Big East was close to signing Navy and Airforce was in play

[CL82]

No argument here. But if this was an ongoing process, it really makes me question what pushed Pitt and Cuse out the door.

I suspect that Swofford made them a or get off the pot offer, probably one that would close in a week and be offerred to UConn and RU.

 

[BigEastCT]

Per CBS and this is exactly what they need to do, Air Force is not the answer

And it should get started yesterday, because if there's one thing we've learned over the past 48 hours besides that Floyd Mayweather can knock a man out if he lands two punches while the man isn't looking, it's that sitting idle equates to a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the world of conference realignment. Only the SEC and Big Ten were ever in any real position to just chill on the strength of their brands. Every other league had to decide to play offense or defense, and the ones that didn't choose offense -- Big 12, Big East -- are suddenly scrambling to survive.
Now only one of them will survive.
That seems clear.
If Big East commissioner John Marinatto wants it to be his league, here's what he should do: Assume Rutgers and Connecticut are following Pittsburgh and Syracuse out the door, which would leave the Big East with five FBS football members (Cincinnati, Louisville, TCU, South Florida, West Virginia) and 13 basketball members (Cincinnati, Louisville, TCU, USF, West Virginia, DePaul, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova). He should assume Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech and Missouri are all leaving the Big 12 for greener grass somewhere and offer invitations to the Big 12 leftovers (Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor and Iowa State) to get to nine football members and 17 basketball members. He should then offer invitations to Houston, Memphis and UCF to get to 12 football members and 20 basketball members.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I suspect that Swofford made them a or get off the pot offer, probably one that would close in a week and be offerred to UConn and RU.

I personally do not believe that it was a coincidence that the official announcement of Pitt & Cuse to the ACC occurred the day before the regents meetings that were going to allow UT and OU to pursue the P-12.

Swofford wanted to land them before any other conference started looking for additional members. I would not be surprised if in order to get enough schools to vote for allegiance (with the increased departure fee) that a promise was made to the schools that he would do something that could reopen television contract and strengthen the conference (to make remaining more desirable).

 

[RS9999X]

Using Nick Silver's analysis, UCF and ECU are about as good as it gets for the BE and dumping Baylor for ECU would be a decent move. Boise State is the second best option (ahead of ECU) and we can assume Southern Miss, Arkansas State, and Troy State aren't worth talking about even if they do rank 4. 5 iand 6 if we eliminate Notre Dame and BYU from consideration.

We know there are media consultants and branding wizards that show up with various rankings and metrics and projections on these teams with their $50,000 studies. One thing we know about ECU and UCF: they are generating good numbers without a BCS connection or winning tradition. Boise , OTOH, have that burden of bubble fame. Houston would be a flyer and like Baylor might benefit from Northern exposure but so would Nova and UMass. We are now talking ESPN3 matchups and ESPNU filler on a good day

After ECU and UCF it gets ugly quickly.

I rank them UCF and ECU - by far - unless the media throws money for Service Academy National Games. The fact is they don't. They show the Army Navy matchup and Comcast broadcasts the yearly ND/Army matchup. Given that rationale, Army is the better add for the BE but Silver has them last for fanbase.

 

[RS9999X]

I personally do not believe that it was a coincidence that the official announcement of Pitt & Cuse to the ACC occurred the day before the regents meetings that were going to allow UT and OU to pursue the P-12. Swofford wanted to land them before any other conference started looking for additional members. .

I think the ACC had the consensus on those two and it was reported elsewhere the B-12 was going to kick the tires at Pitt.

No matter what fell out Pitt and SU were in so they acted. WVU/Lousville, UConn/Rutgers. and Missouri/Notre Dame could wait while Texas/Texas Tech and do their ritual hissy fit tantrum and call attention to themselves. Then the SEC acts and Notre Dame declines

I do believe they ruled out WVU/Louisville as a pair and that some still prefer WVU over UConn but they will go for the NYC market full throttle and not make the same mistake they made with BC and 'kind of' commit to the North East market

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

^^ Well, if some still prefer WVU, the report today that the ACC rejected them kind of complicates that.

 

[-Huskiediehard-]

I haven't got into the conference hoop-la because all it does is tick me off therefore here's my dream situation; we have 6 teams right know in football (ct,ul,usf,cincy,wvu,ru) so add: tcu,navy,air force,boise,ecu,ucf. (all good football programs with two of them being national contenders). 12 team conference that keeps the automatic BCS bid. then baskeball would have 20 team power conference. VERY unlikely just my dream secnario. If we can't get 6 get four of those members to make a 10 team football league and a 18 team basketball conference. I love the BE and really don't want it to crumble so add add add and keep this great conference together. Just sucks pitt/cuse would leave because we could have just added and been fine but they jumped the bit because they were scared for collapse.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

What sucks is that what we were laughing at a few hours ago as a ridiculous notion is now the master plan to save this conference.

We need an emoticon that cries.

 

[Robertelamin]

I'm all aboard the Navy and Air Force idea. They can't take away our BCS status when we have two military schools right? Right??? Football only of course.