This will mean Notre Dame will join the SEC soon.

So will the big east grant syracuse, pitt and wvu early leave now? or are they still bitter that they arent the coolest kid at recess.

babysealclubber: When will the Big East finally have to forfeit their AQ status?

Looks like AQ status may be a thing of the past, anyway. Which is a great thing.

babysealclubber: When will the Big East finally have to forfeit their AQ status?

Just as soon as the ACC does

The Big East will be around in 2015?

Enjoy traveling to Idaho and California, Big Least.

You could have added this:



but instead you'll have this:

Should've joined the ACC. Could have been triple-option mania

If the Big 12 doesn't do it, I can see them adding BYU as a football-only member. Then we'll have:

Big East - East:
Navy
Rutgers
UConn
Cincy
USF
UCF

Big East - West
BYU
Boise St
Houston
San Diego State
SMU
Louisville

That's actually... not horrible. The East is a little weak, but the west is a legitimate BCS division. Houston and Boise are both really good teams, and I'm excited to see them get to duke it out every year.

merkey88: So will the big east grant syracuse, pitt and wvu early leave now? or are they still bitter that they arent the coolest kid at recess.

West Virginia's leaving now whether the Big East likes it or not.

Lou Brown:
West Virginia's leaving now whether the Big East likes it or not after they agree to pay a higher exit fee to the Big East.

VictoryCabal: UNC_Samurai: Enjoy traveling to Idaho and California, Big Least.


Seriously. I have no idea why the BE won't give ECU the nod. No one wants to join more than the Pirates, and they have a pretty good fan base.

ECU is 80-80 in the BCS era with 0 finishes in the final AP poll or final BCS rankings. They aren't exactly an attractive candidate.

If it is announced that the AQ is a thing of the past won't this all seem pretty pointless? Why not just stay in the MWC or C-USA?

Pyro Messiah: If it is announced that the AQ is a thing of the past won't this all seem pretty pointless? Why not just stay in the MWC or C-USA?

Probably because voters will still be influenced by conference.

bhcompy: Pyro Messiah: If it is announced that the AQ is a thing of the past won't this all seem pretty pointless? Why not just stay in the MWC or C-USA?

Probably because voters will still be influenced by conference.

I guess. I'm not convinced this Big East is better than those conferences anymore.

VictoryCabal: UNC_Samurai: Enjoy traveling to Idaho and California, Big Least.

You could have added this:
www.sportsposterwarehouse.com
but instead you'll have this:
www.examiner.com

Seriously. I have no idea why the BE won't give ECU the nod. No one wants to join more than the Pirates, and they have a pretty good fan base.

TV deal doesn't improve much with adding ECU. It defies all logic that they wouldn't be in the Big East while Rutgers and UCONN are (for football), but since when does the BCS follow any logic?

bahamasorbust: ECU is 80-80 in the BCS era with 0 finishes in the final AP poll or final BCS rankings. They aren't exactly an attractive candidate.

It's not like there's any real difference between ECU and Houston, San Diego State, SMU, or UCF in that regard. Their biggest problem is that they believed there was a benefit to playing tough OOC schedules every year. When you're a non-BCS school playing the likes of South Carolina, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and Navy ever year, of course you're going to take a hit. If they instead went with cupcakes and 1, maybe 2 BCS teams every year, their 7-9 win seasons would turn into 9-11 win seasons, and suddenly they'd have gotten a lot more hype and publicity.

I feel sorry for ECU, because unlike most of the other teams mentioned, their fans actually give a damn about their program and show up in good numbers. They averaged 50k per game this year which puts them #40 in the country. That was better than every other non-BCS school aside from BYU. It's also better than any Big East school from 2011 or in the future aside from WVU.

Pyro Messiah: If it is announced that the AQ is a thing of the past won't this all seem pretty pointless? Why not just stay in the MWC or C-USA?

Well, for Boise and San Diego State, they're only joining for football. Meaning any increased travel costs only apply to the football team, which was already traveling quite a bit anyway and its the team that can afford to do it. For those teams, they get way more exposure and competition in the Big East... so it makes sense.

