Big East Expansion: BYU Ready to Accept Invitation
News has started to surface recently that BYU is close to accepting an invitation to join the Big East for football only and join the West Division.
They would presumably join Air Force, SMU, Boise St, Houston and Central Florida as part of the West Division.
Navy and the five remaining Big East schools would make up the East Division of the conference.
Even though Central Florida is not as far east as Louisville or Cincinnati, neither of those schools is to fond of moving to the West division and the last thing the Big East wants to do is anger any of their remaining schools.
Adding BYU would give a nice balance between the East and West divisions with Boise St. and Houston both currently ranked in the top 11 in the most recent BCS standings. BYU would add a solid third team to the division.
The East division may not be as strong near the top, but would be much deeper than the West division. Cincinnati has had success in recent years and Louisville is a rising program. Connecticut won the conference a season ago. Rutgers and South Florida are also solid programs.
Adding BYU would not only add another great football program, but solidify the conference with 12 teams who appear likely to join.
The Cougars may not be as big of a program as Boise St. when it comes to college football, but have had some pretty successful teams in recent years and the move would make sense for both BYU and the Big East conference.
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Good luck to the Big East!
Yes…it looks like they are going to need it.
UCF will not be in the west. No one but you has mentioned that. Get your facts straight.
Where do you get your information from?
When will the BE west wing be formalized? It appears that maybe there is a lot of legal wrangling going on behind the scenes. If they get all the teams that they are targeting, it should be one league that is on par with or maybe superior to some of the others. I have no doubt that if BYU, Houston, and Boise State accept, the BCS AQ will remain in effect. The addition of all of the teams will create one strong league.
Agreed, the Big East will be better at football when they add these teams. I am not sure how long the legal situation will take. The only problem is the league will be much worse in basketball.
Good article, but I need to offer you a differing opinion on the whole BYU – Boise State thing. I am a member of the LDS Church, but I also live in Idaho, so I think I can speak with some unbiased clarity on the subject.
When BYU began their four-decade run of excellence in the mid 1970′s, Boise State was an average 1-AA team (the term didn’t even exist back then). When the Idaho legislature agreed to allow Boise St. & Idaho to move to D-1 status in the mid 1990′s, BYU had already won a National Championship, produced an Outland Trophy winner (Mo Elenawibe), a Heisman Trophy winner (Ty Detmer)and had completed a string of 20 consecutive winning seasons.
Since ’75, BYU has had just three losing seasons (’02-’04) and more recently won 10 or more games for four consecutive seasons (’06-’09). After a sub-par seven win season last year, they are on track to again win 10 games in 2011.
BYU’s 65,000 seat stadium doubles Boise State’s facility.
True, Boise State has done very well over the last six or seven years, and they are a tremendous program. I doubt that BYU would be them this season if they played each other. But any conference would prefer BYU if they had to choose between the two because of the Cougars’ national status. No matter where they play, thousands of fans show up to watch and TV’s across the country tune in to their games.
Boise State, on the other hand, doesn’t have much of a following even here in Pocatello ID, just four hours away from Boise.
I am so proud of what the Broncos have done, but please, we’re comparing a team with a national following to a team with a regional following.
There is no comparison.
Just thought I’d throw in my two-cents.
Thanks for the input. It is good to get the perspective of someone who lives close to the situation. I appreciate all the information and have to say I agree that BYU is a much more viable program than Boise St.