The Big East should have pitched itself to the Big 12 as a block. 8 of the 9 Big 12 schools would have voted in favor of a merger, and a deal could have been cut for Texas.
Nelson, for once you and I agree. that made a huge amount of sense for everyone from the othe BCS leagues (now there is one less autobid to deal with so that means others can get 2 or 3 sometimes), to football fans (protects the B-12 even if Texas goes), to even the basketball fans(a league with UCONN, Kansas, Texas, Louisville, West Virginia, K-State, Baylor, Iowa State would make the ACC run and hide). Problem as I see it was nobody was either willing or able to make such a pitch. Marinatto couldn't because he is committed to keeping the Big East together. None of the football schools could because they were in disarray and nobody could come together as a leader. Plus they all had different objectives. UCONN wants the ACC, WVU wanted the SEC, Rutgers desperately wants the Big 10, Louisville wanted to keep the Big East together and USF and Cincy just wanted safe landings. Pitt and Syracuse really treated their long term partners very badly in this, by the way. I would hope they are not given any buyout to leave early. Plus I hope they get at least a few Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday schedules over the next two seasons.