Temple and UConn played during the day today, but the game definitely continued some dark days for the state of Big East football.

The Owls, who a little more than a week ago could be seen trading costly gaffes and fumbles with MAC foe Central Michigan, defeated UConn 30-16. It’s another huge blow for the Big East, which has already had sub-standard results this season.

UConn was thought by some national media types to be the favorite in the Big East, but after this loss and the Week 1 drubbing at the hands of Denard Robinson and Michigan, the Huskies definitely don’t look like a team that should finish on top of any BCS conference. Cincinnati, the defending Big East champion, has looked about as pathetic — minus the loss to a MAC team, that is — losing to Fresno State and NC State. With Oklahoma coming up next week, the Bearcats, who were unbeaten in the regular season a year ago, are staring 1-3 straight in the face.

West Virginia appears to be the most competent team in the conference, but even the Mountaineers needed overtime to beat Marshall. They do have a chance to earn the conference some respect, however, next week at LSU. With Les Miles coaching, who knows what could happen there, but if I had to put money on it now, I’d go with the Tigers.

With the emergence of non-automatic qualifying conferences, namely the Mountain West, you’d think the Big East would need to start proving itself to keep its spot among the six power conferences. Sadly, money probably won’t allow them to fall out of that, or let the MWC move up, even though it’s looking more and more superior to the Big LEast with each passing week.