Who should replace Rutgers when the Big10 takes them?

[Guest nybullsfan]

Whether it's only one team to replace RU or whoever else gets poached, or multiple teams to get up to 12:

TCU, Houston, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, FAU,  FIU, Rice, SMU, Navy, Army, in that order

Temple's not going to be asked back in.

Nova's not moving up to FBS until the current administration passes the pearly gates. Same for G'town

ECU's back to mediocrity without Skip

None of the other schools are big-city schools, which is the BE's first criterion, even more than "east"

Edit: Ny, please try to use this photo to get that point across. Our word filters don't work on pictures. Thanks - Trip

[usf97]

I think the other thing to keep in mind is the Big East Basketball schools will not allow the an imbalance to go to the football schools. So if one school is taken (i.e. Rutgers) I only envision them allowing the Conference to expand by one to offset that lost school.

Thus, in order to have a large expansion or to have more than 8 football schools, the football schools will have to break off from the Big East Conference and form a new League, the Big America conference or whatever. You then lose all of those contracts tied in with the Big East, thus the new league would have to be enticing enough to ensure a new BCS tie in and a big television contract. You break off from the Big East, then the Mountain West would try to prevent you from getting a BCS affiliation unless they were included. Thus, if you could get all the teams that feel they are "left out" in one conference you could possibly make everyone happy and make some money in the process.

[namuh-bull]

How about Missouri going to the Big 10 to give them 12 teams.  Then the Big 12 needs a team and welcomes Arkansas back to the fold.  That leaves a spot in the SEC west, which USF could take.

Go Bulls!

[smazza]

tcu or boise state

do not except crap

get rid of depaul,st johns,marguette in basketball

[smazza]

Whether it's only one team to replace RU or whoever else gets poached, or multiple teams to get up to 12:

TCU, Houston, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, FAU,  FIU, Rice, SMU, Navy, Army, in that order

Temple's not going to be asked back in.

Nova's not moving up to FBS until the current administration passes the pearly gates. Same for G'town

ECU's back to mediocrity without Skip

None of the other schools are big-city schools, which is the BE's first criterion, even more than "east"

Edit: Ny, please try to use this photo to get that point across. Our word filters don't work on pictures. Thanks - Trip

big east needs to think outside box like big ten

and other conference will

[dudesweat]

TCU should be in this conference one way or another.

- #5 Media Market - Dallas-Ft. Worth

- #1 Revenue earner out of ALL non-BCS schools

- Tier 1 Academics

- Attendance would put them #2 of all expansion candidates (38.1K), only behind ECU (41.7K)

- Their endowment of $900+ million would place them 4th of the football schools

They're watched on TV, have a national name (people know them for LT and BCS busting), and play competitive football. Whether it's 1 or 4 members being invited, I think they should be the first ones called.

Distance shouldn't be a factor when you consider what other conferences have to deal with. PAC-10 you have teams in Washington playing teams in Arizona - 1400 miles. ACC you have Boston College going to FSU or Miami - 1300 & 1500 miles respectively. Big 12, Austin to Ames is 1000 miles. If TCU were invited the distance from Dallas to Storrs would be 1700 miles. This is without getting into lower conferences who get way less money and stretch their travel out even further. CUSA, for example, has schools almost 2,000 miles apart. Our closest opponent is 880 miles away.

[Danm1983]

Not a bad point, and makes it seem less harsh for us being so out of the way, though your math is a bit off ...1300 and 1500...miami and FSU are definitely mroe than 200 miles apart (though i got your point just joshin ya).

The one thing that these Pac 10 distances and other teams who travel is that they all have at least one if not two or three schools within a reasonable distance. USF The Pac 10 schools all have a rival within a few hours driving distance. MOST of the Big 12, Big 10, SEC, and ACC teams do (BC is a bit ouf of the mix so I can feel their pain). USF's closest foes are Louisville or Cincinnati, then West Virginia. And those aren't even a tolerable 4-6 hour drive.

At least we're not Louisiana Tech, they must HATE being in the WAC. But at least they get to play a game in Hawai'i every other year

[Danm1983]

Also, people please understand the following teams will not break apart from the Big East:

Notre Dame

Providence (HQ)

St. John's

Villanova

Seton Hall

Georgetown

Marquette and DePaul I can see being booted, because they're not the original Catholic members, and geographically they only cater to Notre Dame in being close. Otherwise, you won't see them leave. Having those 8 break off would leave at least 5 decently good programs out from the "football and basketball" side in UL, SU, UConn, Pitt, and WVU.

[Joe]

TCU would have been great two years ago. I've been told the MWC is likely in the BCS next contract, so if that happens they're staying put.

It will come down to three things...market size, potential to make money, and location.

ECU - decent size school, good following, the Charlotte market would be intrigued.

UCF - big TV market, large school, close to UCF

Memphis - not a great TV market, decent following, kinda outside footprint

Houston - very large market, decent following, way outside footprint...they could be involved in MWC expansion w/ Boise State

[dudesweat]

Not a bad point, and makes it seem less harsh for us being so out of the way, though your math is a bit off ...1300 and 1500...miami and FSU are definitely mroe than 200 miles apart (though i got your point just joshin ya).

Yeah I was just tossing cities into Yahoo Maps to get a general idea of length. So those miles are assuming you are driving when in fact they'd all be flying but I was too lazy to find the direct flight time/miles, lol.

I've always questioned this idea of having a team "near" you. This isn't in regards to you dan, as I agree proximity would make for fiercer rivals. This is just to people who think we need to have UCF close by for some sort of travel partner. I agree 100% that having a conference of teams located close to each other is the most ideal situation. But in a situation where a team is outside the core, placing another team near them might be overrated. Let's take West Virginia and Pittsburgh for example. They are about the same distance apart as Tampa to Orlando. In football, you can throw this out as you play a game against one opponent and fly back to play the next one, even on a short week. It wouldn't matter if we were playing Hawaii and then Oregon on the road, we'd fly back and forth to both. I think it would help in other sports like basketball. I figure since the league wants to help save costs they'd schedule a team like West Virginia back-to-back with Pittsburgh to help the small Catholic schools and USF save money. But nope, not one team played West Virginia and Pittsburgh in successive games to save money on hotels. In baseball you have series so you play teams for multiple games and never go back. In track you have meets where all the teams meet up together in one location. In fact the only sports I see as having a positive affect would be volleyball, soccer, and maybe tennis.

Basically my opinion is that you should make the best decision that makes the most financial sense. What team is going to give us the most credibility, TV presence, bowl bids, etc.? You pick that team and don't worry about geography... too much.