THE BIGGER EAST

December 2, 2010

So Texas to the Big Ten is absurd, but TCU joining the Big East is a great move for both sides? I guess if each side is desperate enough, any geography can make sense in today’s world of college football. The Horned Frogs are the 17th member of the league, the ninth football playing member.

Now all eyes turn toward the Main Line. Will Villanova make the leap up from the FCS level as South Florida and Connecticut did in the last fifteen years? Or will they remain in the CAA playing James Madison, Delaware and Richmond? The Wildcats had the opportunity to make the leap in the late 90s and declined.

The decision will be made before the end of the year, but there is no clear sign as to what the school will decide. Accepting the Big East’s invitation takes a major financial commitment. Not only for the football program, but due to Title IX, equal scholarships must be given in women’s sports.

Even with the added expense that will come with the move, I believe Villanova will make the jump. Many schools would kill for an invite to a BCS conference. Just ask Boise State. I have a hard time believing Villanova will turn down that chance twice. Especially considering they already compete in the conference in other sports and are not turning their back on their roots.

That would bring football membership to ten, which would match the target when the conference commissioner John Marinatto announced his plans to expand the league. For now they seem content with ten schools. However, the magic number in college football is twelve. With twelve football playing members, a league is permitted under NCAA rules to split into two divisions and play a lucrative league championship game. As of the fall of 2011, six conferences will play a league championship game.

Central Florida is an easy choice if the Big East dreams of getting to twelve. The Knights and their entire university are growing by leaps and bounds in Orlando. They have a built in travel partner with South Florida, located in Tampa, and they would give the Big East an even stronger foothold into the recruiting hotbed of Florida.

With TCU now joining the conference in 2012, a possible target for team number twelve would be Houston. For many of the same reasons that Central Florida makes sense as team #11, the Cougars fit too. The Big East would grow its exposure in Texas, and TCU would have a travel partner/rival from the start.

There is one other school already in the Big East’s geographic footprint that is positioning itself for an eventual move to the league. Word leaked out this week that Massachusetts is exploring a possible jump to the FBS level to join the MAC. The Minutemen currently compete in the CAA with Villanova. They know the Big East is only looking at FCS Villanova because they are already in the league for other sports. If they want in, they’ll have to establish themselves at the FBS level first.

How much interest is there in UMass football? When they played fellow CAA member New Hampshire at Gillette Stadium this fall, they drew a crowd of 32,848. That is larger than some of the maximum capacities of facilities near Philadelphia that Villanova is considering for its home field if they move up. You know the folks in Amherst would love to play an annual conference game with UConn.

It may not be the Big East looking to go to 12 teams that brings UMass into the fold. If the Big Ten or the ACC decide they want to get even bigger, the Big East is a likely target. Since the northeast schools would be where both leagues would shoot for, UMass may make a nice substitute by then.

So here it is. The future set up of the Big East Conference... one with Houston and one with UMass.

North - Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers, Villanova, UConn and UMass

South - Louisville, Cincinnati, West Virginia, South Florida, Central Florida and TCU

OR

North - Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers, Villanova, UConn and West Virginia

South - Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Central Florida, TCU and Houston

Oh yeah, and if UCF and anyone else are in, wave good bye to DePaul and Seton Hall in basketball. Eventually, you get too big and have to cut dead weight.

Bowl Projections:

BCS Championship Game - Auburn (SEC Champ) vs. Oregon (Pac 10 Champ)

Rose Bowl - Wisconsin (Big 10 Champ) vs. TCU (At-large)

Sugar Bowl - Ohio State (At-large) vs. Arkansas (At-large)

Orange Bowl - Virginia Tech (ACC Champ) vs. West Virginia (Big East Champ)

Fiesta Bowl - Oklahoma (Big 12 Champ) vs. Stanford (At-large)

Capital One Bowl - Michigan State vs. Alabama

Outback Bowl - Penn State vs. South Carolina

Gator Bowl - Illinois vs. Florida

Cotton Bowl - LSU vs. Texas A&M

Chick-Fil-A Bowl - Florida State vs. Mississippi State

Champs Sports Bowl - Notre Dame vs. NC State

Games of the Week:

Auburn vs. South Carolina - With questions about his eligibility circling for weeks, Auburn QB Cam Newton just kept on performing. He and the Tigers capped a perfect regular season with a come back for the ages in the 2010 edition of the Iron Bowl. Now, they’ll face a South Carolina team that gave them fits in their first meeting in late September. In that game, late turnovers did in the Gamecocks. It is easy to predict a bit of a let down when you play a team you have already beaten one week after rallying to defeat a bitter rival. However, does anyone really believe that Auburn isn’t headed for Glendale after what we saw in Tuscaloosa? Pencil an SEC team into the BCS Final for the fifth straight year.

Oklahoma vs. Nebraska - Next to Penn State-Pitt, this is my favorite dormant rivalry. Growing up, Thanksgiving meant turkey and Barry Switzer’s Sooners versus Tom Osborne’s Huskers for the Big 8 title and a trip to the Orange Bowl. This one will have a Fiesta Bowl bid up for grabs as well as the Big 12 title. With both Big Red and Colorado moving on, this will be the last league title game for the Big 12 in the foreseeable future. Nebraska would like nothing more than to walk out the door with the league championship, and OU would love to send NU on its way with one last defeat. Landry Jones and the Sooner offense will be to much for a team that is having QB controversies at this time of the year.

Oregon @ Oregon State - For every southerner that says the Iron Bowl is the most intense and bitter rivalry in college football, there are just as many folks on the west coast that point to the Civil War in Oregon. This will be the 114th meeting of the Beavers and Ducks. The Quack Attack has won the last two meetings, keeping OSU out of the Rose Bowl each time. In those games, the two sides combined for 2,035 yards of offense. Only Cal has slowed down Oregon this season, and they’ve admitted to faking injuries to do so. The Beavers will hang around for a while, just as Cal and Arizona did, but in the end, Oregon will be too much for them.