Okie35
11/2/2010, 09:58 AM
Also, UCF, Houston, Temple or Villanova.
Big East presidents and athletic directors will meet Tuesday to discuss possible expansion, the New York Post reported on Monday.
The Post originally broke the story of Big East's interest in seemingly unlikely expansion candidate TCU. The interest turned out to be reciprocal. If you believe that college football is trending toward the mega-conference, then schools need to get into a BCS conference before the window of opportunity closes.
The Big East is interested in staying relevant by remaining one of those BCS conferences. It received a waiver to remain an automatic qualifier conference by the other BCS commissioners in the past because of television's desire to have those Northeast markets. With conference realignment anything but dead, commissioner John Marinatto wants to protect his league from poachers. Earlier this year, the Big Ten was a threat to the Big East. Rutgers emerged as an attractive addition to the Big Ten and perhaps will remain one in the future. The Big Ten eventually settled on Nebraska -- for now.
TCU is looking for its own relevance. The loss of BYU and Utah has damaged the Mountain West's ongoing attempt to get at least a temporary BCS bid in 2012 and 2013. TCU has shown a willingness to conference hop to improve its profile since being left out of the Big 12 in 1996. Ironically, if the Horned Frogs get a second consecutive bowl bid this year it would have gotten a huge boost from beating resurgent Baylor. TCU was left out of the Big 12 in favor of Baylor 15 years ago, mostly because of a political power play by then-Texas governor Ann Richards.
"If you're not aligned with an automatic qualifying conference prior to the super realignment you have no shot," CBS College Sports analyst Aaron Taylor said. "At least if you're there to begin with, you're in the topic of conversation and discussion. On paper, you'd think that TCU being in Texas doesn't make sense. But they're the furtherst team to the East in the Mountaint West. They would be the same distance, but West, to the Big East."
Other schools being mentioned for Big East expansion are Houston, Central Florida and either Temple or Villanova from Philadelphia. TCU and Central Florida seem to be the most likely expansion candidates at this point.
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/25625428
Big East presidents and athletic directors will meet Tuesday to discuss possible expansion, the New York Post reported on Monday.
The Post originally broke the story of Big East's interest in seemingly unlikely expansion candidate TCU. The interest turned out to be reciprocal. If you believe that college football is trending toward the mega-conference, then schools need to get into a BCS conference before the window of opportunity closes.
The Big East is interested in staying relevant by remaining one of those BCS conferences. It received a waiver to remain an automatic qualifier conference by the other BCS commissioners in the past because of television's desire to have those Northeast markets. With conference realignment anything but dead, commissioner John Marinatto wants to protect his league from poachers. Earlier this year, the Big Ten was a threat to the Big East. Rutgers emerged as an attractive addition to the Big Ten and perhaps will remain one in the future. The Big Ten eventually settled on Nebraska -- for now.
TCU is looking for its own relevance. The loss of BYU and Utah has damaged the Mountain West's ongoing attempt to get at least a temporary BCS bid in 2012 and 2013. TCU has shown a willingness to conference hop to improve its profile since being left out of the Big 12 in 1996. Ironically, if the Horned Frogs get a second consecutive bowl bid this year it would have gotten a huge boost from beating resurgent Baylor. TCU was left out of the Big 12 in favor of Baylor 15 years ago, mostly because of a political power play by then-Texas governor Ann Richards.
"If you're not aligned with an automatic qualifying conference prior to the super realignment you have no shot," CBS College Sports analyst Aaron Taylor said. "At least if you're there to begin with, you're in the topic of conversation and discussion. On paper, you'd think that TCU being in Texas doesn't make sense. But they're the furtherst team to the East in the Mountaint West. They would be the same distance, but West, to the Big East."
Other schools being mentioned for Big East expansion are Houston, Central Florida and either Temple or Villanova from Philadelphia. TCU and Central Florida seem to be the most likely expansion candidates at this point.
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/25625428