10-29-2010, 11:02 AM
Sports
Friday October 29, 2010
Big East needs to add more teams to conference
by Jack Bogaczyk
Daily Mail Sports Editor
Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Big East football coaches have been very vocal - almost to the point of ad nauseum - about the conference's need for a ninth football member to balance scheduling.
Most of the football schools' athletic directors also have joined in the chorus, which in recent months has gotten a new voice in West Virginia's AD of four months, Oliver Luck.
Well, balancing a league schedule at four home, four road games is a good idea, but the Big East hasn't wanted to simply add a ninth football team for the sake of adding a school with no juice - to a league that really needs some.
The Villanova situation may alleviate the schedule imbalance, with the Wildcats in the process of studying and then eventually deciding - the target is a December announcement - on whether to step up from one of the top programs in FBS to major college status and play pigskin with its Big East brethren.
In anticipation of that, Luck said the Big East office has asked its football schools "in particular because of the Villanova decision, to hold open opportunities to play Villanova, much like what happened when Connecticut came into the league, four one year, four the next year."
Well, whether the Wildcats jump into Big East football or not, finding a way to somehow add to the seven conference games the Big East teams play is going to become a more urgent matter. Why? It's because of what's happening elsewhere in Bowl Championship Series leagues.
Yes, it's a scheduling matter, but not exactly at the 4-4 situation the Big East coaches have mostly discussed publicly.
In most of those other BCS conferences, there is at least a consideration to moving from eight to nine league games. If that happens - and most predict it will in most leagues - then an eight-team Big East is pinched even further in its need for five non-conference games per school annually.
The Pac-10 (moving to the Pac-12) already plays nine games. The Big 12, down to 10 teams, will get to a football round-robin by playing nine.
ACC athletic directors seriously are discussing it. When the Big Ten grew to 12 teams with Nebraska this summer, Commissioner Jim Delany's accompanying remarks brought up the possibility of the Big Ten going to nine games as early as 2015.
Some of this is driven by what ADs call more "competitive balance" within a conference. Some of it is - big surprise here - rooted in dollars and sense.
With the price of bringing in sub-BCS level foes for no-return games going through the roof - for example, Florida State is paying Louisiana-Monroe $1.3 million next season - more BCS programs like the idea of playing another conference game instead
West Virginia, in need of a no-return game earlier this month, brought in UNLV for a Mountaineer Field-guarantee record of $740,000. When Bowling Green visits WVU next season, the dollar figure will be about the same, if not higher. South Florida got a veritable "steal" recently when it did a no-return deal with UTEP next season for $650,000.
Southeastern Conference schools, most of which can afford huge guarantees because of 90,000-seat (or larger) stadiums, have been paying $1 million to Sun Belt visitors already for the last couple of years.
Big East teams can't afford that - another reason to expand in football - because most of the stadiums are in the 60,000-seat range or smaller.
Luck said, "schedules are becoming more fluid," and that's only one reason he favors taking Big East football membership to 10 "sooner than later."
"It's no secret most of Big East athletic directors, if not all, feel like I do," he said. "We feel like eight is not enough, we've got to get to 10, but they got to be good schools."
Luck said the move by more conferences to nine league games is inevitable - and it may not stop there.
"Conferences are going to move to more conference games," Luck said recently in an interview in his WVU coliseum office, "and one driving force is just like we had here recently. UNLV. I'm sorry, it wasn't just a very attractive game, and it cost us $750,000 to fill that slot. That's not just happening here; it's happening everywhere.
"I don't think it's long before you start seeing 10 conference games (per school per season). They'll leave a spot for a (FBS game), and schools whose traditional rivals are separated by conference affiliation can still play (like Clemson-South Carolina, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Florida-Florida State).
"I think it's going toward the NFL model. The NFL has been tremendously successful in creating parity, where anybody can beat anybody else. College football still has some dynasties, and there are still clearly some one-sided matchups, whether we like it or not, but not so much in conferences anymore."
Luck said the cost of what he called "one-off" games will drive more conferences to adopt league schedules of nine dates ... or beyond.
"The fact is people are looking at more conference games, in different conferences," the West Virginia AD said. "I think doing nine is just a start ... I don't think they'll do nine for a long time. I think it's going to 10 or maybe even 11.
"Then you don't have a situation like you have now, where Ohio State and Michigan State don't play this year. You'd never have something like that in the NFL."
