The Big East is being asked to consider a plan that would form a nation-wide football conference featuring between 28 or 32 teams from the Mountain West Conference, Conference USA and the Big East, according to a document obtained by the Boston Globe.
The suggested plan would retain the Big East's automatic berth to a BCS bowl, while allowing the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA to gain similar AQ (automatic qualification) status.
Two different versions of the mega-conference were outlined in the proposal. One includes 32 teams, and the proposed divisional format would be as follows:
West Mountain Central Big East Boise State Air Force Marshall Louisville Hawaii Colorado State Memphis UConn UNLV Wyoming Southern Miss Rutgers Nevada New Mexico Tulane Cincinnati Fresno State UTEP UAB South Florida San Diego State SMU Rice Central Florida Utah State Tulsa Temple East Carolina San Jose State Houston Louisiana Tech Navy
In the 28-team proposal, Temple and Lousiana Tech would be eliminated from the Central, San Jose State from the West, and Navy from the Big East division, and Houston would move to the Central division.
With the impending defection of some of its most important member schools, including Syracuse and Pittsburgh, the Big East is looking to maintain its AQ status in the BCS.
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