Dominoes: Big East Edition
by utesfan100 on Feb 25, 2010 8:00 AM EST
in Conference Alignments
9 comments
The mention of conference expansion must send shivers down the spine of every Big East fan from the scars of the last round of expansions and the likely targets on their backs for the next round.
I suppose the Pittsburgh Panther, Syracuse Orange, Rutgers Scarlet Night, and West Virginia Mountaneers fans might get a twinge of cautious optimism that they might be allowed an upgrade by the time the dust settles. I suppose that is half of the Big East and, judging by Sugar Bowl, sales most of the Big East's fans.
If two or three of those teams above leave for greener pastures, how would the Big East respond?
The knee jerk reaction would be to leverage their BCS bid to pick up top teams from the MAC and C-USA that are remaining. The Central Michigan Chipawas, East Carolina Pirates, Memphis Tigers, Southern Miss. Golden Eagles, Central Florida Golden Knights, Miami (Ohio) RedHawks (though that name might bring too many scars), and Marshall Thundering Herd are names that come to mind off the bat.
Of course, if the BIG 10 expands to a nice cozy level they might decide to stay their for a while. This could open a door for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to be a natural fit as an all sport member if NBC decides to cut their payout. (Why NBC doesn't get a contract with a league is beyond me. If NBC signed up to show a Big East game every week, two during weeks Notre Dame is not available to them, this could speed up the process.)
The Big East has eight members, why not go to ten? My favorite expansion option for the Big East does not have to wait until they get picked appart first. This would involve a split between the football schools and non-football schools. Hey, it worked for the MWC and WAC, both in a better spot than they were 10 years ago.
Army Black Knights and Navy Midshipmen. These would harken back to the independent status of many of these schools. Army and Navy have history as deep (and almost as forgotten) as many Big East historical powers. Annapolis Maryland. West Point New York. I dunno. It just smells like a good fit.
For that matter, dissolving as a football conference is an option that worked for many of these schools prior to the BIg East. Maybe they ask Army, Navy and Notre Dame if they can join their non-confernece.
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How are you figuring WVU as possibly going somewhere, btw?
They’re not going to the Big Ten for academic reasons, and the same goes for the ACC. And if the SEC has an opening, they’re much more likely to raid the ACC directly for Florida State or Georgia Tech or Clemson than the Big East for Louisville or WVU or USF.
Having said that, I think the Big East should split and add UCF (huge school, natural rival for USF) right away and then wait for the Big Ten and Pac 10 to raid the Big 12 and for Notre Dame’s NBC contract to run out and the Irish to be shocked when NBC wants to pay them substantially less than they’re getting now. Then add ND for a 10th and be happy.
Saying that WVU won’t get picked off by the ACC or Big Ten because of academic reasons (which is true), and then advocating UCF to the Big East … what does that say about the caliber of academics in the Big East? Academically, UCF is on par with WVU and USF and the Big East already has some issues with USF in terms of academics.
ECU (tier 4) is even worse academically than UCF, USF and West Virginia.
The best move the Big East can do for all sports + academics would be to add Navy and Notre Dame for football and break ties with DePaul in basketball. DePaul has been a disaster in basketball and is a C-USA team at best.
If the Big East doesn’t boot one of its weaker basketball members to accommodate a Navy, then I think a basketball-football split is in order.
BC Interruption, a Boston College sports blog
We've got a split personality
SU, Rutgers, UConn, and Pitt are excellent schools (as are many of the non-football schools, for that matter). WVU, Louisville, USF, and Cinci are — for excellent reasons — not as selective as the other half of the football conference.
I like UCF as the best choice for an expansion candidae because I can’t think USF will last in the Big East if they’re all alone in Florida; it’s not a stable situation. And since there aren’t any good northeastern / Ohio Valley schools we can bring into the Big East, keeping the Florida presense makes as much sense as anything else. So adding a second school that’s very similar to one we’ve already got is fine.
Two teams leave tops
One to the Big Integer if they don’t take a Big 12 school (Syracuse, Rutgers or Pitt are the only reasonable choices), one to the ACC if the SEC needs a replacement for Arkansas (OK, or those notions that Kentucky or Vandy is going to the Big Int). Either way, the Big East is gonna have to go to 12 soon… whether they try to wait it out for ND I don’t know, if they think they’re too good for the Big Int what chance does the Big East have? Army, Navy and Temple seem like easy enough adds, East Carolina would be good too, UCF slightly less so but still reasonable. I see a lot of people mentioning Memphis but I don’t know if they want to go that far west. Worst possible case scenario they have to add 6, but it could be tough to get some of the basketball schools to leave… the football schools might end up having to find a new brand name. You’ve got a few I-AA schools that could move up too – Villanova (makes it easy since they’re already Big East), Georgia State (had two invites in the past few years contingent on starting football… well, they will in a few months), and Charlotte too (although I think they’re more likely to fill a hole in their familiar CUSA home as things shake out).
'Nova is not moving to FBS
Despite having a very good I-AA/FCS team and already being in the Big East, Villanova has absolutely no interest in moving up. Besides, they really don’t have a place to play that holds enough people to meet the minimum requirements for I-A/FBS, short of kicking Temple out of the Linc (well, there’s an MLS facility being built not too far from ‘Nova that could work, but that’s a bit of a stretch).
If Villanova would consider the jump, this would be option 1A. Much better school academically and already an established member of the Big East for basketball.
I’m sure the good people at Lincoln Financial Field could figure out a way to accommodate both the Owls and Wildcats on alternating Saturdays. If the Giants and Jets can share a stadium, why not Villanova and Temple?
BC Interruption, a Boston College sports blog
The Giants and Jets...
… don’t also share a stadium with Rutgers. And the same entity (the NFL) controls the schedule for both teams (they’re rarely both at home in the same week, and never on the same day). Also, the Giants/Jets stadium has FieldTurf; the Linc has real grass.
To keep the Eagles, ‘Nova, and Temple at the Linc, the NFL, Big East, and MAC need to coordinate schedules, plus ’Nova and Temple need to consult each other for non-conference schedules. And they’d probably need to rip out the real grass and install FieldTurf, because the real stuff just can’t handle that many games in a short period.
Why CMU to the BE but not Buffalo?
The Chips have been better in Football and Wrestling than UB but we will see how Football holds up with LeFevour playing on Sundays, it’s also geographically a bit out of Whack for the BE.
If Syracuse Goes the BE should take a long look at Buffalo. Bigger School (30K), Good Academics (AAU Member), State Flagship (along with Stony Brook), and it sits directly adjacent to the TV market the BE loses with Syracuse.
Of Course UCF probably makes the most sense but I can dream can’t I?
If Rutgers Goes Temple is the logical Choice
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