Ten Is A Win or Nine Is Just Fine?

[Little Jerry Lawler]

TCU will join the Big East in all sports beginning in 2012. As it pertains to college football, the conference will have nine teams. With the exception of the Big 12, every other major conference will have 12 teams but I don't forsee the Big 12 adding two more teams. If the Big East is looking to add a tenth team to the mix, who would be the best candidates? I can only see one school.

Villanova-Connecticut has only been in the FBS for a decade and they've done pretty well for themselves so why not the Wildcats? Villanova is already a member of the Big East in basketball but the problem is that their football stadium only holds about 13,000. Not that big of a problem but it is one nonetheless.

I can't see Navy or Army joining because they are already fully funded and the easy scheduling is there as well. Notre Dame would benefit the most so their path would be easier to the BCS but they have their own network and the Big 10 has tried to get them in the past and have failed so I don't see the Big East doing any better.

Do you think the Big East will expand to 10 teams and if so, who would be the tenth or do you think they should just stay at nine?

 

[Chardee Macdennis]

I think the Big East would LIKE to add one more team, but I'm not sure it'll happen. In my estimation, the best team for them to add would be ND. ND is also already in the Big East in Basketball (as is Nova), so why not. Adding ND would also bring a little more credibility to a conference that desperately needs just that. Even though ND hasn't been a powerhouse in a number of years, they're still ND. I don't see Nova bringing the same things to the table. As you've already mentioned, it'd also help ND in their quest to a big bowl game. Win the conference, go to a BCS bowl game. I would have to know more about ND's t.v. contract though, in order to form an opionion on whether or not it'd be their best move. If they could still have a national game every week, I don't really see the downside. If ND were to join, as well as TCU, the Big East may not be laughing stock of college football for much longer.

 

[Megatron]

I think expanding it to ten, for football only, is the way to go. 9 is just an odd number and, while you can have it round robin style with everyone playing 8 teams, you can also do that with 10. The Pac 10 has made it work for how many years now, and so 1 more team could help because the conference is in dire need of a football power. Yes, TCU has dominated the MWC, but it'll be interesting to see how they are against teams that have much more talent then the Colorado States and UNLV's of the world.

As for the 10th team, I think they should go down to Florida and take another one of the directional schools, Central Florida. They were 10-2 and won the C-USA championship this year, and then you could have that little rivalry with them and South Florida. With the ten teams you do a round robin with 9 conference games and 3 OOC games. Central Florida would be more then happy to join as they'd have a fair chance to get a BCS bid and it would help increase their recruiting. Other then them, maybe Tulsa, SMU, or Southern Mississippi could join, but I think UCF would be the best option.

 

[Big Sexy]

It isn't a huge deal either way but it would be nice to have an even 10 teams in the conference. The only two logical choices I see are ones that have already been mentioned: Villanova and UCF. Central Florida has already graduated from the MAC and now they are in the elite of C-USA so this would be another logical jump for them.

Villanova makes more sense in terms of the school as a whole because they are already in the Big East in basketball. They have a very young football program but they won the Division 1 FCS championship last year and are in the semi-finals this year so they have a good team. It all depends on whether or not they are ready to make the jump.