Big East Football News

BIG EAST CONFERENCE ANNOUNCES 2007 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

PROVIDENCE, RI - The 2007 BIG EAST Conference football schedule was officially released on Feb. 1 by Commissioner Michael Tranghese. The schedule consists of 68 total games played over the course of 14 weeks and includes 28 conference contests. Of the league’s 40 non-conference games, 15 are against teams from the other five automatic qualifying conferences in the Bowl Championship Series and 12 are against teams who played in bowl games this past season. In addition, 10 national television broadcasts have already been slated for ESPN or ESPN2, with a number of other ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC broadcasts to be added later.

"As our BIG EAST Conference football programs continue to grow and improve themselves, so too will our level of national exposure,” stated BIG EAST Commissioner Michael Tranghese. “Coming off one of the greatest years in the history of BIG EAST football, we expect our national presence through scheduling and television to keep getting better.”

The league’s non-conference schedule includes a number of intriguing matchups versus top teams and top conferences: Washington at Syracuse on Friday, Aug. 31 (8:00 p.m, ESPN); Oregon State at Cincinnati on Thursday, Sept. 6 (7:30 p.m., ESPN); Navy at Rutgers on Friday, Sept. 7 (7:00 p.m., ESPN); USF at Auburn and Syracuse at Iowa on Saturday, Sept. 8; West Virginia at Maryland on Thursday, Sept. 13 (7:30 p.m., ESPN); Illinois at Syracuse, Louisville at Kentucky and Pittsburgh at Michigan State on Saturday, Sept. 15; North Carolina at USF on Saturday, Sept. 22; Louisville at NC State, Maryland at Rutgers and Pittsburgh at Virginia on Saturday, Sept. 29; Utah at Louisville on Saturday, Oct. 6; Connecticut at Virginia and Navy at Pittsburgh on Saturday, Oct. 13; and Mississippi State at West Virginia on Saturday, Oct. 20.

The league schedule kicks off on Saturday, Sept. 22 with Pittsburgh at Connecticut and Syracuse at Louisville. The following week, West Virginia travels to USF to open its conference schedule on Saturday, Sept. 29. Cincinnati and Rutgers will begin league action on Saturday, Oct. 6 in Piscataway, N.J. The current television schedule contains five Thursday night prime-time games, including Cincinnati hosting Oregon State (Sept. 6, ESPN) and West Virginia playing at Maryland (Sept. 13, ESPN) in non-conference matchups. The Thursday conference match-ups begin on Oct. 18 with USF at Rutgers (ESPN) and wind down with a pair of late-season battles with Louisville at West Virginia on Nov. 8 (ESPN) and Rutgers at Louisville on Nov. 29 (ESPN).

The ’07 schedule also includes three Friday primetime contests – Washington at Syracuse on Aug. 31 (ESPN), Navy at Rutgers on Sept. 7 (ESPN) and Rutgers at Army on Nov. 9 (ESPN2). On Saturday, Sept. 8 USF travels to Auburn with the contest being aired on either ESPN or ESPN2. The regular season will conclude on Saturday, Dec. 1 with Pittsburgh traveling to West Virginia for the 100th edition of the “Backyard Brawl” (ESPN/ESPN2). The BIG EAST is guaranteed at least 14 home games on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. Last season, that number increased to 21 and the ’07 schedule may equal or surpass that mark.

The BIG EAST is coming off a memorable 2006 campaign in which league teams combined for a 5-0 bowl record – the top bowl mark of any conference – and a 37-8 record versus non-conference opponents. Last season, the BIG EAST made Thursday night primetime ESPN contests a household favorite as a number of league contests broke network records. The West Virginia-Louisville contest on Thursday, Nov. 2, set a number of record highs. It ranked as the most-viewed Thursday night regular-season college football game ever on ESPN (4,915,915 households). It also ranked as the second most viewed regular-season college football game ever on ESPN for any day and was the most viewed BIG EAST Conference game ever in terms of households. The Louisville-Rutgers game on Thursday, Nov. 9 (ESPN) joined this list of top BIG EAST broadcasts. It ranked as the network’s fourth most-viewed regular season college football game ever (4,642,069 households). The game also delivered a 5.03 national rating. In addition, The West Virginia-Connecticut game on Friday, Oct. 20, was the most viewed regular-season Friday night game ever on ESPN (1,866,698 households).

Source: Big East Conference