Big East Expansion: 5 Reasons the New Big East Shouldn't Keep a BCS Auto Bid

The Big East is reportedly set to add five new schools—Boise State, Central Florida, Houston, San Diego State and SMU—starting in the 2013 season, according to numerous media sources.

The expansion out west is a desperate move for the conference, but these are certainly desperate times for a league that experienced four defections since September and was staring in the face of full-blown disintegration.

The question on everybody’s mind now is, will the addition of these five schools to a roster that includes five leftovers teams—Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers and South Florida—be enough to save the Big East’s automatic BCS bowl bid?

Personally, I can’t see any way that the Big East would lose its bowl bid, given all the backdoor politicking that goes on in college football, but I will say that those who argue for the conference to be stripped of an automatic bid definitely have a legitimate case to make.

Here’s a look at five reasons the Big East shoudn’t keep its automatic BCS bowl bid.

Past BCS Track Record

The Big East has a total record of just 6-7 in BCS bowl games, but remember, three of those wins were by Miami, when the Hurricanes were a member in the early 2000's.

Recently, the Big East hasn't exactly had the greatest track record in big-time bowls, as the conference representative has lost three straight times, with the last two defeats being absolute embarrassments—Connecticut losing to Oklahoma 51-24 in the Fiesta Bowl last season, and Cincinnati losing to Florida 51-24 in the Sugar Bowl the year before that.

Those lopsided losses have only given the Big East's critics more gas to throw on the fire.

Only Four Teams Have Made It to a BCS Bowl

Out of the new Big East's 10 teams, only four have ever made it to a BCS bowl game—Boise State, Cincinnati, Connecticut and Louisville. And only Boise State and Louisville have ever actually won a BCS bowl.

Obviously, there's not a great proven track record of BCS success for the new-look Big East members.

We Don’t Know If the New Model Will Work

Even though you probably have to say that it was a move that had to be made, this new East-West model is a drastic change for the Big East, and the shakeup in overall structure is one that could very well end up backfiring.

You would have to think that it's going to take a few years to work out all of the kinks as far as scheduling  is concerned, and it's impossible to tell how all the traveling will affect the different teams and how long it's going to take to find a true balance within the league.

It wouldn't be surprising to see a few 8-4 Big East champions for the first few years.

It’s the Weakest of the Six BCS Conferences

The fact that the Big East has never once produced an at-large BCS team just goes to show how weak the conference truly is.

Sure, the league has produced its fair share of Top-10 teams like West Virginia and Cincinnati in recent years, but in terms of overall depth, this has been the weakest of the six BCS conferences basically since the day the BCS system was first enacted.

Is adding five non-AQ schools that no other BCS conference wanted really going to help the Big East gain a lot of respect and national credibility?

The answer is no. The Big East will still be a distant sixth on the BCS food chain.

Only One Marquee Team

The Big East isn't just the weakest BCS conference from a competition standpoint in terms of nationwide appeal, it's definitely the least recognizable and popular of the big six conferences.

Adding new markets like Dallas, Houston, Orlando and San Diego will definitely help spread the Big East's brand name, but it's going to take time for that popularity to grow.

It doesn't help that the only truly national name out of the 10 members of the new Big East is Boise State, a team that hasn't exactly been embraced and respected by the entire college football world.

The Broncos will now go from being the feisty BCS buster to a team that has to be the face of a conference, and it remains to be seen if that dynamic will actually work.