Conference Realignment: Will the Big East Survive off Big 12 Scraps?

Early in the year, much was made about TCU’s decision to pick up and join the Big East Conference beginning next season.

It appeared it was a victory for the Big East just months after completing one of the worst seasons a conference could have had from beginning to end.

The question then was whether the Horned Frogs help bring the Big East back to the point where people would quit questioning whether or not the conference even deserved a BCS bid.

Now there is another question altogether when it comes to the Big East.

Will the conference even survive?

With the Big 12 Conference being picked apart and on its apparent last legs, coupled with the news that current Big East members Pittsburgh and Syracuse have applied to the ACC, questioning the future of the conference is a legitimate thing to do.

The most likely scenario for the Big East’s continual survival would be for the conference to aggressively pick up the scraps from the Big 12 if Texas, Oklahoma and others decide to make a move.

But would it be enough to strengthen what is already a weak football-playing conference?

Assuming the now Pac-12 can reel in a couple of teams in a group that includes Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, that really thins out what the Big East has to choose from.

Missouri pushed for inclusion in the Big Ten before the conference added Nebraska last season. The Tigers could again try to pursue that route, or they could turn their attention to the Big East.

The Tigers, who could step right into the Big East and immediately compete, would be a decent grab for the Big East, but the rest of the Big 12 might not offer up the same positive results.

Looking at what’s left over, the list includes Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State. While a couple of those programs may help out on the basketball court if both Pitt and Syracuse depart, combined they really don’t offer up much to the football conference.

Assuming Pitt and Syracuse are the only two schools to leave the Big East, and that’s likely not the case, West Virginia would likely be the next to want out. It’s hard imagining the conference being able to survive in the short term, much less the long term.

While never to be confused with title contenders, both Pitt and Syracuse are good programs for the current Big East. They are much better than what would be left over from the meltdown of the Big 12.

TCU and West Virginia would give the conference two very good football programs, but after that the rest of the conference looks bleak.

If everything goes according to plan and all of these teams leave both the Big East and Big 12, and not every program will end up where they are rumored to land, the Big East may be able to still be a functional football conference.

But they won’t be better.

In fact, they may be worse.