Big East: Is It Time to Give Up the Ghost as a Football Conference?

The death of the Big East football conference is imminent. 

With Syracuse and Pittsburgh leaving for the ACC, West Virginia leaving for the Big 12 and Texas Christian decommitting to join the Big 12, the Big East may be down for the count.

The Big East's demise started in the 2004 season when Miami and Virginia Tech left for the ACC, followed by Boston College a year later. With the current scramble by conferences to create 16-team superconferences, the Big East is the current automatic qualifier getting a beating upside the head by the other conferences. 

It is time for the Big East to stop this charade and let these teams out of their commitments. 

Louisville, Connecticut and Rutgers are in the process of looking elsewhere for new conferences as well. The Big East's efforts to add Boise State, Air Force, Houston and Central Florida could have healed the conference, but they came to no avail. Sadly the Big East even dragged its feet on adding another quality FCS club in Villanova in spring 2011. 

Fingers have been pointed at Notre Dame—a member of the Big East except in football—that if they were in the conference this wouldn't be happening. I highly doubt that.

Notre Dame wants to stay independent in football for a reason. They have so many traditional national rivalries in football that would end if they joined any conference. Even if they were football members of the Big East, I believe Notre Dame would be the first institution out the door with this current conference re-alignment. Notre Dame honestly fits better in the Big 10 than in the Big East, so using Notre Dame as a scapegoat for the conference's struggles is a reach. 

I understand that the Big East wants to keep everything together so it can attempt to salvage what remains of the conference, but when there are hollow commitments by the current members, the writing is on the wall.

Currently only Texas Christian can join their new conference next season since they were not yet an active member. West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse all have 25-month waiting periods and would probably prefer to move on now instead of holding on as lame ducks in a conference with no future. 

Louisville also is looking for an exit strategy with the Big 12 being a possible destination.

Their athletic director stated today that he would not give a long-term commitment to the Big East and is looking for the best option for his programs. 

While the Big East still has some decent teams, its heyday as a top-flight football conference are long gone. 

It is time to give up the ghost.

Each remaining member institution knows the Big East is the Titanic, and nothing is going to keep the conference from sinking.