West Virginia has consistently been one of the best teams in the conference (and in the eastern US) since Miama, BC, and Virginia Tech bolted for the ACC (which didn't work out so well for any of them).
There are some very serious rivalry between schools in the league, and more are developing every year. The backyard brawl between Pitt and WVU is one of the better (if not widely watched outside of the Big East) rivalries in the country.
If Pitt manages to run the table this year, it will have one of the best resumes in the country, and would likely get a chance at the NC game. And Cincy was good the last 2 years, although they haven't represented well in bowl games.
If you look at non-conference SOS and winning percentage, the Big East in near the very top of the rankings. And most of the schools will play competitively with the top tier teams from every other conference, with very few exceptions.
And other than USC and Oregon, the Pac-10 hasn't had any team be a true national threat in years.