Making the morning rounds.
• There will be a test. West Virginia's last-second, 30-27 win at South Florida Thursday night guaranteed the Mountaineers a share of the Big East championship alongside Louisville, but the league's automatic BCS berth will still be determined Saturday by two teams who have no opportunity to win it: Cincinnati and Connecticut. If the Bearcats beat UConn on Saturday, they'll force a three-way tie with Louisville and West Virginia at 5-2 in which each team is 1-1 against the other two — forcing the conference to go to the dreaded tiebreaker to choose its BCS rep:
THREE-WAY TIE
A "MINI-CONFERENCE" IS CREATED AMONGST THE THREE TIED TEAMSScenario I:
All three teams have either a 6-1 or 5-2 record and have each won one game and lost one game against the other tied teams in the mini-conference. In this case, the highest ranked team amongst the three [in the final BCS standings] earns the bid. If two of the three teams are tied for the highest ranking, the bid is earned by the team winning the head-to-head match up.
Currently, West Virginia is the only Big East team that even appears in the BCS standings, at No. 23. Ergo, a Cincinnati win is almost certain to send the Mountaineers on to the Orange Bowl. A Cincinnati loss, on the other hand, will force a two-way tie between Louisville and West Virginia, which will go to the Cardinals courtesy of their head-to-head win in Morgantown on Nov. 5.
In short, if you're not interested in a BCS bowl featuring an unranked, 7-5 team that finished dead last in the conference in scoring offense and suffered home losses at the hands of Florida International and Marshall, root for Cincinnati. [Associated Press]
• Sumlin of the Hour. Within nanoseconds of the first rumor of Mike Sherman's demise at Texas A&M, a wave of speculation descended on the most likely target to replace him: Houston's Kevin Sumlin. Sumlin spent two years in College Station on R.C. Slocum's staff in 2001-02, and was reportedly among the candidates to replace Dennis Franchione four years ago, when A&M hired Sherman. Instead, Sumlin landed in Houston and is on the verge of completing the first perfect season in school history.
Of course, with that track record, Sumlin is the most likely target for every job: He's also been connected to the opening at UCLA, and may have already been offered the job at Arizona State. But Chris Petersen would like to remind you, Kevin, that just because they call, it doesn't mean you have to answer. [Rivals, Houston Chronicle, Arizona Republic, ESPN Los Angeles]
• I will neither confirm nor deny, except to confirm. Former Arizona coach Mike Stoops doesn't want to talk about rumors of his future employment at Ohio State or anywhere else. As a matter of policy, it's just not something he's going to discuss. But if you insist, okay, yeah, he's been in contact with Urban Meyer about joining Meyer's staff in Columbus, most likely as defensive coordinator. "I don't comment on that stuff," Stoops told the Oklahoman. "But I can confirm that I have visited with coach Meyer." (Note: The linked article here is incorrect in stating outgoing head coach Luke Fickell has been retained as the Buckeyes' defensive coordinator: He'll remain on Meyer's staff, but has not been assigned a title.) [The Oklahoman]
• Something is happening here, but we don't know what it is. Following their original idea to its logical conclusion, Conference USA and the Mountain West are now considering a merger in all sports, according to UTEP athletic director Bob Stull, just a few months after the two leagues announced a pending merger in football only. Per Stull, the only remaining hurdles are a) Figuring who's in and who's out after the Big East takes its pick from both leagues, and b) Cutting through the red tape to formalize the marriage by next year.
"It will be done by the end of this year. There was a 90-day window that we thought we could even get transitioned to next year," Stull said. "But right now what's happening is all those people talking about going to the Big East, there's been a lot of obviously issues on that happening, so we don't really know who's in and who's out at this point." [Orlando Sentinel]
Quickly… The Big East returns West Virginia's latest legal volley. … Ohio State continues its fight to keep ESPN from reading Jim Tressel's e-mails. ... Matt Barkley lists his Heisman finalists, including Matt Barkley. … Urban Meyer on the recruiting trail. … Lane Kiffin welcomes Urban Meyer back to the recruiting trail. … The Georgia Dome is dolled up for the SEC Championship. … Auburn's broken eagle statue has an even deeper flaw. … And South Florida cheerleaders are ice cold, man.
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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.