Ding-Dong, the Big East Is Dead at the Hands of Unusual Suspects

Just when the Big East thought Boise State would be its knight in shining armor, the Mountain West and Conference USA fired the death blow. 

The MWC and C-USA will combine their forces, in football only, to form a 22-team football conference in an attempt to keep their football powers and try to secure a BCS automatic bid. This essentially kills the Big East, putting that conference out of it's misery.

There might have been some thought they may still be able to snag Air Force, Boise State, and UCF, but word is that all three teams were present at the vote. 

What does this mean for the remaining football schools in the Big East? Start shopping around and hope one of the other BCS conferences call. There is probably no way to salvage the conference at this point. Every team that was talked about being added was part of either conference, except Temple.

Now that this event has happened, what does Notre Dame do? Is there really any reason for them to even keep the rest of their sports in the Big East? It still looks like Pittsburgh and Syracuse will be forced to play out the next two years in the current format, but with the impending conference death, does Notre Dame make a move for those years as well? 

I don't really think they have a choice. Their current contract with NBC goes through 2015, and, if they were to merge to the Big Ten, could be molded as part of the current Big Ten Network for one year. 

One thing is for sure, this is the biggest move, but not by one of the usual suspects. Who would've thought a couple of kicked-around and stepped-on mid-majors would cause what looks like the final demise of the Big East.