Unless you live under a rock you know that there is a mass exodus from the Big East. Syracuse and Pitt are set to join the ACC. West Virginia already hit the road for the Big 12. UConn and Louisville have been trying to get out but seem trapped like it is Groundhog Day over and over again. Despite the exodus, the Big East braintrust has been slow to react since the defections started.

Lately, the Big East has been picking up some steam and they have six schools (Boise State, Houston, Memphis, San Diego State, SMU and UCF) that will be joining the conference for the 2013 season. Brett McMurphy from CBS Sports had an article a few days ago talking about how the Big East has been pushing Boise State to join the conference in 2012. He went on to say that Boise State has reached out to the WAC to see if they could support some of Boise's other sports programs if they do jump to the Big East. McMurphy also said he's talked to two other sources that think the Broncos will play the 2012 season in the Big East.

Just as the Big East was hit hard by defections, the Big East has now hit the lower rungs of the FBS hard. So hard in fact that the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA will both be folding and merging into one conference. Let's take a look at this new conference from an East/West perspective:

Pitt came into 2011 with high expectations after going 8-5 and dismissing Dave Wannstedt. Todd Graham was plucked from Tulsa to lead the Panthers into the future. When we talked to the Pitt Script blog before the season they thought Pitt could manage through an easy early schedule and a potentially light Big East to finish 9-3. When we did our Big East preview we tabbed Pitt for a second place finish. Unfortunately for Pitt, the script didn't go as planned and they finished just 6-6 in the regular season. To rub salt into the wound, Graham took off and headed out West with his tail between his legs to Arizona State. Pitt will now be on it's fourth Head Coach in less than two years as they head into 2012. Once again we caught up with the Pitt Script Blog to get their take on the 2011 Pittsburgh Panthers and also take a brief look at 2012.

CFBZ: To say Pitt has had issues on the coaching front would be understating it. Most recently Todd Graham put his tail between his legs and headed West. What are the expectations for new coach Paul Chryst in year one?

In 2010, the Boilermakers started out 4-2 but finished just 4-8. After being riddled with injuries Purdue re-vamped it's Strength and Conditioning program. Pre-Season expectations were for improvement but the question of how much improvement was left to be seen. When we talked to Boiled Sports before the season, they said a successful season would be going .500 (or better) and getting back to a bowl game. We tabbed the Boilermakers to finish 5th in their half of the Big Ten (as did Phil Steele in his preview magazine). When all was said and done Purdue finished in 3rd place in their half of the conference by going 7-6 overall and 4-4 in the Big Ten. So was the season a success? We caught up with Ryan from Boiled Sports to get his take on the 2011 Purdue Boilermakers and also get a quick glimpse into what 2012 might hold...

CFBZ: When we did our Pre-Season Preview you said a winning record and a bowl game would make the season a success. Now that the season is over and the Boilermakers went 7-6 do you see this season as a success?

While neither the Big 12 nor Big East Conferences have issued statements or 2012 schedules yet, the news media reports that West Virginia has negotiated a release from its membership agreement with the Big East and will join the Big 12 in July.

Farewell Mountaineers.

As a Big East fan, that’s an honest sentiment. I don’t begrudge them an opportunity to take on a new challenge. But I won’t say that I admire the manner in which the move was made.

Just a year ago, the Big East football was in a comfort zone, looking forward to TCU’s arrival in the 2012 season and hopes for still more expansion as a conference on the rise.

Then came the perfect storm.

In 2003/2004, under Urban Meyer, the Utes took the next step onto the National stage. During those years they went 22-2 and 13-1 in the Mountain West Conference. Kyle Whittingham stepped in and has filled Meyer's shoes quite nicely. While Utah was in the MWC he posted an overall record of 58-20 (and 35-13 in-conference). In 2011, the Utes would face a new challenge. The expanded Pac-12.

When we talked to Sean from the Utah based blog Block U before the season he said he thought Utah would go 8-4 and contend for the Pac-12 South Title. Of course, he didn't know their starting QB Jordan Wynn would go down with an injury and only play in four games. Lucky for Utah that they drew just about the easiest possible Pac-12 schedule. Sure they played at USC early in the season but they missed out on both Oregon and Stanford. The Utes came dangerously close to Sean's prediction as they came from behind to beat Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl to finish the season at 8-5. It wasn't the best season for Utah as they went 4-5 in their inaugural season in the Pac-12 (the division winner UCLA went just 5-4) but all things considered I think it could have been a lot worse. Once again we caught up with Block U to get their take on the 2011 season and take a brief glimpse into what 2012 has in store for the Utes.

CFBZ: Utah had a pretty easy Pac-12 schedule in their debut year (no Oregon and no Stanford). Do you consider this season a success? no comments

#1 The Urban Effect

To say that Urban Meyer's arrival at Ohio State has been controversial would be putting it mildly.  The Buckeyes landed the big fish in the coaching pond when they signed Meyer, but there was grumbling from the get-go, first from people taking shots at Meyer for returning to the sport only a year after health issues and an alleged desire to spend more time with his family had forced him to retire, and then from opposing coaches and fans when Meyer hit the recruiting trail.  Since former Buckeye coach Luke Fickell and his staff stayed in place through the Gator Bowl, Meyer and his staff had nothing to do but recruit -- and oh how they recruited.  They took the Big Ten by storm, flipping several big-time recruits that had been verbally committed to other programs and landing several other blue chippers that hadn't yet made up their minds.  By the time they were down they had a top-5 class dripping with talent -- and a host of rival coaches who were already pissed at Meyer.  But all of the sour grapes bitching from the likes of Wisconsin's Bret Bielema and Michigan State's Mark Dantonio can't obscure the undeniable reality: Urban Meyer has changed the way things are done in the Big Ten and the onus is on the rest of the league to catch up now or get left in his dust.  The only sour note for Ohio State in December and January was the sound of the NCAA sanctions slamming down on them, most notably in the form of a post-season ban in 2013.  Ohio State's return to greatness is going to be delayed at least one year thanks to that little issue.

