A New Idea for the Big East

Instead of trying to make Boise State fit into the Big East,
there may be a better way to join forces and benefit everyone.

The Big East is in quite a spot. The Mountain West and Conference USA have announced a merger that forms a pretty decent football league, some would argue a better one than the six-team Big East (perhaps many would argue that). The Big East is reportedly going to respond by extending invitations to Boise State, SMU, Houston, Air Force, and Central Florida. Navy has also been a rumored addition to give the league 12 teams.

There are two problems here. First, inviting those teams doesn't guarantee the Big East keeps its automatic BCS bid. The other issue: all of those schools have to be thinking that the current monster C-USA/MWC merger might be better long term, as it could make an argument to steal the Big East's BCS bid.

So, here's a crazy idea for the Big East: get in on the big Conference USA/Mountain West merger.

Hear me out, Big East basketball fans. Hear me out.

If the Big East does exactly what the other two conferences are doing (merging only for football and staying separate in all other sports), then everyone gets what they want. The basketball schools get to keep Louisville, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Rutgers, West Virginia and South Florida around. Thus, the solid basketball conference stays together. The football schools get what they want: the security of that AQ bid.

So if the six remaining Big East football schools jump into the big merger, that makes a monster 28-team conference. How does that work? Here's my idea:

Playoffs? Yeah, I'm talking about playoffs.

Divide into four seven-team divisions. Everyone plays everyone in their divisions every year. The winners of each division begin a four-team playoff that results in a conference championship in early December. That's right, I'm proposing a little playoff system among FBS schools. Insane. I know.

So, if all teams play division opponents, that's six games. You can add three other conference games with a team from each of the other three divisions, but those games wouldn't count toward your division championship. In other words, your division record matters the most. Sometimes you get to go play Boise State or Fresno State as a sort of non-division conference game, if that makes sense.

That makes a total of nine conference games. Throw in up to three non-conference games, and yes, teams could play up to 15 games if they go to the conference title game and a bowl game. In the end, it'll be worth it (if the NCAA allows it, of course).

Take a look at the potential divisions of this mega-conference:

EAST
Connecticut
Rutgers
West Virginia
Marshall
East Carolina
South Florida
Central Florida

CENTRAL
Cincinnati
Louisville
Memphis
Tulsa
Southern Mississippi
Tulane
UAB

MOUNTAIN
Air Force
Colorado State
Wyoming
UTEP
SMU
Houston
Rice


WEST
Boise State
Nevada
UNLV
Fresno State
New Mexico
San Diego State
Hawaii

Yes, it's a little complicated. Although, I do see some nice new (or perhaps renewed) rivalries in there: Central Florida/South Florida, Louisville/Memphis, UNLV/Nevada, West Virginia/Marshall to name a few.

In the end, though, everyone in this deal gets what they want. The NCAA would have to let this super conference get the automatic BCS bid the Big East currently owns. The schools all stay separate in all other sports, and therefore own three separate automatic bids to all NCAA tournaments. Plus, all of the Big East basketball schools like Villanova, Georgetown, and Marquette can stop worrying if the Big East football schools are going to bail on them.