While the Big East Conference only had a 22-year run as a football conference, it still was quite a successful stretch. Formed originally as a basketball-only conference, the league stepped up for Division I-A football starting in 1991. Overall, the Big East posted a .553 overall winning percentage along with a 56-42 record in bowl games and a whopping 51 finishes in the final Associated Press poll. Not bad for a hoops league, really.

5. 2009

The conference was tops in the FBS with a .627 winning percentage, while sending six of its eight teams to bowl games and seeing three of those teams finish in the AP Top 25. That’s pretty impressive. Cincinnati went 12-0 to win the league and earn a Sugar Bowl berth, before losing there to Florida and finishing No. 8. Pittsburgh posted a 10-3 record to finish No. 15, and West Virginia went 9-4 to wind up No. 25 in the nation.

4. 2001

Miami-FL won the MNC while posting a perfect 12-0 record and finishing No. 1 in the polls. But Syracuse (10-3, No. 14), Virginia Tech (8-4, No. 18), and Boston College (8-4, No. 21) also had very successful seasons. The Hokies were the only school to lose a bowl game, as Pittsburgh stepped up to win the Tangerine Bowl, while the Orange won the Insight Bowl, and the Eagles won the Music City Bowl. Seems hard to top this.

3. 2007

The .594 winning percentage was second in the FBS, topped by league champion West Virginia (11-2, No. 6) after its Fiesta Bowl victory. Cincinnati also reached double digits in wins (10) while finishing ranked No. 17 in the AP poll. Despite just eight teams in the conference, five of them went to bowl games: Rutgers (W), South Florida (L), and Connecticut (L) also reached the postseason with varying results. Hard to complain.

2. 2000

With Miami (11-1, No. 2) and Virginia Tech (11-1, No. 6) both ending the season on very high notes, the Big East once again had the top winning percentage in the nation (.602). Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and Boston College also went to bowl games. The Hurricanes (Sugar), the Hokies (Gator), the Mountaineers (Music City), and the Eagles (Aloha Classic) all won their matchups, while the Panthers (Insight) lost theirs.

1. 2006

With a .644 winning percentage, the Big East was the best conference in the nation again. Louisville won the league, posting a 12-1 record overall with an Orange Bowl victory and the No. 6 AP ranking. West Virginia (No. 10) and Rutgers (No. 12) both posted 11-2 record, while finishing high in the polls, too. A 5-0 bowl record included wins by Cincinnati and South Florida as well. This is as good a peak season as any ever.