Big East Expansion: Landing Boise State Vital to Conference's Football Survival

The Big East has certainly taken its fair share of hits in recent months. At the very least, it seems to be on its way to landing a decent counter-punch.

According to the USA Today's Ralph D. Russo, the Big East has invited Boise State, Air Force, Navy and Central Florida to join the conference. Save for Central Florida, only the football programs would be affected by the move.

With all due respect to the other three schools, Boise State is the key cog in this. The two military academies are nice lands and Central Florida has turned itself into a solid program, but Boise State's football program is far and away the biggest name in this move.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking: If you're anything like me, you are wondering just how a team from Boise, Idaho and another from Colorado Springs, Colorado could possibly be in a conference that calls itself the Big East.

But since they are going to be added as football-only schools, it's not a big deal. In other sports, travel is a big deal. They play more than one game a week and teams would be at a great disadvantage from the constant cross-country trips, and that doesn't even mention the academic part of their lives.

But in football, they are only traveling to one game a week, which, most always, falls on a weekend. This isn't really that big of a deal.

As far as football is concerned, the Big East has very little draw to it right now. Sure, it has a few decent teams, but none of them have a great deal of name value. Boise State has that, and name value is huge.

Name value is essential in getting television contracts and bowl bids. That's why all Notre Dame home games are still featured on national TV on NBC every week, despite their consistent struggles over the last two decades.

It's got nothing to do with their win-loss record and everything to do with the name value they bring. People simply watch them; and when people watch them, advertisers pay good money for space.

This is a rather simple idea. Over the last five years, Boise State has developed enough of a name to where people can comfortably know their games will receive attention.

Furthermore, if that happens, then other big schools are more likely to come the Big East's way because their budget for doing so will be increased.

Now, can I prove any of this? No, not really. This is all conjecture at this point, and I don't want anyone to think otherwise.

But it makes an awful lot of sense. As a football team, Boise State isn't the only step the Big East needs to take, but it's a huge leap in the right direction.