I asked Brian Kelly about the Seattle Times report that he'd be interviewing for the Washington job this week:

"Let's see, that would go along with the Tennessee job and the Clemson job, again, I think all these are issues that come up when you're winning. Your name is going to be thrown around. There's nothing I can do to control what information gets out there. All I can tell you is that my focus is on the regular season, I've said that from Day 1 and that's my intention and that's what I'm sticking with."

"We talk to our team -- what we talk behind closed doors, obviously isn't what we talk about publically. They know what my intentions are and they're the only ones that really need to know that, because nobody else is distracted. If the players are distracted, the coaches are. So, we know what's going on. The rest of the stuff, I can't control what people talk about or write about. It's flattering my name is out there for these jobs because these are high-profile jobs that are looking to be successful. We like to be on that side of it, but our football team and our football coaches are really not distracted by this by any stretch of the imagination. We're focused on the next game."

* On the Hawaii game: "When you're looking at the development of your program, for me playing 13 games in year two wasn't going to be a guarantee, playing 12 was. Playing in a bowl game wasn't a guaranttee, so we try to take as many games -- Milke Thomas and I -- for the development of our program. That's why we looked at a 13th game in year two."

The NCAA allows an exception for a 13th game for teams willing to travel to Hawaii.

"We won the Big East championship, if we had to do it all over again would we say, OK maybe we don't need to play Hawaii? That's possible. But we were building their program knowing we wanted to bring in private investors in our program and continue to play our football team and 13 games in year two sounded like the right thing to do at the time."

"It's 32 degrees here and I think it's in the 80s, so that's always helps the attitude."

* Also, Jake Rodgers is the Big East Special Teams Player of the Week for his three field goals against Syracuse.

When he walked into UConn's Rentschler Field earlier this year, University of Cincinnati wide receiver Mardy Gilyard saw the sign for the Huskies' share of the 2007 Big East championship.

"I didn't know they were co-champions," Gilyard said. "Nobody remembers runners-up or co-champions. We didn't want to be co-anything."

The Bearcats aren't. Alone, Cincinnati is the Big East's 2008 champions -- the have the hats, t-shirts and orange juice-soaked field at Nippert Stadium to prove it.

Although UC clinched its BCS bid with Pittsburgh's victory over West Virginia on Friday, Gilyard said he did no celebrating until Saturday when the Bearcats defeated Syracuse 30-10 in front of 34,603 at Nippert Stadium.

When they finally did win, Gilyard fell to the ground, clinched oranges in each hand as he reached them to the sky, with another resting on his chest.

The Bearcats won't officially get their BCS bid until next week, but the Orange Bowl had two representatives at Nippert Stadium on Saturday and the Sugar Bowl had none.

UC also had the chance to lift the Big East championship trophy hand-delivered by new Big East commissioner John Marinatto and associate commissioner Nick Carparelli.

From there, senior defensive end Connor Barwin took it the length of the field, mobbed by teammates and fans alike, as UC celebrated its first Big East title in just its fourth year in the league. It was the school's first outright football title since 1964, when it won the Missouri Valley Confernece.

It was the fourth tropy hoisted by the Bearcats this season, along with its three rivalry trophies -- the Victory Bell (Miami University), the Keg of Nails (Louisville) and the River City Rivalry (Pittsburgh).

"This was the best one because it was the hardest to get," said Barwin.

It's also the best one because it could include a trip to Miami for the Orange Bowl.

Live from Nippert Stadium.

Well, the Big East title is in hand, but it would be a pretty bad loss if they dropped this to Syracuse. And the Hawaii game seems less-and-less like a good idea now. But, hey, it's a trip to Hawaii, and for those taking it, that can't be too bad.

Of course, nearly every game there seems to end in a fight. I know the last time UC was there it ended in a fight. And the last time I was there was when Alabama went and that ended in a fight.And that stadium is a complete dump.

I was surprise I had zero traffic coming in here today, I got here an hour-and-a-half early. But they are expected to have a full house today for this corronation.

The live blog will come up in a bit. I'll talk to Mo and see how we're handling it.

UC cornerback Mike Mickens had surgery on his knee to repair a torn miniscus on Monday, Bearcat coach Brian Kelly said on Tuesday.

Mickens is expected to be out three-to-four weeks, but should be able to play in a January bowl game. The Bearcats can clinch a Bowl Championship Series bowl with a victory over 3-8 Syracuse on Saturday.

* Kelly also talked about how much of the e-mail he's gotten lately from fans is based on the way ESPN portrayed the end of the UC-Louisville game. The ESPN announcers claimed Kelly didn't shake hands with Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe, but Kelly said he did.

Despite the oranges some University of Cincinnati fans brought to Nippert Stadium for Saturday's 28-21 victory over Pittsburgh, the Bearcats haven't clinched anything yet.

But Bearcat coach Brain Kelly said all UC fans are welcome to bring oranges to this Saturday's game against Syracuse. Not only are the Bearcats hoping to beat the Orange, they’re also hoping to punch a ticket to the Orange Bowl in Miami on Jan. 1.

Fans stormed the field at Nippert Stadium with time left on the clock on Saturday, were cleared off for Pitt’s last play and then had more fans run onto the field during the final play.

"We might have been a little bit premature in our celebrations. We were throwing oranges on the field and it wasn't for anything yet, it was just another win and another step closer," Kelly said on Sunday. "Hopefully we'll get our students back  there that if we win the game they can come back on the field with their oranges."

With a win on Saturday, the Bearcats aren't guaranteed the Orange Bowl, but they are guaranteed a spot a BCS bowl.

"The Big East champion goes to a BCS bowl. There are no variables," Big East associate commissioner John Paquette said in an e-mail on Sunday.

The Orange Bowl did have representatives at Saturday’s game and had to be impressed with the school-record crowd of 35,098.

"It's as good of an atmosphere as you get in college football," Kelly said. "No, it wasn't 100,000, but it was 35,000 electric fans that were in to the game. It was an atmosphere that from my standpoint was outstanding."

It can be again next week. Although the Orange are 3-8 and coach Greg Robinson will be coaching his final game at Syracuse, Kelly said there's no shot of his team overlooking their final Big East opponent.

"We have a lot to play for, a BCS bid," Kelly said. "If we have to get our guys motivated to play Syracuse, then we're not really championship-level players. It's nice they see that, but more importantly our kids understand there’s a BCS bowl on the line and they’ll play their best."

MICKENS’ STATUS UNKNOWN: Cornerback Mike Mickens will be reexamined on Monday after missing Saturday's game with a knee injury.

"We'll have a better understanding (after the exam)," Kelly said. "He tweaked his leg in walk-throughs and we thought it was going to be minor, but it was such that he couldn't feel comfortable out there in pregame, so I pulled him and I feel it was the prudent thing to do."

The Bearcats suffered only one other injury on Saturday, Kelly said.

"(Defensive end) Craig Carey chipped his tooth when he went up and body bumped Tony Pike," Kelly said. 'We got him to the dentist, but other than that we're in pretty good shape."