With Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia and TCU all leaving the Big East, the conference is obviously in trouble.

But perhaps nothing has been more telling of just how bad things are than what the Colorado Springs Gazette is reporting. They’re saying that Air Force, a target of Big East expansion, “may be leaning toward staying in the Mountain West.”

Considering that the Big East has more money, an automatic bid to a BCS Bowl and appears to be on the verge of forming a West Division, something clearly must be spooking the Falcons.

Their rival Navy is also being targeted by the conference for expansion so that shouldn’t be an issue. The extra travel costs and exit fees should be covered by the extra television contract money at the barest minimum. And yet Air Force, a school that many consider mediocre at best in football, is not going to join an AQ conference?

The future of the Big East has been in question ever since Pitt and Syracuse announced they were leaving for the ACC. Could it be that Air Force knows something that we don’t?

At the end of the day, lots of factors play into which conference a school chooses to be in but considering the Falcon’s current standing in football, the opportunity to play for a BCS Bowl annually is one they’d be foolish to pass up.

Unless things are worse than they seem for the Big East.