Separate reports from ESPN.com and CBSSports.com Monday night confirmed that Navy will announce their decision and plan to join the Big East as a football-playing member in 2015 on Tuesday. The Midshipmen had been contemplating joining the Big East for a while but were unsure of a timeline for the move to be made, or who might be joining them.
The Big East will be welcoming the additions of Boise State and San Diego State as football-only members and Houston, SMU and Central Florida as full-conference members in 2013. Unless the conference allows them to leave earlier, Pittsburgh and Syracuse will leave for the ACC that same season. West Virginia is intending to begin play in the Big 12 in 2012, but a legal dispute between the university and the Big East is currently on-going.
With the addition of Navy in 2015, the Big East will have a projected football membership of 11 football members once all of the changes take effect. There are reports that the Big East would be open to, and would prefer, to add a 12th football member, which would open the door for a Big East conference championship game that would follow in the foot steps of the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Pac 12 and more.
But who would be the 12th member?
With the Big East already addressing a desire to expand westward with the additions of Boise State and San Diego State, another western school might be at the top of the list. BYU, currently independent in football, would appear to be the most desirable target for the Big East, and if BYU was willing to listen the conference would have to sell the university hard on the positives of joining their conference over their newly founded independence.
Air Force could be a logical second option for the Big East. Air Force officials had once thought to be sold on the idea of joining the Big East along with Navy but the school backed out as time went by and opted to stick with the Mountain West Conference, which is exploring a potential merger with Conference USA. Army would be a terrific Navy rival to bring in to the conference as well but Army has shied away form the idea of playing in a conference again after being run over in Conference USA the last time they were affiliated with a league in football. Army and Navy are currently football independents.
The Other Options Worth Discussing?
Temple and East Carolina will continue to be schools worth exploring, although they appear to be long shots at best. Temple was once kicked out of the Big East for football and despite being a much-improved program today, the fact they play in the same market as Big East member Villanova brings a number of issues. Those issues consist of not only a market-overlap but also gaining support from a rival school for one reason or another.
East Carolina would accept an offer to the Big East in an instant, but the conference has never come crawling to the school during this realignment shuffle over the past two years. There doesn't seem to be much that has changed as far as either side is concerned. East Carolina would love to join, leaving Conference USA in the process, but the Big East sees no real value in adding the school that is in crowded ACC territory.
Kevin McGuire is a national college football writer for Examiner.com and the host of the No 2-Minute Warning podcast. He can be reached at cfbexaminer@gmail.com.
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