So, there's an urgency for Big East football to grow in more ways than one.
http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/201010281129
Friday October 29, 2010
Big East needs to add more teams to conference
by Jack Bogaczyk
Daily Mail Sports Editor
Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Big East football coaches have been very vocal - almost to the point of ad nauseum - about the conference's need for a ninth football member to balance scheduling.
Most of the football schools' athletic directors also have joined in the chorus, which in recent months has gotten a new voice in West Virginia's AD of four months, Oliver Luck.
Well, balancing a league schedule at four home, four road games is a good idea, but the Big East hasn't wanted to simply add a ninth football team for the sake of adding a school with no juice - to a league that really needs some.
The Villanova situation may alleviate the schedule imbalance, with the Wildcats in the process of studying and then eventually deciding - the target is a December announcement - on whether to step up from one of the top programs in FBS to major college status and play pigskin with its Big East brethren.
In anticipation of that, Luck said the Big East office has asked its football schools "in particular because of the Villanova decision, to hold open opportunities to play Villanova, much like what happened when Connecticut came into the league, four one year, four the next year."
Well, whether the Wildcats jump into Big East football or not, finding a way to somehow add to the seven conference games the Big East teams play is going to become a more urgent matter. Why? It's because of what's happening elsewhere in Bowl Championship Series leagues.
Yes, it's a scheduling matter, but not exactly at the 4-4 situation the Big East coaches have mostly discussed publicly.
In most of those other BCS conferences, there is at least a consideration to moving from eight to nine league games. If that happens - and most predict it will in most leagues - then an eight-team Big East is pinched even further in its need for five non-conference games per school annually.
The Pac-10 (moving to the Pac-12) already plays nine games. The Big 12, down to 10 teams, will get to a football round-robin by playing nine.
ACC athletic directors seriously are discussing it. When the Big Ten grew to 12 teams with Nebraska this summer, Commissioner Jim Delany's accompanying remarks brought up the possibility of the Big Ten going to nine games as early as 2015.
Some of this is driven by what ADs call more "competitive balance" within a conference. Some of it is - big surprise here - rooted in dollars and sense.
With the price of bringing in sub-BCS level foes for no-return games going through the roof - for example, Florida State is paying Louisiana-Monroe $1.3 million next season - more BCS programs like the idea of playing another conference game instead
West Virginia, in need of a no-return game earlier this month, brought in UNLV for a Mountaineer Field-guarantee record of $740,000. When Bowling Green visits WVU next season, the dollar figure will be about the same, if not higher. South Florida got a veritable "steal" recently when it did a no-return deal with UTEP next season for $650,000.
Southeastern Conference schools, most of which can afford huge guarantees because of 90,000-seat (or larger) stadiums, have been paying $1 million to Sun Belt visitors already for the last couple of years.
Big East teams can't afford that - another reason to expand in football - because most of the stadiums are in the 60,000-seat range or smaller.
Luck said, "schedules are becoming more fluid," and that's only one reason he favors taking Big East football membership to 10 "sooner than later."
"It's no secret most of Big East athletic directors, if not all, feel like I do," he said. "We feel like eight is not enough, we've got to get to 10, but they got to be good schools."
Luck said the move by more conferences to nine league games is inevitable - and it may not stop there.
"Conferences are going to move to more conference games," Luck said recently in an interview in his WVU coliseum office, "and one driving force is just like we had here recently. UNLV. I'm sorry, it wasn't just a very attractive game, and it cost us $750,000 to fill that slot. That's not just happening here; it's happening everywhere.
"I don't think it's long before you start seeing 10 conference games (per school per season). They'll leave a spot for a (FBS game), and schools whose traditional rivals are separated by conference affiliation can still play (like Clemson-South Carolina, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Florida-Florida State).
"I think it's going toward the NFL model. The NFL has been tremendously successful in creating parity, where anybody can beat anybody else. College football still has some dynasties, and there are still clearly some one-sided matchups, whether we like it or not, but not so much in conferences anymore."
Luck said the cost of what he called "one-off" games will drive more conferences to adopt league schedules of nine dates ... or beyond.
"The fact is people are looking at more conference games, in different conferences," the West Virginia AD said. "I think doing nine is just a start ... I don't think they'll do nine for a long time. I think it's going to 10 or maybe even 11.
"Then you don't have a situation like you have now, where Ohio State and Michigan State don't play this year. You'd never have something like that in the NFL."
So, there's an urgency for Big East football to grow in more ways than one.
http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/201010281129
