Big East Expansion: Why Boise State Won't Help Big East Stay Alive

In what smacks of a last-ditch effort, the Big East Conference is searching for teams to take the places of since-departed Pittsburgh and Syracuse, who have jumped ship for the Atlantic Coast Conference. 

In the latest conference-changing carousel, reports are that the Big East plans on inviting Boise State and a few other programs to their conference for football only.

That won’t do anything to save the Big East Conference.

Boise State is one of the most underrated programs in college football. They are overlooked and thought of as a school that plays nobody of note. They never get the credit they deserve.

However, if the Big East were to grab Boise State, it wouldn't necessarily switch the lens through which the Broncos are viewed.

Maybe if it was Notre Dame, a team that is respected nationally and has a history of pedigree, things might be different. But not Boise State.

Why would Boise State would want to go the Big East? Geographically, it doesn’t make sense, and the conference wouldn’t be that much of an upgrade to their current environs in the Western Athletic Conference.

The Big East Conference is in a world of hurt after losing Pittsburgh and Syracuse. The only thing that can save the conference from slipping into the mire of mid-level mediocrity is to grab big-time, high-profile programs.

If they think that programs like Air Force, Navy and Central Florida will bring the conference back to respectability, they are out of their mind. If anything, the conference pedigree would diminish after taking these three programs.

If the Big East Conference plans on staying in existence, we are looking at the next Conference USA—pillaged, beaten down and somehow surviving with average programs.