Remember that ESPN commercial where a fuming Evander Holyfield stalks the network studios searching for Charley Steiner and demanding, "Charley, come get your whuppin'"?

Big East's best

MVP Dorsey Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey lost his two top receivers (Santana Moss and Reggie Wayne) and his top runner (James Jackson), but the junior's statistics hardly reflect it. Take out the four-interception fiasco against Boston College and Dorsey has thrown 22 TD passes and only four interceptions with one regular-season game remaining. Dorsey's most important stat is his 24-1 record as a starter. Coach of the Year Sure, Miami's Larry Coker has better players than probably anybody else in college football, but the rookie coach was smart enough to step aside and let that talent work for him. Coker also did it the right way, refusing to run up scores, even when it would have benefitted the Hurricanes. Biggest Surprise Syracuse was picked to finish fifth in the conference, but will end up second. Coach Paul Pasqualoni was a candidate to be fired early in the year, but probably deserves a long-term contract after leading the Orangemen to nine wins in their final 10 regular-season games. Biggest Disappointment The way the Big East handled Temple's situation. Is the Owls' program any worse off than Rutgers? One of the reasons Temple is getting booted out of the conference following the 2004 season is poor attendance, but the Owls' average turnout (18,440) wasn't measurably worse than Rutgers' (20,445) this season. Note to the Big East: Temple has finished in fifth or sixth place four of the past five seasons.

That's the way Big East teams felt this season when facing conference bully Miami. For the second consecutive season, the Hurricanes marched through league opponents with little resistance.

Boston College came nine yards away from beating Miami, but then the Hurricanes pulled off the miracle play that teams must get in order to win the national championship.

Virginia Tech gets the final crack at the Hurricanes on Saturday. If the Hokies can't pull off the upset in Blacksburg, where Miami hasn't won since 1992, the Big East will have its second finalist in the national championship game in the past three seasons.

The conference had four teams ranked at one time this season and will have five representives in bowls if Pittsburgh can win its regular-season finale against Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday.

The usual suspects are lurking at the bottom of the standings.

Boston College
The Eagles (7-4, 4-3) had a chance to finish as the Big East runnerup for the first time in school history, but blew that opportunity with a loss to Syracuse last week. Boston College's wins look pretty good until one realizes that it beat teams with a combined record of 20-52. None of those opponents currently has a winning record. Still, a third straight bowl appearance is something to cheer about.

MVP: Tailback William Green was sensational, rushing for more than 100 yards in every game except one. Green finished the regular season second nationally with an average of 155.9 yards per game.

Biggest disappointment: Green's one-game suspension against No. 1 Miami may have been the difference in the Eagles' hard-fought 18-7 loss to the Hurricanes.

Did you know?: The Eagles have lost 20 straight games to ranked teams. BC's last win against a Top 25 team was in the 1994 Aloha Bowl versus No. 11 Kansas State.

Miami
There's talk in South Florida that this year's edition of Hurricanes (10-0, 6-0) is the school's best ever. That's a bit premature, especially since Miami still has to beat Virginia Tech on Saturday before it can think of winning a fifth national championship. But, the Hurricanes have been unmistakably impressive, winning by an average margin of 37 points while on the verge of setting school records for points scored and points allowed.

MVP: There are those who say offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie and safety Edward Reed had better seasons than quarterback Ken Dorsey. Not Miami coach Larry Coker. "We're not a very good team without Ken Dorsey," Coker said. "I think that's pretty well documented."

Biggest disappointment: Attendance at the Orange Bowl. Miami may have the best team in the country, but the Hurricanes also have the most fickle fans in Division I-A. The team's average attendance of 47,162 ranked only fourth in the Big East.

Did you know?: Coker can become the first rookie coach to win a national championship since Bennie G. Oosterbaan did it at Michigan in 1948.

Pittsburgh
It's been a tale of two seasons for the Panthers (5-5, 4-3). After being picked to finish third in the conference, Pittsburgh began the season 1-5 and was on the verge of imploding before embarking on its current four-game win streak. If the Panthers beat Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday, they will become bowl eligible for the second consecutive season. Pittsburgh hasn't been in the postseason in back-to-back seasons since its nine-year run from 1975-83.

MVP: Quarterback David Priestley was on the doorstep of losing his starting job before getting hot during the second half. Priestley prospered despite getting little help from the 87th-ranked rushing attack in the Division I-A.

Biggest disappointment: A 35-26 loss to South Florida that opened newly-built Heinz Field and sent the Panthers' into a five-game tailspin. The lesson learned? Don't stock the patsy part of your schedule with teams from Florida.

Did you know?: If the Panthers beat UAB and earn a bowl berth, the only coaches to lead Pittsburgh to the postseason more often than Walt Harris in the school's 112-year history will be Pop Warner, Jack Sutherland and Jackie Sherrill.

