BYU to Big East: Why the Cougars Will Struggle, Even in a Weak Big East

The Big East Conference and BYU seem like the perfect match for each other.

The conference would like to get to 12 football playing members by adding the Cougars, Boise State, Houston, SMU, UCF and Air Force.

BYU on the other hand would like to find itself a member of an AQ conference, assuming that the Big East can do enough to keep its automatic bid in the BCS.

While it may seem like a great fit on paper, there is no guarantee that the Cougars will have immediate success on the field, even though the Big East is very weak.

First of all, there will be a ton of travel involved. Even though these are young kids we're talking about, making five or six trips across the country every year won't be something favorable for BYU. If Boise State and Air Force join, certainly there will be divisions inside the conference to cut down on the travel, but there will still be a good bit involved.

On the other hand, some of these East Coast schools will have to make the trip to Provo as well.

Secondly, there is recruiting. Will the Cougars be able to recruit the caliber of athletes to compete in a Big East Conference that will certainly be better than the current product? Recruiting student athletes that also fit into the BYU Honor Code could prove to be a challenge.

BYU certainly has had some quality athletes in the past and have won their share of big games, but all Big East jokes aside, this will be the best conference top to bottom that BYU has competed in, and maintaining a level of recruiting could be a challenge.

Selling the new format of the Big East may not be as easy as it sounds. While the Big East will certainly be improved with the additions, it will still be the worst of the six AQ conferences. Then there is the fact that there is no guarantee that the Big East will hold onto its BCS bid after the next two seasons. It should, but it's not a lock.

Finally, there is the level of play.

BYU schedules decent opponents for the most part anyway, but looking at their schedule this season, the likes of Utah State, San Jose State, Idaho, Idaho State, New Mexico State and Hawaii with current and possible new members of the Big East Conference.

Those teams have amounted for five of the Cougars current eight wins. They won't have the luxury of scheduling as many of those anymore.

Louisville, U Conn, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Boise State, Air Force, Houston, etc.are a huge upgrade from what BYU currently sees. Add to that a slight possibility of Notre Dame possibly joining the conference and the week in, week out grind of the Big East could prove very tough for a school such as BYU.