The End of the Big East

It's been said that the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman and not much of an empire. Kinda like the modern-day Big East Conference. And the Big East, as a football power conference, is about to join the Holy Roman Empire in the ash heap of history.

The seven non-football members of the Big East are expected to pull out - maybe as soon as next week - leaving a rump conference constituted of basically members of Conference USA, circa 2004. While the BCS likely will keep the Big East as an AQ conference in 2013, that'll simply mark the end of its football relevance.

Even if nothing else changes, by the 2014 season, only one of the Big East's seven founding members - Connecticut - will still be in the conference. In fact, UConn will be the only member at the end of the 2004 season that will still remain in the Big East. Of the 12 teams currently expected to play a Big East schedule in 2014, eight used to play in Conference USA, two in the Mountain West, plus Temple, a one-time Big East football member that was invited back in after getting booted.

OK, take a deep breath and let your head stop spinning. Here's our best guess for what the major conferences might look like by 2014-15:

• Big Ten (16 teams): Add Rutgers, Maryland, Virginia, Kansas
• ACC (14 teams): Lose Maryland, Virginia, Florida State; add Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Louisville, Cincinnati, UConn
• Big 12 (10 teams): Lose Kansas; add Florida State
• Pac-12 (12 teams): No change
• SEC (14 teams): No change
• Mountain West (12 teams): Add Boise State, San Diego State, Utah State, San Jose State
• Big East (8 teams): Temple, South Florida, Central Florida, Memphis, SMU, Houston, Tulane, East Carolina

(FULL ARTICLE @ SB NATION)

BCS Playoff Proposal Memo

The following memo is leaked to USA Today on April 5, 2012, detailing the competing proposals for a new college football postseason format:

Status, April 4, 2012

Making College Football Better and Even More Popular: The deliberative process began last summer. Since then, the commissioners have reviewed many options. Generally the options fall into two categories: (1) Deciding the national champion and (2) enhancing the bowl experience by including other games. While no options have been officially “taken off the table,” the group is focusing on these options, in no particular order:


Deciding the National Champion.

1. BCS With Adjustments. Basically continue the current arrangement whereby no teams play more than one post-season game, with the following enhancements: (a) change or eliminate annual automatic qualification except for contracts negotiated between conferences and bowls, (b) eliminate the limit on the number of participants from each conference, (c) play the games nearer to January 1, (d) create a format that would accommodate different conference champions participating in different bowl games.
   
   
   
2. Original “Plus One.” After the bowl games are played, select two teams for the championship game.
   
   
   
3. Four-team event, with seeded semi-finals and a championship game. Options:
   
   1. All three games in bowls;
      
   2. All three games at neutral sites which would be selected through a bid process if the
      negotiation period with the current bowl organizations that is provided for under our current contract does not conclude successfully. No neutral site games would be branded as bowl games even if bowl organizations host the games; or,
      
   3. Semifinal games in bowls, championship-game site selected through a bid process if the negotiation period with the current bowl organizations that is provided for under our current contract does not conclude successfully. The championship game would not be branded as a bowl game even if a bowl organization serves as host.
      
   4. Semifinal games at campus sites, championship-game site selected through a bid process if the negotiation period with the current bowl organizations that is provided for under our current contract does not conclude successfully. The championship game would not be branded as a bowl game even if a bowl organization serves as host.
      
      
      
4. Four Teams Plus. The four highest-ranked teams meet in two games except that the Big Ten and Pac-12 champions will always play in the Rose Bowl. If the Big Ten champion, the Pac- 12 champion, or both are in the top four, that team (or those two teams) would play in the Rose Bowl and the other two games would be filled by the other four highest-ranked teams. Select two teams for the championship game after those three games have been played.
   
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Enhancing the Bowl Experience With Additional Adjustments to the Post-Season. Separate and apart from deciding the national champion, the commissioners are considering ways to enhance the bowl experience for student athletes and fans and to improve the post-season generally. Included in those discussions are the following options:

1. 10- or 12-Team Event. If No. 2, 3 or 4 above is adopted, create bowl opportunities for six or eight other teams in addition to the four in the semifinals. Matchups would be determined by committee with the aim of providing the most evenly matched and attractive games that make geographic sense for the participants. All participating bowls would also be required to adhere to the standards of responsible governance applied to the current BCS bowls.
   
   
   
2. 20-Team Event. If No. 2, 3 or 4 above is adopted, create bowl opportunities for 16 other teams in addition to the four in the semifinals. Again, matchups would be determined by committee with the aim of providing the most evenly matched and attractive contests that make geographic sense for the participants. All participating bowls would also be required to adhere to the standards for responsible governance applied to the current BCS bowls.
   
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Dates of Games – The commissioners are working within the bowl-game calendar outlined by the NCAA task force. If a four-team event is created, an exemption may be necessary in one or two years over the next decade, because of vagaries in the calendar and the NFL schedule.

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Management – Generally the commissioners lean toward continuing the current management arrangement.

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Revenue Distribution – The commissioners have appointed a small sub-group to consider the appropriate distribution of revenue and report back to the full group.

