What is the relationship between your school & the state one

[Bluejay]

Had Notre Dame committed to BE football, then the conference would still be intact and the ACC would be the conference in a world of hurt. None of the schools would've ever left BE if they had a footbal conference headlined by ND and it would've been 1 of the best conferences in college football, year in and out.

It might have stayed together, but no way in hell would it have "been 1 of the best conferences in college football, year in and out."

This may be news to those residing on the east coast, but in the midwest and the south, where college football is a much bigger deal, Big East football was always the subject of jokes and ridicule. The most common refrain, even before the most recent football departures, was "How in the heck does the Big East get/deserve a BCS bid?" Many considred the MWC to be a better FB conference and, in the most recent past, it is hard to argue that point. Let's be honest, even with Notre Dame, the rest of the big east football programs were pretty weak, especially when compared to the SEC, Big 12, Big 10, etc. Despite winning the BE, UConn, PItt and Louisville's football programs at their absolute best would have had a hard time competing against the best teams from the other conferences. Add to that the fact that for most of the last decade, last year notwithstanding, Notre Dame was not really one of the top programs either.

Everything that Big East basketball was, Big East football was not.

Big East Football would be....
Norte Dame
PItt
Syracuse
Va Tech
Miami
Boston College
West Virgina
Rutgers
Temple
Uconn (if they move up)

7 name brands with Norte Dame as leader. That conference would be in the discussion as much as ACC.

ACC Conference
Clemson
Duke
MD
NC
NC State
South Carolina
VA
Wake Forrest
GA Tech
FSU

FYI - everything I said the southerners and midwesterners said about BE football is also said about ACC football, albeit on a slightly lesser scale. There is a reason that I specifically mentioned the SEC, Big 12 and Big 10 when talking about football and neglected the ACC.

To most college football fans, the ACC is Florida St and a bunch of other schools. Va Tech and Miami don't garner much respect any more. Oh - and losing Boston College may have been one of the best things to happen to the BE; BC has fallen off of the face of the entire college athletics landscape and Boston is a horrible college sports town.

[Omaha1]

Nebraska is about to open a new arena for the mens basketball team and it seems like around every corner there is a swipe at Creighton. Mind you this is the same Nebraska team that has never won a single game in the NCAA tournament - ever. They've had every advantage financially and belonging to a power league for 100 years while Creighton became the state hoops power. I already can't wait for football season to end to get all Nebraska radio over with.

... the entire arena seems to fixate on center court. Seats are turned that way. Your eye is drawn there in a way that Creighton’s dark, drab court design cannot command.

WTF? 17,000 people come to every Creighton game and the writer from the Omaha newspaper complains that the court at Nebraska is better because ours is too drab?

[mel ott]

Nebraska is about to open a new arena for the mens basketball team and it seems like around every corner there is a swipe at Creighton. Mind you this is the same Nebraska team that has never won a single game in the NCAA tournament - ever. They've had every advantage financially and belonging to a power league for 100 years while Creighton became the state hoops power. I already can't wait for football season to end to get all Nebraska radio over with.

... the entire arena seems to fixate on center court. Seats are turned that way. Your eye is drawn there in a way that Creighton’s dark, drab court design cannot command.

WTF? 17,000 people come to every Creighton game and the writer from the Omaha newspaper complains that the court at Nebraska is better because ours is too drab?

I believe this is the same clown who said last year that the Skurs and the Jays had basically the same talent if you took away Doug. He is a football writer and continues to show his bias and stupidity when it comes to bball. It is also that time of the year ( more so than usual) when every article in the paper is big red football. Now for prime coverage, we get articles to know what the players like to eat and get in depth reports on the #3 fullback. Fascinating.

[handdownmandown]

I have a different reason for mildly rooting for Husker FB while stuffing the rest of the sports there.

I was an Air Force brat and grew up as the son of a CU grad mom and Nebraska-Omaha grad dad. As someone who was more or less a Nebraskan but moved around a ton, the only reason that the state of Nebraska lodged in non-Nebraskan's minds is the football team (assuming they weren't stationed at Offutt at some point). Without it, in the eyes of the majority of the US, we'd be on par with North Dakota or Wyoming or any of those obscure states. Once in awhile someone knew something else about Nebraska, but not often.

Now that Warren Buffett has become one of the most unlikely pop icons in history, there are two things that non-Midwesterners know about Omaha and Nebraska. But I think that it's in the best interests of the state for the football team to represent well. So I keep an eye on them, and hope they, at the least, don't suck.

As for all the diehard Husker fans that have no relation to the university, let 'em. Everyone needs an outlet.

[ccaibew1225]

A lot of Butler grads came from a state other than Indiana and are probably indifferent to IU, Purdue, and ND. However, those of us who grew up in Indiana or later adopted Indiana as our home State generally root for at least one of the other schools. Certainly, IU and Purdue fans have no love for one another. I grew up in W. Lafayette ( home of Purdue) graduated from Butler and Indiana Law School at Indianapolis and my two kids went to IU. I root for Butler first in basketball, then Purdue, then IU and finally ND. Some Butler fans are anti ND because, after playing them twice a year for a long time they dropped us. Supposedly, because their BE schedule did not leave room for us. Maybe the real reason was that we beat them regularly!