Big East commissioner John Marinatto holds up the BCS cash his conference totally earned through football excellence.
Oh please let this be true:
The move would be made starting in July 2013 and is part of a Big East survival-and-expansion plan that includes adding Boise State, Houston, Southern Methodist and Central Florida. Air Force and Navy might join later. Houston, SMU and UCF would be for all sports, while the others would be for football only.
It’s not that I’m super geeked about joining the Big East. As a football conference, it’s basically going to be on par with where the Mountain West was prior to the Utah/BYU/TCU departures. Not quite as good at the top, but a little more balanced thanks to its lack of Loboesque garbage. And while I don’t think the Big West (or WAC??) for hoops will be the disaster most are predicting, it’s certainly a step down in prestige.
But an invite tomorrow would secure two wonderful outcomes:
- Financial stability for an athletic department that has been operating on a shoestring budget for as long as I can remember.
- An end to all this insufferable expandsterbation that has soiled the sheets of an otherwise compelling SDSU football season.
Mostly the latter, actually. Let’s get some certainty, grab a tissue, and move the fuck on already.
Aw hell … one last fap before this becomes official:
Anybody else confused about Louisville’s potential inclusion in the West Division? Granted that makes the most geographic sense, but they are a natural rival to Cincinnati. Central Florida is a natural rival of South Florida. Same with Rutgers and UConn.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to move Navy into the West to align it with the league’s other service academy and the nation’s biggest Navy town?
Bah, whatever. Just get it done already.
I love this more and more as it gets closer. Big West might technically be a competitive step down, but the MWC TV deal is such complete shite that it might be a step-up in “prestige” or at least exposure. With Hawaii and Boise joining the Big West in hoops it actually becomes a pretty intriguing conference that we should dominate Gonzaga-style. I trust Fisher to recruit to the value of ESPN appearances and lots of hometown gyms for SoCal kids. The Aztecs can slot UConn and other Big East powers to develop nonconference rivalries with their new football rivals.
If the Big East can somehow hold onto AQ status that would just be bonus, assuming the next TV deal is a good one, and it should be with Boise State the marquee draw and lots of time zones to schedule to. This is a huge win.
There is no other choice to make. Whether AQ is there or not: Boise, Air Force, SDSU, SMU and Houston (or as I’m now calling them the BASSH Bros.) are the best remaining teams in the west that aren’t run by a religion/cult/crazy people – you have to align yourself with them and see where the cards land
Re: Louisville in the west division, everything I’ve heard is that they want no part of it and that UCF is going to get the shaft and come out west since they are the newcomers. That will likely change as more teams join (AFA and Navy maybe).
Navy to the west would be the obvious solution, no?
That is what I would assume. That way you have AFA and Navy in the same division.
Agreed on Navy, as crazy as having a “west” team in Maryland would be.
Fortunately, the recent completion of the Panama Canal means their team would no longer have to travel here around the treacherous Cape Horn.
As a fan of MWC football I read this site as it is both hilarious and informative (and I love how much you hate all things Wyoming). However when it comes to the conference alignment stuff I am puzzled as to why SDSU is so eager to jump ship. If the new Big Least is indeed a better conference then SDSU has just relegated itself to more mediocrity. If you look at the history of the MWC and the WAC then you see that outside of UNLV, SDSU has had by far the least amount of success. 1 conference title. Wyo posted 7 (all WAC) and CSU and the lowly Lobos each have won multiple times. Don’t let the last two seasons make you believe that the Aztecs will be fighting for conference titles year in and year out.
So really what I want to know is what the hell difference does it make being in a “BCS” conference if you never win that conference anyway?
Would you rather be the Iowa State of the new Big Least or the Boise State circa 2008 of the current MWC?
I guess i just don’s see the appeal of a Wednesday night matchup between the Aztecs and the Scarlet Knights or the Golden knights for that matter.
The answer to your question, like so many similar questions can be found in one little symbol: $. This has little do with with actual competition and everything to do with appealing to networks for their money.
What Jhonka said.
As for your Iowa State analogy, I’ll say this. ISU went 6-6 and waltzed into a bowl. The Aztecs went 8-4 and had to sweat like Rick Majerus walking up a flight of stairs.
Also, what makes you think I hate Wyoming? I dig your style, man — you’ve got that whole Cowboy thing going on.