Following the departures of Syracuse, Pitt and TCU, the Big East plans to invite six more schools to join up, the New York Post reports.
Once the exit fee is increased, which would send a message of commitment and solidarity, the league will invite Air Force, Navy and Boise State, followed by Central Florida, possibly as soon as this weekend.
The last two spots, as the league seeks to get to 12 FBS members, is up for grabs among three programs — Houston, SMU and Temple.
Boise State would obviously be a great addition, although it’s a pretty ridiculous one from a geographical standpoint. UCF gives the Big East access to the Orlando market. As the Smoking Musket points out, Temple doesn’t necessarily make a whole lot of sense, since with Villanova, the Big East already has a presence in Philadelphia. With the addition of Boise State and possibly Houston and SMU, the Big East will be building a conference that doesn’t really have any geographical rooting anymore, but it should continue to be a BCS conference, so it might not be too horrible for West Virginia to stick around.