As for Houston and SMU? Yeah... no idea. UCF makes sense because of the rivalry with USF (they seem a lot more equitable now that they're in the same conference).

I'm curious as to how this CUSA/MWC merger will end up looking. As of right now, the MWC will have 8 members when everything shakes out (losing 3, gaining 3 - Fresno, Hawaii, Nevada). If the CUSA loses one more member, they'll also have 8, and you'll have two 8 team "divisions", with the winners playing each other in a fun conference championship game... which is an awful lot like the WAC used to be, and nobody liked that.

Speaking of the WAC, I wonder if they're going to add teams soon, as they'll only be at 7. Really, with 24 teams between the WAC, MWC and CUSA, it would be nice if we could just get two conferences of 12, but it won't shake out that way.

/UMass is coming to the MAC, in news from months ago
//Excited about that, but I'm guessing both UMass and Temple won't be around for too long

DeltaX: At least this one makes sense geographically.

Yeah I still don't understand sdsu

lacydog: If the Big 12 doesn't do it, I can see them adding BYU as a football-only member. Then we'll have:

Big East - East:
Navy
Rutgers
UConn
Cincy
USF
UCF

Big East - West
BYU
Boise St
Houston
San Diego State
SMU
Louisville

That's actually... not horrible. The East is a little weak, but the west is a legitimate BCS division. Houston and Boise are both really good teams, and I'm excited to see them get to duke it out every year.

The interesting thing to me is that since this was announced, SDSU has been pulling some decent Pac-12 transfers in. They got Oregon State's Ryan Katz as well as USC's Dillon Baxter and Brice Butler.

Seems like the combination of AQ status, a program on the rise that sends a decent number of kids to the NFL, and a climate that can't be beat is a nice draw. As much as I doubted the move to the Big East at first, I'm starting to think it was a good thing.

lacydog: If the Big 12 doesn't do it, I can see them adding BYU as a football-only member. Then we'll have:

Big East - East:
Navy
Rutgers
UConn
Cincy
USF
UCF

Big East - West
BYU
Boise St
Houston
San Diego State
SMU
Louisville

That's actually... not horrible. The East is a little weak, but the west is a legitimate BCS division. Houston and Boise are both really good teams, and I'm excited to see them get to duke it out every year.

Nope, not horrible at all. If you take away the divisions and just list all the teams as the Big East, then yeah, it may seem sort of laughable. But the divisions as they are (or appear they will be) leads to pretty doable travel--ironically, more so than most of the other conferences now.

And no, the BE won't be a top-to-bottom powerhouse, but with the exceptions of Boise State and Houston (if the latter keeps up what they're building) this will be a heck of a competitive conference, with tons of parity. And it'll be leaps and bounds better than the ACC

As a Navy Alum I'm getting a kick out of this.

Actually, I've been saying it's a move they've been needing to make since the program stopped sucking about 8 or 9 years ago.

The only thing that has me worried is that if we still have to keep our traditional games vs AF, Army, and Notre Dame, that doesn't leave room for 2 games against "crap" teams to get those easy wins at the beginning of the season and establish a rythm.

\Don't get me started on this season and the bad luck we had
\\5 losses by less than 3 points each stings

lacydog: //Excited about that, but I'm guessing both UMass and Temple won't be around for too long

I don't think Temple will join the Big East, I would think there's still some bad blood/pride about getting kicked out.

If Temple keeps getting better, not National Championship better, but .500 in BCS conference play better, they become incredibly attractive with the 5th(or 4th) largest TV Market. They could make a great addition with the Big10 or ACC.

I don't think UMASS is willing to spend the money for their program. They are just too small to compete with the big boys.

when will the big east ghost from coast to coast conference give it up...just be an awesome basketball conference and leave football for schools that know football.

Funk Brothers: This will mean Notre Dame will join the SEC soon.

Maybe ND will join the B1G now that the NAMBLA thing is out in the open at PSU.

Go Army, beat Navy!