One Small Step for College Football, Another Giant Leap Backwards for the Big East

Yesterday, it was announced that the United States Naval Academy is going to join the Big East in 2015. Today it became official; they're having a conference call to introduce Navy as I type this. Here are some John Marinatto quotes on the addition:

"When people look back, they will mark this as a truly historic day for the Big East Conference"

"That Navy would give up 100 yrs of football independence speaks to the long-term viability of the BIG EAST"

"We are not done yet. We will continue to be getting stronger"

Why the UCF-USF Rivalry is NOT what the Big East Needs

By now, I'm sure you've all heard the news. The Big East conference will be diluting itself by once again dipping into the mid-major conferences and picking up some less-than-deserving teams to fill the void left by some of its more important members leaving for other conferences. Nothing against Boise State, they totally deserve a BCS spot. Unfortunately for them, the Big East is also adding Navy, Air Force, SMU, and (hold your breath) Central Florida, meaning the Big East's AQ days are numbered. People will give arguments for all these teams, saying the only reason they haven't succeeded was because they weren't in a BCS conference or that they have the talent to do well, but they don't have the competition to gain attention. But the most irritating argument about why these additions will pay off is when people mention that the UCF-USF rivalry will finally be renewed, making Big East football meaningful after losing the rivalries of Pitt-West Virginia and Syracuse-Georgetown. Let me tell you what I think about the renewal of this "rivalry" after the jump.

Big East Officials Were Productive Today...Kind of

In the wake of conference expansion and teams shuffling all over the place, presidents and Athletic Directors from the remaining 14 Big East schools participated in a conference call this evening to discuss raising the conference's exit fees from $5 million to $10 million. The result of the vote was mostly positive, as the vote passed unanimously in favor of the motion. Even Louisville and West Virginia, who have been reported to be prime candidates for an invitation to the Big XII if the situation arises, cast their votes to rebuild the conference. The catch of all this, however, is that the exit fee's increase is contingent on both Navy and Air Force committing to join as football-only members. The football part of the league now awaits Missouri's action (which appears to be leaning toward applying to the SEC, officially), to see what the future of some of the other schools are, mainly Louisville. If Missouri does end up leaving, Louisville will likely be the first choice for an invitation to the Big XII, once again leaving the Big East shorthanded. But for now, the Big East Conference will at least live to see another day.

Conference USA and Mountain West Conference to Merge

News is breaking tonight that will change the landscape of college athletics again. Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference have stated they will be merging the two conferences to form a 22-member conference.

Now Would be a Good Time to Start Panicking

Through all this chaos with conference expansion, USF has been left pretty unsure about their future for the past month or two. Over this last week, fans all over the country have been waiting to see what happens with Missouri, who has been indicating that they intend on making a jump out of the conference, although reports have not confirmed that the SEC is pursuing the Tigers. Now, the Big East has a whole new issue to worry about, as it became official today that the Big XII conference has invited TCU. Now, as the rest of the Big East awaits decisions from Missouri and BYU, we can only speculate on what the future holds for USF.

The addition of TCU brings the Big XII to 10 teams, officially (hinging on Missouri's decision). If Missouri leaves, the conference's number would be back down to 9. Louisville and BYU appear to be the most likely additions in the next step, and it would be a toss-up between Cincinnati and West Virginia to grab that 12th spot. USF would then have to sit on the end of their chairs and hope that the Big XII follows in the steps of the ACC and SEC and expands to 14 teams. As of right now, nothing is certain, and all USF can do is sit around and wait. At least it's football season.

Well It's Official, Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC

(From ESPN) As we all heard yesterday, Syracuse University and Univeirsty of Pittsburgh, the flagships of the Big East Conference had applied for membership into the Atlantic Coastal Conference. The ACC Council of Presidents voted on both member's candidacy last night and have announced this morning the unanimous decision to accept both Syracuse and Pitt's application into the ACC expanding its current membership to 14 schools. The time frame for transitions has yet to be announced, but more information will be released by the ACC when they hold a media conference today at 9:30 AM EST.

