Big East Football: Ripe to Be Picked Again?

Has the Big East learned its lesson since it was raided by the ACC and Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College defected?  The lesson was, "Don't sit on your hands while your neighbor picks your pocket."

If the Big East had the foresight and expanded first, they probably would have held on to the three schools.  Instead, the ACC acted, and the Big East scrambled to survive.

Though it has done a formidable job of creating a top football conference, it has not done enough to remain strong in what has become the "survival of the fittest" world of NCAA football.

It will take the Big East decades to even possibly attain the tradition and stability of longstanding conferences like the SEC, Pac-10, and the Big Ten, so Big East decision makers must never again assume that all they have to do is just show up to succeed.

As the ACC, SEC, and Big 12 have hailed the benefits that a 12-team conference brings—one being the dollars created by a championship game—the Big Ten could soon follow suit.  If this happens, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, or West Virginia could be the school most likely offered the 12th spot in their league.

One would think the Big Ten had gotten the message from Notre Dame by now: "No thanks, we don't have to join a conference.  NBC loves us and the BCS loves us.  The BCS loves us so much they've made exceptions just for us when it comes time to hand out BCS bids."

Rutgers brings the Big Ten something any conference would covet: the New York marketing area.  It's a huge reason why Rutgers makes the most sense.

Pittsburgh is a natural rival for Penn State and has a top-notch basketball program.  West Virginia would give the Big Ten a solid basketball program and an elite football program which has proved it can play with the big boys.

All three would enhance the Big Ten conference.  If any of these three schools bolts, the Big East would panic and pray for a way to keep its automatic BCS bid.

Although such a scenario has not played out, the Big East is still getting raided.  Within the last two years, Michigan, Michigan State, and the Atlanta Falcons have dipped into the Big East coaching barrel and picked out the one they wanted.

While Greg Schiano's name comes up every time Penn State mentions the possibility of Joe Paterno retiring, Jim Leavitt of USF, Randy Edsall of UConn, and Cincinnati's Brian Kelly have done such remarkable jobs that they've become candidates for 90 percent of the coaching vacancies in the country.

The Big East just hasn't done enough to hold on to its great coaches and to sustain itself for the long run.  It's ripe for the picking!

It seems the answer for the Big East just might be to go to 12 teams....NOW!  Increase its prowess and have its own championship game.  Don't wait like last time.  Make clear that its goal is to become a truly great football conference—NOW.

Two teams that come to mind for expansion are UCF and FAU.  They've shown they are serious about football and are located in big markets.  Their football programs remind me of USF because they've made great progress in a very short time.  UCF moved into a new on-campus stadium last year, and it looks like FAU will be getting their own stadium soon.

These two universities would increase the Big East's presence in the Sunshine State, provide great rivalries for USF, and make it easier for everyone to recruit more of the blue chip Florida players. 

Two more teams...I don't know and would be foolish to speculate.  Memphis, Marshall, East Carolina, and possibly a good MAC school will always be candidates.  There's also a possibility—a slim one—that Boston College decides that the ACC wasn't what they really wanted.

Whichever schools the Big East adds would have immediate interest in upgrading their sports programs and becoming competitive.  Army and Navy are NOT on my list.

Some people in the Big East are going to say, "How do we function with 20 teams in a basketball conference?"  Two 10-team divisions with the top eight in each going to the conference tournament would be one answer.

However, if you think a 20-team basketball conference is problematic, think about the Big East football conference struggling to replace an eighth team, constantly losing quality coaches, and barely holding on to an automatic BCS bid.

It could happen sooner than most Big East fans would like to think.