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BCS Weekly News Roundup (Sept. 11)

POLLS ALL ABOUT (MIS)PERCEPTIONS (Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sept. 10) - It doesn't matter which voter from The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll said it. The message is far more important, because it again cuts to a reality of how many continue to buy into that cartel known as Bowl Championship Series. It's a mindset thing. And it's wrong.

TRESSEL MUST BEAT USC TO KEEP FANS HAPPY (FoxSports.com, Sept. 10) - There's a very good reason he's never devoted so much as one idle thought to the pursuit of his own popularity. Why worry about something that's always been as certain as the sunrise? It's different now for Ohio State coach Jim Tressel. Way different.

BRADFORD'S INJURY SHAKES UP BCS RACE (Los Angeles Times, Sept. 10) - Oklahoma's Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback will miss time with a shoulder separation. Just how long he's out will impact the Sooners and also possibly the BCS hopes of Texas and Oklahoma State.

SCRAM, BIG EAST, MAKE WAY FOR MWC (HowtoWatchSports.com, Sept. 10) - The BCS is an unfair, monopolistic, money-driven system with a million flaws. But here’s a new one that’s coming to a head this season. The Big East has no business being included in the BCS while the Mountain West Conference is excluded.

ACC-ELERATED DECLINE (Saurian Sagacity, Sept. 6) - With conferences like the Mountain West on the rise, the argument for blowing up the current BCS system continues to gain strength, especially when fading powers like the ACC get automatic BCS admittance for their conference champion.

BCS Weekly News Roundup (Sept. 3)

DAVID AND FLORIDA'S GOLIATH (Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 3) - Charleston Southern has no reason to downplay Saturday's 7 p.m. matchup with Florida in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium when the game benefits the school financially and spiritually. The Christian school of about 3,200 students is built on "Integrating Faith in Learning, Leading and Serving," a message Florida understands with its outspoken quarterback.

SABAN: 'BAMA-VA TECH LOSER NOT OUT OF BCS (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Sept. 2) - All the talk surrounding national title hopes for the loser of Saturday’s Alabama/Virginia Tech game irks Tide coach Nick Saban.He doesn’t think either team should be counted out of the hunt for the BCS crown based on a loss to a top-10 team on the first Saturday of the fall.

BOISE STATE GETS EARLY BIRD SPECIAL (Fresno Bee, Sept. 1) - So much of the season is pegged toward a Bowl Championship Series run and a formidable opponent stands in the way early on. Fourteenth-ranked Boise State, the perennial power of the Western Athletic Conference and the highest-ranked team from a league without a guaranteed BCS invite, will host No. 16 Oregon of the Pac-10 to start the season Thursday.

BCS Weekly News Roundup (Aug. 30)

BYU TAKES DEAD AIM AT OKLAHOMA (Salt Lake Tribune, Aug. 28) - BYU reached or surpassed the 10-win mark for the third straight year, qualified for a bowl game for the fourth straight year and finished the season ranked 25th in the AP poll. Yet, the Cougars "had kind of an empty feeling" last January as they summed up 2008 and started looking ahead to 2009.

COMPUTERS, BCS AND BOISE STATE (BarkBoard.com, Aug. 27) - Boise State has yet to play its first game of the 2009 season but most of us know that this year’s team has the potential of returning to another BCS bowl game. Though the BCS system continues to be chided by fans and many in the media, it is the system we must live with at present.

BCS RATINGS WRACKED FANS' NERVES (Newport News Daily Press, Aug. 27) -
The Bowl Championship Series is one of the most consistently satisfying punching bags in sports. Ten years ago, however, the BCS was in its infancy and only beginning to aggravate college football fans.

APPLY SOME LOGIC TO REVIVE BCS (Dallas Morning News, Aug. 26) - The college football season is a mere 10 days away, even less depending upon your team of choice. As opposed to those of you who would like to see the BCS disappear by means of lethal injection – some e-mailers get so overheated I think they would prefer it suffer a more painful demise – I simply want to rehabilitate it.

SI GOES AFTER COACHES' SECRET BALLOTS (SI.com, Aug. 25) - SI.com will file records requests with the employer of each of the 51 public school coaches who vote in the 2009 poll. If the schools comply with the law, we should get a look at every ballot. Legal action may be required if schools refuse to comply. Every ballot we receive will be published.

BCS Weekly News Roundup (Aug. 23)

ASSOCIATED PRESS PRESEASON TOP 25 (CBS Sports, Aug. 23) - Florida received an unprecedented 58 of 60 first-place votes and was two points short of being the consensus preseason No. 1.

MOUNTAIN WEST URGES BCS ACTION (Denver Post, Aug. 21) - Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson reiterated his cause to change the selection process for the BCS bowl games to include qualified teams from all conferences. Earlier this year, Thompson presented a proposal to the BCS committee that was turned down. "We've talked all we can," Thompson said.

GATOR BOWL DROPS BIG EAST, GOES FOR BIG TEN (Florida Times-Union, Aug. 19) - The Gator Bowl and the Big East Conference have parted ways after 14 years, clearing the way for new conference affiliations in Jacksonville's New Year's Day bowl that will include some combination of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten.

