The Big East conference got their wish. They have finally added schools to the conference when they could have been down to five schools after Pittsburgh (ACC), Syracuse (ACC), West Virginia (Big 12) and TCU (Big 12) all left within the last three months.
The schools to be added to the Big East include Boise State, Houston, Southern Methodist, Central Florida and San Diego State. Navy has been reported to head to the conference as well but they have "loose ends" to tie up before they can move on.
The Big East is also hoping to add Air Force to the conference but if it happens, it won't come until 2014 or 2015 because of scheduling conflicts.
Boise State and San Diego State will move as football-only, while the other three schools will participate in all sports.
With the additions of the five schools, it comes just in time for the 2013 season. It will also keep the Big East as a main conference within college football and it could also help the conference keep their automatic BCS-qualifying bid.
Even though they are over 3,000 miles away from the East coast, Boise State is hoping that the Big East can keep their automatic bid for a BCS bowl game. Over the last four seasons, the Broncos have been selected to only one BCS game and have been passed over as an at-large selection the last three seasons even though they were undefeated in 2008 and were a one-loss team in 2010 and 2011.
Central Florida finished in the top 25 last season and should become an immediate rival to South Florida. It should also add another market in Florida and should also help with recruiting.
Over the last two seasons, the San Diego State Aztecs have made back-to-back bowl games, the first time that has occurred since the 1960's.
The addition of SMU also adds a market in Texas after TCU joined the Big East and then bolted for the Big 12 conference instead.
With SMU now in the Big East, it should also help with recruiting, as Texas has had some of the biggest high school stars in recent memory. SMU could now return to relativity under head coach June Jones as part of the conference.
Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced in September that they would be leaving the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Texas Christian University had joined the Big East earlier in the year, but then announced that they were leaving for the Big 12. West Virginia quickly followed suit.
However, West Virginia could still remain in the Big East for the 2012 season as the school is currently entangled in a lawsuit that the Big East has filed with the school. The conference has demanded that West Virginia stay in the conference due to the 27-month waiting period.
And in turn, West Virginia has sued the Big East, stating that the original lawsuit is unvalidated because the school lost members. The lawsuits are still ongoing.
The Big East will now look like this: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida, Central Florida, Houston, Boise State, Southern Methodist, and San Diego State. Navy is expected to follow to the Big East as well.
