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03 December 2010
I don't know about you, but in our opinion.....
KUDOS SHOULD GO TO THE BIG EAST CONFERENCE brass for adding Texas Christian University to the conference, starting in 2012.
This is a move aimed at upgrading the football profile of the league and it does so in at least three ways.
ONE: It adds a well-respected member of the college football community.
As of this writing, TCU is undefeated and stands third in the 2010 BCS standings. Depending on the results of this weekend's games, the Horned Frogs seem to be just an Oregon or Auburn loss away from a spot in the national title game. With TCU in the fold, the overall strength of the Big East immediately is raised.
We never have worried as much as some about the Big East losing its BCS spot. However, there is no denying that reeling in TCU puts WVU and the rest of the conference on more equal footing with other BCS leagues in perception and in reality. That should quell notions that the Big East is not BCS-worthy.
TWO: TCU not only strengthens the Big East, it also weakens the Mountain West Conference -- the league often mentioned as nipping at the heels of the Big East in a quest to gain a chair at the BCS table.
TCU has been the bell cow of the Mountain West for several years, followed closely by Utah and Brigham Young University. All three of those teams will have departed the Mountain West by 2012 -- TCU to the Big East, Utah to the Pacific-10 Conference and Brigham Young University leaving to go independent.
Even though Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada are coming into the Mountain West, the conference loses some luster in the trades.
THREE: It creates a bigger footprint for the smallest BCS football conference, not only numerically but geographically, stretching the Big East's borders into the Southwest.
Media-wise, the conference expands its already impressive presence in major markets. Fort Worth-based TCU draws the Big East into the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the nation's fourth-largest metropolitan region and fifth-largest media market.
Counting basketball and other sports, the Big East now is represented in three of the nation's top four metro areas and three of the top five media markets -- New York, Chicago and DFW.