Rutgers
A season that began with so much optimism, thanks to the hiring of coach Greg Schiano, finished with this gnawing question: Should Rutgers (2-9, 0-7) give up Division I-A football? The Scarlet Knights scored 14 touchdowns -- or three more than they gave up in one game to West Virginia. As if things could get any worse, Rutgers finished the regular season with a loss at home to California, which had lost 13 straight times coming into the game. MVP: Punter Mike Barr set the single-season school record for punts (84), yards (3,526) and average (42.0). When a punter is your team's most outstanding player, you've got problems.

Biggest disappointment: A two-game stretch during midseason in which the Scarlet Knights lost to Connecticut and Syracuse by a combined eight points. The loss to Syracuse was particularly painful. Schiano benched sophomore Ryan Sands, who had been perfect, for Steve Barone. Barone proceeded to miss three field goals in the seven-point defeat.

Did you know?: Plenty of negative statistics to choose from. We'll use this one: Rutgers' 119 points scored were its fewest since 1965.

Syracuse
With Miami in the conference, second place was the best anyone else could hope for. That's where the Orangemen (9-3, 6-1) finished, which appeared impossible after they opened the season with lackluster efforts against Georgia Tech and Tennessee. A solid defense gave R.J. Anderson time to develop at quarterback and the Orange finished by winning nine of their last 10 games.

MVP: Defensive end Dwight Freeney had arguably the best season by a defensive player in Big East history, setting an NCAA record with 17 1/2 sacks while adding eight forced fumbles and 27 tackles for lost yardage.

Biggest disappointment: That a decision wasn't made earlier to go with sophomore R.J. Anderson as the starting quarterback. It probably cost Syracuse the Georgia Tech game.

Did you know?: Syracuse is guaranteed to finish with a winning record for the 15th consecutive season. Only Nebraska (40) and Michigan (17) have longer streaks. Florida State came into the season with 24 straight winning seasons, but with a 6-4 record and two games remaining, is not assured of extending that streak.

Temple
It was hard not to root for the Owls (4-7, 2-5). They deserve better than to get kicked out of the conference, especially when the option is Connecticut, a school that Temple clobbered, 56-7, in last week's regular-season finale. The Owls, gone after the 2004 season, could have gotten a last laugh by making it to the postseason. But, Temple couldn't overcome a mistake-prone offense and ended with its 11th straight losing season.

MVP: Receiver Sean Dillard led the Big East with 51 receptions and 747 yards, an exceptional accomplishment when one considers that Temple had one of the worst passing games in college football.

Biggest disappointment: There was hope that Temple would finally break through with a winning season for the first time since 1990. But a 2-7 start, nixed that idea.

Did you know?: Temple's back-to-back four-win seasons make it the school's most successful two-year run since the 1984 and 1985 teams combined to win 10 games.

Virginia Tech
The Hokies (8-2, 4-2) moved into the Top 5 at one point, but proved to be something of a paper tiger. A soft early schedule did not prepare Virginia Tech when Syracuse paid a visit to Blacksburg on Oct. 27 and snapped the Hokies' 16-game home win streak. They were still reeling a week later and were blasted out of the conference race by Pittsburgh. Still, Virginia Tech will feel pretty good about itself if it can pull a Colorado-style upset on Saturday against No. 1 Miami.

MVP: Senior linebacker Ben Taylor keyed a no-name defense that ranked among the nation's best. Taylor will finish the year with more than 100 tackles for the second season in a row.

Biggest disappointment: Losing tailback Lee Suggs in the season opener on the heels of Michael Vick's departure was a 1-2 punch that eventually caught up to the Hokies. Replacement Keith Burnell and Kevin Jones did an adequate job, but they didn't come close to matching Suggs' production during the 2000 season.

Did you know?: Virginia Tech has registered a winning record for nine straight seasons, its longest run since stringing 10 consecutive winning campaigns from 1921-30.

West Virginia
Where have you gone Don Nehlen? First-year coach Rich Rodriguez's spread offense never worked very well and the defense, especially against the run, was atrocious. The Mountaineers (3-8, 1-6), who had never finished below fifth in the conference, end the season seventh, ahead only of doormat Rutgers.

MVP: If it wasn't for junior tailback Avon Cobourne, things probably would have been a lot worse in Morgantown. Cobourne's 1,299 yards rushing accounted for nearly a third of West Virginia's offense.

Biggest disappointment: Rodriguez never got the kind of quarterback play that his offensive philosophy demands. The Mountaineers more than doubled their nine touchdown passes with 19 interceptions.

Did you know?: The Mountaineers' 3-8 record was the school's worst since 1978 when coach Frank Cignetti's went 2-9. In the 22 years since, West Virginia had won at least six games 16 times.