Most of us understand. (Some of us too well.) And now, again, so does the Big East.

Fans of the league, or at least teams within the league, may know the numbers by heart now.

So far, conference teams are 15-13 in all games.

They are 6-13 against FBS opponents and 1-10 against teams from BCS leagues.

Against Top 25 teams, the Big East is 0-5. No conference team has a spot in the major Top 25 polls.

Yes, the league is but a quarter of the way through the season. Surely a team (West Virginia?) will make the Top 25 by season's end.

But the chances to make non-conference statements are mostly gone. The league's big non-conference game of this week? Connecticut plays host to Vanderbilt in East Hartford.

Down the road, Louisville plays host to Memphis, Pittsburgh goes to Notre Dame and, on Nov. 27, South Florida visits Miami, Fla., and Boston College goes to Syracuse.

Of those games, Miami may still be a Top 25 opponent. Boston College, 2-1 now, has a chance to reach the level. But even if USF topples a ranked Miami, we're looking at 1-5, which would set the league back to the dark days of 2005, when Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech had just exited.

Back in 2005, the Big East went 1-7 against non-Big East Associated Press ranked teams. That also happened in 1997.

So odds are this won't be the worst season for the league in that respect. Still, it's not good.

In regard to the Top 25 rankings? The worst season for the conference was 1997. Syracuse was the only team ranked at the end of that season, and the highest slot for the then-Orangemen was No. 20 in the USA Today coaches' poll.

As I've written, there are no Big East teams ranked there now. Again, that will probably change. Again, though, it's not good.

The last comparison I can offer is the overall non-conference record. At 15-13, with a handful of games remaining, the conference is safe there. In 1995 and ''97, league teams went 13-20 (.394) in non-conference games. Even if Big East teams lose all remaining non-conference games, the league finishes 15-18 (.454).

So could this be the Big East's worst season ever? No. 1997 will retain the championship belt.

The fact, though, that I undertook research says something. The fact that WVU coach Bill Stewart got testy because he's been repeatedly asked about the league says something.

But it also asks something: What the heck?

The theories are endless. The best is the league has young quarterbacks. And, for the most part, that's true. But that explanation can't cover everything.

South Florida's B.J. Daniels started last year. He defeated Florida State, if memory serves. Rutgers' Tom Savage started, but now he's struggling. WVU's Geno Smith is playing well. Cincinnati's Zach Collaros threw for 305 yards and three scores last week - against Oklahoma. Syracuse's Ryan Nassib is second in the league in pass efficiency.

Besides, no one was saying that at the beginning of the season. Pittsburgh was supposed to be a league bully. Connecticut was supposed to be a dark horse. Cincinnati was supposed to have a nice passing attack. And West Virginia, the most respectable team so far, was supposed to challenge.

Remember when the Big Ten was threatening to pluck a team? Here's what commissioner John Marinatto said:

"We went through [an Atlantic Coast Conference raid]. Then we expanded to create what we have, our 16-school setup. Everyone said that wouldn't work. But we kept working and moving forward. Now we have the best basketball conference in the country and better football than we had before [the raid]."

Today he can point to 1997 and be technically correct. Something, however, is seriously wrong with the big picture. And it has to do with recruiting.

I understand scouting services aren't the end-all, but they are the best guides we have available. So for kicks I went to Rivals.com's team rankings and checked the service's take on the past three years. Do you know how many Big East teams landed Top 25 classes in those years?

None. The highest ranking given to any league team over that span is No. 27 to WVU both in 2009 and '10. Pitt had the No. 28 class in 2008.

Not one Top 25 class landed by teams primarily in the northeast, the most populous region in the United States.

According to Rivals.com, Pitt has secured a banner crop for 2011. But will those recruits be there in February? After the Panthers' start? After their belly flop on national TV against Miami?

One can point to the South, where football is king. And, OK, yes, give the SEC a nod. But the product put on the field this year by the Big East is nothing less than inexcusable. In the last few years there haven't been raids, unless you count on coaches. (That's another issue the league must address.) WVU is now facing NCAA charges. But has that been a league-wide problem? No.

By failing to put a better product on the field, the Big East is hurting itself in many ways. Sure, there's the perception. There's the argument over whether the league is worthy of an automatic BCS berth.

But it also hurts in regard to bowl lineups. The current one is less attractive than any in the past. Also, it kills Marinatto and company when it's time to negotiate a new television deal. Many believe the commissioner should have tried to renegotiate a deal after the ACC more than doubled its TV revenue. He said he would not now with three years left on the league's current basketball deal and four left on the current football contract.

"We have a contractual situation and we intend to honor that," he said a month ago.

The hope is, for his sake, he stuck by that. The man would look pretty silly trying to renegotiate now.

I understand there are cycles in sports. Leagues are up. Leagues are down. I understand the Big East is the little guy and is always, it seems, trying to fend off the ACC or Big Ten. I understand football is bigger in the South. I even understand the Big East office is working to improve its situation.

But hired hand Paul Tagliabue can't heat what the league is currently serving. The gas has to come from the schools and their coaching staffs.

Reach Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827, mitchvin...@wvgazette.com or follow him at http://twitter.com/MitchVingle.