Big East Conference 2012: Boise State Is Not the Answer, but Others Might Be

The Big East will be in a desperate mood if West Virginia is able to move to the Big 12 in time for the 2012 football season.

The conference will be down to just seven football playing schools, and they will be looking to add another in a hurry.

All indications are that the Mountaineers are on the verge of doing just that. In an article from NBCSports.com, Ben Kercheval lays out the meaning behind a recent WVU move.

It seems West Virginia has backed out of its September 8th game with Florida State. This is a key indicator, according to the article, that the Mountaineers are moving on to greener pastures sooner rather than later.

The article points out that this move of canceling an already scheduled game will come at a hefty price tag. There are penalties if FSU can't replace them, and that is over and above the $350,000 cancellation fee.

So, the easy conclusion on this one is that if West Virginia is willing to risk that kind of cost, it must be heading for a brand new conference. It is the only thing that makes sense of this move.

So what does this mean for the Big East?

It means they will have to add one football playing school in time for 2012. Just who that school will be is anyone's guess.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News tweeted on Thursday the following:

"

Boise State under pressure from Big East to join in '12 to offset WVU departure. AF likely to join Navy in BE; question is when

"

 However, Boise State President Bob Kustra when asked by Brian Murphy of the Idaho Statesman said that it was too late to join in 2012.

"

It's too late. I can't imagine how anyone can pull that off. We would never want to pull it off in a fashion that dealt shabbily with our existing partners in the Mountain West. I don't think that could ever work

"

The move of Boise State to the Big East for the 2012 season is highly unlikely and is probably not the best choice for the Broncos or the Big East.

Boise State would have to find a way to move all their other sports to the WAC a year early, plus the cost and legal ramifications could prove quite a hassle when dealing with the Mountain West.

So what is the best solution?

Look to one of the new schools out of Conference USA. Houston, SMU or UCF might be far better choices at this time than BSU.

Those three institutions are all members of C-USA and the cost and legal matters seem far less than that of the Broncos.

Not only that, but those schools are planning to move all their sports to the Big East. So, it would seem like a much simpler task to relocate one of those three to the Big East than it would BSU.

Not only that, but one of those schools could just take WVU's place in the football schedule as well as all other sports.

UCF couldn't wait to join the Big East, and they would probably be the easiest to add.

Geographically they are in a great location, and with their eagerness one would imagine they would jump at the chance.

Look for the Knights to spend their days in the Big East starting as early as 2012.