With the departure of West Virginia reportedly looming and with Pitt, Syracuse and TCU already having jumped ship, the Big East will move on, keeping Louisville and going with its previous plan to add Boise State and other new members, possibly including BYU.
The Big East wants to get to a 12-team football league and is expected to issue invitations to Boise State, Air Force, Navy, Houston, SMU and Central Florida. That would increase the membership to 11 teams …
With the loss of West Virginia, the Big East would need a 12th member. Sources have told CBSSports.com that the Big East’s potential Western schools are in favor of adding BYU. It’s unknown if the Cougars would be interested.
Temple also is another likely candidate.
It looks like the Big East will keep its BCS bid despite the departures of most of its highest-profile schools. What will happen beyond that is unclear at this point, except in that the conference will look very different in a few years than it does now. A “Big East” conference centered around the participation of western schools Boise State and BYU would be strange indeed.
For more on the Big East, check out Big East Coast Bias.