http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index....addin.html

Big East on the verge of adding Boise State, San Diego State and three other schools


The Big East is on the verge of completing expansion plans that will see Boise State and San Diego State added for football only and SMU, Central Florida and Houston joining as all-sports members, possibly by the end of this week, according to two leading college officials.

The goal is to get those schools added in time for the 2013 season, with Air Force and Navy expected to join later.

League administrators and the five remaining football athletic directors — representing Rutgers, Louisville, South Florida, Cincinnati and Connecticut — met tonight in New York City to review the remaining expansion details.

The officials requested anonymity because the league has not finalized its plans.

One official characterized the process as being “very close,” with the other saying that legal paperwork is the only remaining obstacle.
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Boise State, which again missed out on a BCS bowl bid despite going 11-1 and finishing in the top 10 of the BCS, now appears to be fully on board with the idea of joining the Big East

End of this week huh?

Next verse, same as first...

(12-05-2011 09:36 PM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index....addin.html

Big East on the verge of adding Boise State, San Diego State and three other schools


The Big East is on the verge of completing expansion plans that will see Boise State and San Diego State added for football only and SMU, Central Florida and Houston joining as all-sports members, possibly by the end of this week, according to two leading college officials.

The goal is to get those schools added in time for the 2013 season, with Air Force and Navy expected to join later.

League administrators and the five remaining football athletic directors — representing Rutgers, Louisville, South Florida, Cincinnati and Connecticut — met tonight in New York City to review the remaining expansion details.

The officials requested anonymity because the league has not finalized its plans.

One official characterized the process as being “very close,” with the other saying that legal paperwork is the only remaining obstacle.
----------------
Boise State, which again missed out on a BCS bowl bid despite going 11-1 and finishing in the top 10 of the BCS, now appears to be fully on board with the idea of joining the Big East

End of the week...Hilarious!

(12-05-2011 09:51 PM)vinman3 Wrote:  End of the week...Hilarious!

Big XII next year - REALLY hilarious

Just kidding... congrats on the Orange Bowl

Now would be a good time to announce .... between the end of the regular season and before the bowls begin. The whole college football world is watching and there are no games being played. Knowing the Big East, it will probably get announced in the middle of March Madness.

At the bottom of the article, it mentions Louisville in the West and UCF back in the East.

(12-05-2011 09:56 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  At the bottom of the article, it mentions Louisville in the West and UCF back in the East.

I've seen several sources mention lately that Louisville will be in the west, so this is just more evidence.

Wednesday. Book it.

Louisville in the West??? Really?

Why is this setup so freaking hard to imagine?

Air Force
Boise State
Central Florida
Houston
San Diego St
SMU

Cincinnati
Connecticut
Louisville
Navy
Rutgers
South Florida

(12-05-2011 10:50 PM)Bearcat 1984 Wrote:  Louisville in the West??? Really?

They're warming up for that Big XII travel

Does it really matter, since Navy and Air Force aren't joining right away which means everyone plays everyone short term, and then long term, maybe things change. Maybe BYU becomes agreeable to joining. Maybe Memphis gets better.

Louisville in the West works if you have a set cross-over game each year.

Crossovers:
Louisville-Cincinnati
Air Force-Navy
SMU-Connecticut
Houston-Rutgers
Boise State-UCF
SDSU-USF
(the last four can be in any order; the first two are the only ones that really make logical sense...I put SMU with Connecticut as UConn was the first team SMU beat after the death penalty, Houston with Rutgers because both are red, and SDSU and USF because both have abbreviations containing the letter S)

Surely it can be worked that UL/UC & AFA/Navy play yearly without forcing those 4 rediculous crossover games.

Still, I much prefer UCF or Navy in the western division. Why cant the big east keep what little history it has left together?

Navy and AFA are moot right now as they can't join for 2 years. Well, Navy can't as they, unlike some, will not break the current tv contract they have. Their current tv partners are unwilling to renegotiate the deal.