We had high expectations for Oklahoma this season as we tabbed them #1 in our Pre-Spring Top Ten and picked them #2 when push came to shove and we put out our Pre-Season rankings. Unfortunately, the Sooners were hit with tragedy and injuries before the season even kicked off. The Sooners jumped out to a 6-0 record with quality wins over FSU and Texas but everything went sideways on October 22nd. 

On that date the #3 ranked Sooners fell behind Tommy Tuberville's Texas Tech Red Raiders 31-7 in the 3rd quarter. OU put together a furious rally but fell three points short and had the first blemish on their record. The Sooners rebounded nicely by squashing Kansas State and putting away Texas A&M to climb to 8-1 on the season. While the Texas A&M win was a sweet send-off against the Aggies, it was bittersweet as the Sooners lost star WR Ryan Broyles for the season. In the very next game, RG3 cemented his Heisman Trophy candidacy with an improbably game-winning TD pass to give the Sooners their second loss of the season. 

The Sooners would finish the season a respectable 10-3 but far from their original goals when the season started. Star QB Landry Jones will be back for another year and Bob Stoops has made some changes on the coaching staff. Oklahoma will definitely be one of the teams to watch in 2012. To get a local perspective on the Oklahoma Sooners 2011 season, and a sneak peak into 2012, we caught up with Allen Kenney from Blatant Homerism and Crystal Ball Run.

CFBZ: There were huge expectations on Oklahoma this year and they finished 10-3 on the season after tragedy and injuries. Do you consider this year a success, a failure or somewhere in between?

It took Steve Spurrier six seasons, but in 2010 he took South Carolina to their first SEC Championship Game. Despite going to the Championship Game they lost five times (two of them to National Champion Auburn). There were a lot of questions surrounding whether South Carolina had arrived or if they just benefited from a weak SEC East. Coming into 2011, the Gamecocks were one of the favorites to win the SEC East (in our pre-season predictions we had them #18 overall and voted them into a tie for the SEC East and Phil Steele had them 14th overall and 2nd in the SEC East).

So how did the Gamecocks fare? If I would have told you before the season that they would lose their starting QB (Stephen Garcia) and star RB (Marcus Lattimore) prior to the end of the season most would have thought the Gamecocks would have fallen to third or even fourth in the SEC East. Despite losing two key offensive cogs, the Gamecocks finished with the most wins in school history (11) and won double digits games for the first time since 1984. We talked with the guys behind the South Carolina Gamecocks based website Leftover Hot Dog to get their take on the 2011 season and take a brief glimpse into 2012.

CFBZ: What is the lasting memory you will have of this season?

Because of their disastrous finish to 2010, the Spartans flew under the radar a bit coming into 2011. We had them at #15 in our Pre-Season Preview but Phil Steele had them at #28. Coming into 2011, the Spartans had the third most offensive production, in the Big Ten, returning from 2010. It played out that way on the field as the Spartans finished 4th in the Big Ten in Total Offense and third in Scoring Offense. The offense was a big part for the Spartans success in 2011 but what made the difference this year was their improvement on defense. The Spartans had a decrease of 4 point per game allowed and gave up 76.4 yards less per game. After a loss to Notre Dame, an experienced offense and an improved defense led them to back-to-back-to-back wins over Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin. They finished off the season at 10-2 but fell to Wisconsin in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game on the strength of a very iffy roughing the punter call against the Spartans. After coming from behind to beat Georgia in the Outback Bowl, the Spartans finished the season at 11-3 and ranked #11 in our final poll. We caught up with our friends from the Michigan State based blog A Beautiful Day for Football to get their take on the 2011 season and catch a brief glimpse of what's in store for 2012.

CFBZ: Michigan State had a really good year and beat Georgia in the Outback Bowl to close it out strong. What is the lasting memory you will have of this season?

When Urban Meyer was named Head Coach at the Ohio State University everybody thought he would be successful. I'm not sure they thought he would be successful this quickly. Meyer has always been a top notch recruiter and his recruiting has ruffled some feathers in the B1G. Meyer flipped Wisconsin verbal commit OL Kyle Dodson and Michigan State verbal commit Se'Von Pittman. Those weren't the only recruits. Meyer finished his class with four signees who had first given their verbal to Penn State and four more (including Dodson and Pittman) that had first given their verbal commitments elsewhere.

What do the B1G coaches think of Urban Meyer coming in and taking their recruits?

"They've got a new coach, and it's different," Dantonio (Michigan State Head Coach) said. "I would say it's pretty unethical, in the end."

"Jim Tressel and Mark Dantonio would never call or talk to each other's commitments. People coach Dantonio knows well don't come in and take players away. When you do, you lose friendships over that."- Pat Narduzzi, Michigan State DC