Get a room.

That is what I wanted to tell Miami and the Big East after a recent commercial I witnessed while watching a replay of the West Virginia-East Carolina game on Home Team Sports.

At first glance I thought the spot was an ad for the University of Miami football. The first four plays were of the Hurricanes. I quickly realized, much to my disgust, that this was a commercial for the Big East Football Conference. Besides the all-out blitz of Miami propaganda, Syracuse and West Virginia were also prominently displayed on my television screen.

Now Virginia Tech did make the commercial, but if you blink you might miss them. One play was a quick cut to a Hokie receiver racing toward the end zone. Unfortunately I can't tell you who the player was because it only lasted about a second. The next Tech clip was particularly interesting. It showed what looked like former backup fullback Tommy Edwards celebrating after a Hokie victory. Fairly odd when you consider Edwards hasn't donned a Tech uniform in over three years.

Rest assured however, Miami was the main focus of this commercial masquerading as a Hokie laxative. It was enough to make a grown man sick.

Now I realize where the conference is coming from. Miami is obviously the league's trump card, having won four national championships and garnering the most national exposure. But the lack of Virginia Tech in this ad was obvious. Was it a subtle back stab to Tech for making the conference wait on an invitation to join for all sports? Do Mike Tranghese and the Big East head honchos just not like VT? Am I just paranoid? Who knows. I do know that the Big East has always seemed to slight Tech in this aspect and it is starting to get ridiculous.

Look at everything the Hokies have brought to Big East football.

For starters, Virginia Tech is still the only conference school to represent the Big East as a winner of an alliance bowl (now the Bowl Championship Series), downing Texas 28-10 in 1995. Syracuse sure didn't put up much of a showing against Kansas State and Florida the past two years. West Virginia hasn't won a bowl since Ronald Reagan's first term as president and Miami had been a non-factor on the national scene until a late season upset over second-ranked UCLA last year. Boston College has been stuck in a football blizzard for three years now.

Secondly, and probably most importantly, is the huge fan base Tech brings to whatever bowl game they go to. In my opinion, the Big East should be kissing the ground in Blacksburg that these Hokies walk on after securing a Big East tie-in to the Music City Bowl (now known as the Homesite.com bowl, if memory serves me correctly). Not only did Tech bring a mass horde of Hokies to Nashville, but VT turned the Crimson Tide into little more than a splash, scoring an impressive bowl win for the Big East.

It makes one wonder if Virginia Tech wouldn't be ranked number one in the nation with 70 first place votes if the league marketed the school in the same manner it does Miami. Before the loss to PSU, the Hurricanes were eighth in the Associated Press poll after a convincing victory against Ohio State in the Kickoff Classic. VT now happens to be enjoying a Hokie High of 8th in the AP and Coaches Poll after beating lowly James Madison and Alabama-Birmingham.

While the Big East is definitely missing out on an opportunity by not pushing Tech among the media, this much is for sure. To quote wrestling legend Ric Flair, "To be the man, you've got to beat the man". Miami hasn't done that in four years, and if Tech ups it dominance over Miami to a half-decade it will be interesting to see where the Big East stands in regards to Tech, especially if the Hokies can run the table.

-- Allen Worrell