(12-05-2011 11:14 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Navy and AFA are moot right now as they can't join for 2 years. Well, Navy can't as they, unlike some, will not break the current tv contract they have. Their current tv partners are unwilling to renegotiate the deal.

I wonder if thats whats causing the delay. I doubt BSU/SDSU want a 9 game round robin with teams spread from Connecticut to San Diego to Florida to Idaho anymore than I do.

This conference needs divisions to work.

The paperwork for SDSU, BYU and hundreds of other things were the delay. It is finally done. Wednesday at coaches function going on this week.

(12-05-2011 11:08 PM)CalallenStang Wrote:  Louisville in the West works if you have a set cross-over game each year.

Crossovers:
Louisville-Cincinnati
Air Force-Navy
SMU-Connecticut
Houston-Rutgers
Boise State-UCF
SDSU-USF
(the last four can be in any order; the first two are the only ones that really make logical sense...I put SMU with Connecticut as UConn was the first team SMU beat after the death penalty, Houston with Rutgers because both are red, and SDSU and USF because both have abbreviations containing the letter S)

Actually the cool thing about Rutgers and Houston both are huge Continental/United hubs.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

(12-05-2011 11:48 PM)brista21 Wrote:  

(12-05-2011 11:08 PM)CalallenStang Wrote:  Louisville in the West works if you have a set cross-over game each year.

Crossovers:
Louisville-Cincinnati
Air Force-Navy
SMU-Connecticut
Houston-Rutgers
Boise State-UCF
SDSU-USF
(the last four can be in any order; the first two are the only ones that really make logical sense...I put SMU with Connecticut as UConn was the first team SMU beat after the death penalty, Houston with Rutgers because both are red, and SDSU and USF because both have abbreviations containing the letter S)

Actually the cool thing about Rutgers and Houston both are huge Continental/United hubs.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

No NE schools end up with Texas schools, which is fine with fairly easy traveling arrangements.

Now I am just waiting for another rumor from the B12 office to attempt to screw up the expansion some more.

(12-05-2011 09:56 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  At the bottom of the article, it mentions Louisville in the West and UCF back in the East.

No offense to the western schools but I would hate that if it happened.

(12-05-2011 11:14 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Navy and AFA are moot right now as they can't join for 2 years. Well, Navy can't as they, unlike some, will not break the current tv contract they have. Their current tv partners are unwilling to renegotiate the deal.

Any chance BYU reconsiders after the TV contract is done? One of the issues was supposedly that they were afraid that the BE deal might be less than they were getting as an Indy. If the new contract numbers are comparable, I wonder if they would be interested in coming in later should a replacement be needed.

(12-05-2011 11:11 PM)BullsBEAST Wrote:  Surely it can be worked that UL/UC & AFA/Navy play yearly without forcing those 4 rediculous crossover games.

Still, I much prefer UCF or Navy in the western division. Why cant the big east keep what little history it has left together?

It's a delicate dance. At least one school is going to be geographically out of place in an East/West setup, and unfortunately for Louisville, they're the ones that cause the least heartburn geographically. While the BE could tell UCF to play in a division with Alaska-Anchorage and they'd be willing to join, the fact of the matter is that it would make no sense to anyone to not have USF and UCF in the same division together. By the same token, UConn and Rutgers are going to want to play Navy annually for sure, so sending them out west isn't going to be a popular move with the BE presidents, either.

The Big Ten broke up a Wisconsin-Iowa rivalry that has lasted a century and the Big 12 did the same to Nebraska-Oklahoma. It's simply not going to be a priority for the Big East to keep the 5 "legacy" members together that have only been in the same league for 6 years. The geography of the new Big East is already going to be very hard to fathom for the average person, so the divisions really do need to be aligned in a pure east/west format.

I agree that the Big East shouldn't force any cross-division rivalries other than the 2 natural ones (Louisville-Cincinnati and Air Force-Navy). The Pac-12 wisely only protected the California schools as cross-division rivals without forcing other unnatural protected games.