The 2011 Conference Realignment Project

With the clamor of football season opening up today and the uncertainty that came over us when Texas A&M announced its departure for the now 13-team SEC (probably), many of us have grown restless over what the future holds for many of our teams. A group of four 16-team megaconferences seems more to be an inevitability than a possibility now. So what does that mean for USF, and for many other schools?

Luckily, I've taken the liberty of projecting what a compilation of a bunch of megaconferences would look like, and I'm going to share them with you, starting with what would be the four BCS conferences after the jump.

Big East Expansion: The Subject Everyone Hates to Love

Well, the Big East meetings are over, and as far as we fans are concerned, it seems like not much progress has been made. The meetings were cut a bit short as the Athletic Directors meeting adjourned early (thanks a lot, Holgorsen). So, like any good blogger, I took it upon myself to do nothing but speculate with the vague information I've gathered in the past few days.

First, I would like to emphasize what exactly the purpose of expansion is: Conferences choose colleges as targets for expansion due to the potential assets it could bring the conference. The Big East is looking for several things mostly including a large media market (by which I mean lots of money) and good football and basketball teams (money). Everything revolves around money. TV deals, bowl games, big markets, ticket sales, they all lead to cash. It's clear what the conference officials are after.

The coaches in the league generally agree that it's time to expand, but to how many? Most say 12, but are there really three other teams that are good enough to add to a BCS conference? Of course there are names like East Carolina, Central Florida, and Houston, but do they really add a significant upgrade to the conference?

It looks like I'm not the only person who thinks UCF isn't right to add to the conference right now, as UConn head basketball coach Jim Calhoun doesn't think UCF is a "sexy name right now", saying they'd be "kind of good," but not really an ultimately attractive option. I have to respectfully disagree with Calhoun in his next sentence, where he says "I don't think South Florida will care about that, having them come in so close by." Clearly Calhoun isn't a frequent visitor of The Bull Rush, or else he'd know what was wrong with that statement. It is nice to have someone whose opinion matters to the Big East share a view with those of us in Tampa who no one's listening to.

Someone tossed Army and Navy onto the stage, suggesting that they join as football-only members. Whoever suggested this didn't take into account the fact that Navy is quite happy touring the nation, seeing all the other schools and having their annual Navy-Notre Dame game televised nationally in the middle of the season. They also failed to recognize the fact that Army was a part of Conference USA as the same time that current Big East members Louisville, Cincinnati, USF, and TCU were still around, and scraped together a 13-67 record as a member. So maybe those two aren't truly viable options for football either.

So who is the right choice? Is it one of those regular choices, Houston, UCF, or East Carolina? Or is it someone who hasn't gotten enough attention, like Southern Miss or SMU? Or maybe someone else that no one has really mentioned yet? Tell us what you think in the comments.

I'm going to go on the record right now as saying that Northern Illinois is every bit as qualified to join the Big East as UCF in football standards, so take things like that into account. I seem to be the only supporter of Southern Miss joining the conference, so please, tell me why no one agrees with me. Maybe I'm wrong, but I need someone to tell me why. I also am a big proponent of trying to lure a school or two away from a BCS conference, so keep that in mind as well.

Big East Spring Meetings Today, Expansion May be in the Mix

As I'm writing this, about 215 miles Northeast of here the coaches and officials of the Big East conference are discussing conference expansion among other things. You can imagine my anxiety as the fate of future conference competition may be in the hands of these coaches. Most of the coaches support expansion, but would rather move on to 12 teams instead of stay at 10. USF Coach Skip Holtz said just that:

"There's been a lot of talk about do you go from nine to 10, which I don't know how much sense that really makes, when the Big Ten left the model of 10, the Pac-10 has left the model of 10. Both of them more or less said 'This model doesn't work. Let's go to 12.' I think we have to look hard at it. Having TCU come into the league will add an awful lot of instant energy when you look at the success they've had right now as a program. It gives you a balanced schedule with four (home) and four (road). I think we need to look hard at going to 12."

As USF fans, we should be particularly concerned that we aren't getting updates on the minute, because what happens here has a huge bearing on what our future will look like. Here are some potential candidates, and what they could mean to USF after the jump.