BCS payout to the conference).

So, well, we understand if it's not the happiest day for Big East commish Mike Tranghese.

So, Mike, here's some links to cheer you up -- 1, 2, and 3. Those links are to ebay, where tickets to the ACC Championship Game in Jacksonville are going for more than $100 under face value. With Wake Forest and Georgia Tech headed to the championship game, the ACC has two teams with two of the smallest fanbases headed to its largest stage.

When the ACC raided the Big East in 2003, Tranghese said the ACC "blind-sided" him and , "I think those of us that are involved have had enough of it. I think the public is disgusted with us all, to be honest with you."

Well, now he can sit back and take the high road.

The new, 12-team ACC was supposed to be a super-confernece and even challenge the SEC and Big 10 (11) for football superiority. The Big East, conventional wisdom said, was a basketball superconference and the football wouldn't survive and should have its BCS affiliation taken away for football.

On today's most recent AP poll, the highest-ranked ACC team, No. 14 Virginia Tech, is behind two Big East teams. The two teams in the championship game are both ranked behind three Big East teams.

Yesterday the ACC had three out-of-conference rivalry games with SEC teams -- all three SEC teams won, two of them were unranked and beat ranked ACC teams (Georgia over Georgia Tech and South Carolina over Clemson).

So, Mike Tranghese, I'm sure it was a tough day seeing millions of dollars leave the conference, schedenfruede may not be as satisfying, but, well, it's better than nothing.