Kudos to Local Shill on the Rivals boards for pointing this out.
On October 24th, ESPN has decided to air Illinois (1-4) at Purdue (1-5) on ESPN 2 over UConn (3-2) at West Virginia (4-1), and USF (5-0) at Pitt (4-1). The BE games are relegated to ESPN U and regional television. Both the Illini and Boilermakers are absolutely dreadful this year, winless in conference play, toiling at the very bottom of the Big Ten. That's quite the feat, considering that the Big Ten is as awful as ever. Once again (following 2007 and 2008), the Big Ten is, statistically, the worst BCS football conference according to Sagarin. Year-in year out, as far as unwarranted hype goes, Big Ten teams are on a pedestal with the perennial bust Notre Dame Fighting irish.
Yet, the Big East continues to get slighted. No one seriously questions the B10's BCS bid, although they arguably won't deserve it until Michigan returns to prominence. Money is certainly behind this travesty (likely owing to contractual issues), but this is just bad business. Who wouldn't rather see exciting West Virginia than these two cream puffs?
The only upside? As Troy Nunes Is an Absolute Magician points out, at least Big East fans will be spared three miserable hours of Pam Ward on commentary.