AQ Status Question

[Point6]

I'm sure this has been asked and answered, but are we one defection away from loss of AQ status? I thought I read we have to have 6 teams playing together for 5 years to remain a "conference" for AQ purposes. I'm sure I'm butchering this but in light of WVU's potential defection, I need to know if the end is near so I can make preparations, say goodbyes, etc.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The "6 team rule" is for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, not an automatic BCS bid. The BCS rules are more subjective when it comes to teams coming and going, although most tests (ranking of top team, average ranking of all teams, # and ranking of teams in Top 25) are simply aggregations of the rankings of the various members. There is no continuity standard. So if Alabama, Ohio State, Texas, USC, Boise, Oregon, Florida, Oklahoma and TCU formed a league, it would easily meet the BCS standards despite having no continuity.

As a result, taking Syracuse and Pitt out of the Big East and bringing TCU, Navy and Air Force in actually helps the BCS calculations because Syracuse has been so terrible for so long and TCU has been so good.

 

[Point6]

Thank you!