Conference Realignment: If Big East Adds Boise State, Should It Keep Its AQ Bid?

One thing about college football this year is that the landscape can change at a moment's notice as teams switch conferences, causing a domino effect around the nation. 

The most recent domino to fall is the announcement that the Big East has sent out invites to Houston, SMU and Central Florida, and also to Boise State and Air Force, but only for football. 

With all of this change, the major news and addition has to be Boise State coming to the conference. The downside to this expansion news is that it is to replace Pittsburgh, Syracuse and TCU.

If the Big East could hang on to those three schools and add Boise State, it would have had the chance to completely change the perception of the conference's strength. Without them, it looks like they may have stayed at the same talent level.

Right now, the conference would include Boise State, Air Force, SMU, Houston, Central Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Rutgers, Connecticut and South Florida. 

When it comes to football, West Virginia and Boise State would truly separate themselves at the top of the conference, but that is only if the Mountaineers do not receive a more intriguing offer from another conference. 

So with all of this being said, one thing that has often been talked about with the Big East is their current automatic bid to a BCS game.

With the addition of Boise State but the loss of the other teams, should they keep this bid? The answer is no.

While the answer is no, I believe that we are trending towards no automatic bids for any conference, and then ultimately four power conferences that will give way to a playoff system.

Regardless of what the future may hold for the entire landscape, the loss of TCU, Pittsburgh and Syracuse outweighs the addition of Boise State and still leaves the Big East at a disadvantage.

If the Big East hopes to hang on to their automatic bid to a BCS game, they must look hard and recruit another team, like Notre Dame to help bolster their national perception.

Until that happens, people will continue to push for the conference to lose its bid.