Source: Big East adds Boise St., 4 others
Sounds like the Big East is morphing into the Big East-West.
In response to raids on its football membership, the league is preparing to announce its transcontinental expansion plans to add five football schools Wednesday, a source with Big East ties told Newsday Tuesday. The source confirmed earlier reports that Boise State and San Diego State will join as football-only members, and SMU, Houston and Central Florida have accepted invitations to join in all sports for the 2013-14 academic year.
The addition of San Diego State to the mix comes as a surprise. The school was not mentioned as one of the six schools the Big East voted to invite at a Nov. 1 meeting of school presidents in Philadelphia. At that point, multiple league sources indicated the plan was to invite the other four schools, plus Navy and Air Force.
Navy and Air Force remain possibilities to join the expanded Big East at a later date, but no firm commitment has been received from either one. Temple is an outside possibility if one of the service academies drops out of the running. Commissioner John Marinatto said at the Philadelphia meeting that the ultimate goal is to have 12 football members, which is necessary to play a conference championship game that would likely be held in New York.
Marinatto also mentioned plans for a western division of the league. Boise State apparently convinced fellow Mountain West Conference member San Diego State to partner in a move to a conference that still retains its BCS automatic qualifying status. Houston, SMU and Central Florida all currently are members of Conference USA.
Houston lost its chance for a BCS bowl berth after going 12-0, then losing its conference title game to Southern Mississippi. Boise State's 36-35 loss to TCU cost it an automatic BCS bowl. Virginia Tech (11-2) and Michigan (10-2) earned spots in the Sugar Bowl, even though the 11-1 Boise was ranked higher in both major polls.
The five new schools join five holdover football members Rutgers, Connecticut, Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida. Earlier this year, Syracuse and Pittsburgh accepted invitations to the ACC, and West Virginia accepted an invitation to join the Big 12.
