Which Teams Are Out There That Can Save the Big East's Automatic BCS Bid?

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and right now, there’s no question that the Big East conference is in a major state of desperation.

After losing Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the ACC last month, the Big East certainly couldn’t handle anymore defections. That’s just what happened this week when TCU announced it had accepted an invitation to join the Big 12.

While the Horned Frogs were never truly a member of the Big East, they were expected to join before the start of next season. They would have added some much needed credibility to a conference that has taken a few major hits recently.

Now the Big East is left with six football schools and the conference’s stability and viability for the future are still very much in doubt.

We don’t know if the conference will ultimately be able to recover from this.

We do know that if the Big East has any intentions of regrouping and holding onto its automatic BCS bowl bid.

More football schools will have to be added, even if that means stretching the meaning of “East” just a little bit.

Here’s a look at five schools the Big East will likely invite to join.

Boise State Broncos

Now that TCU has joined the Big 12, the only big fish that’s still swimming in the Non-AQ waters is Boise State.

Coach Chris Petersen has done a remarkable job with this program and he’s elevated the Broncos to a perennial contender for a BCS bowl.

Boise State has been one of college football’s winningest programs during the Petersen era.

The only problem is, Boise State is in Idaho, which is approximately 2,600 miles away from South Florida, the conference's current farthest outlier school.

That means pretty hefty travel prices on a yearly basis.

Even so, you have to think it would be worth it, if the conference could add a notable national team like Boise State to the mix.

It's pretty unlikely that the smurfs would want to hitch their wagon to such an unstable conference right now, but you never know.

Houston Cougars

The Big East was thrilled to get its hands on TCU because the Horned Frogs held the key to the Forth Worth-Dallas area television market, which is prized real estate.

Now that they’ve lost that, conference officials could look to add another big Texas market like Houston.

The Cougars, who are currently a member of Conference-USA, have been a consistent winner for the past five years, racking up two double-digit win seasons during that time.

This year, coach Kevin Sumlin has guided his team to a 6-0 record and a Top 25 ranking. He’s set up  the program to be in great shape for the future.

Although from a purely geographic standpoint, it’s not the most ideal move, getting a foot in the door down in Texas would really help boost recruiting for the Big East.

Temple Owls

The Big East booted Temple from the conference back in 2004 but the Owls have since recovered after Al Golden came to town and built the program back up again.

Now it’s Steve Addazio who is in charge and he’s got a great pedigree to keep the Owls flying for the foreseeable future.

It’s true. Temple can’t draw flies to Lincoln Financial Field, but that could change if the program gains some more credibility by joining the Big East.

The Owls hold the key to the Philadelphia market, one of the best sports cities in the country, and that definitely has the Big East intrigued.

Central Florida Knights

The Big East already has a presence in one of Florida’s largest markets—the greater Tampa area with the South Florida Bulls, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to plant some roots in another big market like Orlando.

Central Florida is a program on the upswing and the Knights have a beautiful brand new stadium to showcase.

While UCF probably won’t enhance the Big East’s credibility with the BCS folks all that much, adding one of the country’s Top 20 television markets to the resume certainly wouldn't hurt.

It wouldn’t take very long for a Central Florida-South Florida rivalry to blossom.

Navy Midshipmen

The Big East has already reportedly gauged the interest of all three service academies—Air Force, Army and Navy.

While Army has already made it clear that it plans on remaining an independent, Air Force and Navy could still be in play.

Considering Air Force is located in Colorado and Navy is located in Maryland, the more sensible option would be Navy.

The Midshipmen have been the most consistent team out of the three service academies in recent years, racking up eight or more wins in every season since 2003.

So Can the Big East Be Saved?

It’s all wait and see at this point, but right now, it’s going to take some luck to save the Big East.

First of all, the conference simply can’t afford any more defections (I’m looking at you, Louisville and Connecticut).

If the Big East can get a firm commitment from all six remaining schools, then it can start to explore its outside options.

Could that mean splitting the conference up into two divisions and inviting other western teams like Air Force and SMU, as well as Houston and Boise State?

Anything’s possible.

As it stands now, it’s obvious that geographic lines are definitely going to have to be stretched if the Big East wants to remain intact and solidify its automatic BCS bowl bid for the future.