Thoughts on Big East Conference Shake up

Will the Big East survive this shake up?

By now we have all heard the news with Pitt and Syracuse making it official they are heading to the ACC as the conference announced they have accepted them. Now we are not certain when the two teams will head out and move into the ACC, it could happen next season, there is a 27 month waiting period, but this will be negotiated and the monetary buyout won't affect the move.

Syracuse, the founding member of the Big East and Pitt, a cornerstone since 1982, are doing this move to help themselves at this point. Both program stated they wanted to be proactive in their approaches to the changing football landscape and made the move. This hurts the Big East big time, dropping them to just 7 football teams in the conference and now they will have to scramble to figure out what to do. So what does this mean for USF?

The ACC may not be done getting more members, the ACC was quiet on the Rutgers rumor but if they did go to 16-teams like many have talked about, the Big East would once again be a target. We have heard the rumors of WVU to the SEC, so that leaves USF with a handful of football teams that are a bit worried today.

The Big 12 could fall apart. If Texas or Oklahoma head to the Pac-12, the other teams like Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, and Kansas State, could knock on the Big East door and have already incquired about the conference. If these teams were to be added, it would keep the conference alive, but it would hurt a lot (not losing too much from football stand point with prestige of programs).

USF is staying active, with Woolard and Genshaft stating they are aware of the situation and looking at all possible scenarios for the conference and the Bulls.

This is a big time for conference realignment and the move puts USF in an awkward spot. The Big East survived a shake up in 2001 with Va Tech, Miami, and BC jumping ship, but it is unclear what will happen this time. We will have to wait and see what happens.