SEC'S JOKE OF A CUPCAKE SCHEDULE (Birmingham News, Aug. 17) - When the SEC schedules non-conference games, it's a joke. It's ought to be embarrassing. This is the best conference in the nation, a league that wants for nothing, a league with not only record attendance but a record TV deal. But this non-conference schedule, ugghhh, it's awful.

BCS Weekly News Roundup (Aug. 14)

BCS REFORM FACES TALL ORDER IN CONGRESS (Associated Press, Aug. 13) - For years, lawmakers have railed against the Bowl Championship Series, calling it an unfair way to select a national champion. A lot of righteous thundering, however, has not yielded anything on the legislative front.

SEC'S NEW MEDIA POLICY HITS A SNAG (Birmingham News, Aug. 12) - Facing a public relations backlash, the SEC plans to "tweak" elements of its new controversial media policy that was distributed to the 12 schools last Thursday.

UTAH SCHOOLS SCHEDULE BCS-TOUGH (Deseret News. Aug. 11) - Schedule easy to chalk up wins and look BCS-pretty? Or buckle down and play somebody to push your program forward. That debate has taken a turn for the latter with BYU and Utah.

WHO WANTS TO GET RID OF PRESEASON POLLS? (Virginian-Pilot, Aug. 10) - The preseason college football coaches' poll is an example of cockeyed, tradition-trumping fairness. The preseason rankings skew everything in a sport that selects its national-championship contenders, in large part, with guesswork disguised as a popular vote.

NCAA vs. USC: WHO BLINKS FIRST? (AOL Fanhouse, Aug. 7) - This is a game of chicken. Down on one end of the street is USC, revving its engine. On the other end is the NCAA, doing the same. And they are about to start barreling toward each other. Which one will chicken out?

BCS Weekly News Roundup (Aug. 7)

FLORIDA TOPS PRESEASON COACHES POLL (USA Today, Aug. 7)

BCS REVIEW: RIGHTING A DECADE OF MOSTLY WRONGS (CBS Sports, Aug. 6) - The Bowl Championship Series came of age this decade. That's not to say the BCS matured or got better. It just got older -- and more controversial. This was the first decade in which every major-college season ended with a championship decided on the field.

URBAN FALLACY: THE SEC GRIND (Bleacher Report, Aug. 6) - Fans, media, pundits and now coaches have created a new BCS party line, the "week in, week out" asterisk. This is where any time Utah's undefeated season is mentioned, it must be disclosed that Utah could not have accomplished this had they played week in, week out in a real BCS conference.

BIG EAST BCS-WORTHY FOR FIVE MORE YEARS (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 5) - The Big East Conference has exceeded the most optimistic predictions when the BCS contract was renewed this year and the Big East retained its berth for the next five seasons.

URBAN MEYER NOW HIGHEST-PAID SEC COACH (ESPN, Aug. 3) - Florida coach Urban Meyer signed a new six-year, $24 million contract Monday, taking his total financial package to $4 million per year and making him the SEC's highest-paid coach in 2009. It makes him the third-highest-paid coach in the country behind Pete Carroll's reported $4.4 million salary at USC and Charlie Weis' $4.2 million at Notre Dame

COACHES POLL MUST BE PUNTED BY BCS (Denver Post, Aug. 3) - What does it tell you about the validity of the football coaches poll when Oklahoma's Bob Stoops decides to vote this year to protect his own team?

BCS Weekly News Roundup (July 31)

WHO'S FOOTING THE BILL FOR SPORTS? (Orlando Sentinel) - At a time when universities across the country are cutting back on academic programs because of the recession, will the subsidies that help fund intercollegiate sports programs become a political issue?

BIG TEN, PAC-10 HAD NO CHOICE BUT GIVE IN (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) - The Big Ten announced on Monday at its preseason meetings that the five Coalition (non-BCS) conferences will finally have access to the Rose Bowl under the new BCS agreement which begins after the 2010 regular season.

NO CHANGES TO BCS FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS (News & Observer) - Even after two Congressional hearings and a plea from President Barack Obama, the Bowl Championship Series won't be changing any time soon. ACC commissioner John Swofford, who is also the chairman of the BCS, said Sunday college football's postseason format is unlikely to change in the next five years.

BCS MIFFED AT COACHES' RETURN TO SECRECY (USA Today) - College football coaches might not get the poll-voting secrecy they thought was coming. Bowl Championship Series coordinator John Swofford and other key conference commissioners make it clear they prefer the final regular-season ballots in the USA TODAY Coaches' Poll — which helps determine the BCS title matchup — continue to be made public.

BCS TIPS BOWL MONEY BALANCE (Econosseur.com) - With Senator Orrin Hatch's (R-UT) editorial in this week's Sports Illustrated and congressional hearings ready to get underway tomorrow, I couldn't wait any longer to put up this picture. The figure below shows total NCAA bowl payout revenues adjusted for inflation (2008 dollars, CPI) and divided into revenues that went to BCS conference teams and non-BCS conference teams.