Big East Commissioner John Marinatto released a statement today that Big East has extended 6 invitations to football-only and all-sports invitations out to schools as the conference looks to stay alive. While the names of the specific schools were not mentioned by Marinatto, sources with the AP and other sites have mentioned the schools already.
According to reports, the football-only invites have been extended to Boise State, Air Force, and Navy while the all sports invites have been extended to SMU, Houston, and UCF.
Marinatto stated that adding these new teams would help "lay a foundation" for future expansion, meaning that other teams could be invited at some point. The Big East would still be one school short of their 12-football conference idea they want. Teams like BYU, Memphis, and Temple have all been rumored.
So what does this all mean? It means the Big East has once again salvaged itself as a football conference, adding pieces from the MWC and CUSA. Will this save their AQ status when the BCS contract ends in 2014, no one can say for certain, but it does keep the conference alive and gives the football teams more competition and the possibility of a league championship some point down the road.
So we face the same question again for USF, what does it mean? It means the conference is staying together, for now. More football teams will be added (if they all accept) and the other sports will get new members as well, keeping a somewhat viable conference alive. All USF can do it sit back and watch it take form. Once it knows who has joined the conference, then scheduling can take place after that.
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