I don't want to see the Big East lose anybody else. Now would be a great time to swoop up a quick replacement, like East Carolina, to replace some of the value Rutgers brought to the table. If East Carolina is worth enough, perhaps the western schools won't leave. Sadly, however, it seems San Diego St., Boise St., Houston, and SMU may not want to head east afterall. This would leave the conference with 7 teams and surely on the verge of collapse. Let's say it happens, and the Big East sheds its football members, adds some A-10 schools and becomes a premier basketball conference, making the best of what they have. Where would the football members land?

Well, the very very best case scenario would be the Pac-12 shocks the world and grabs SMU, BSU, SDSU, and Houston to get to 16 and establish a presence in Texas, while adding an academic peer in SDSU and a great athletic program in BSU. Then, maybe the Big XII decides to grab some teams while it has a prime chance. Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Central Florida, and Memphis all join the Big XII, along with one other team from somewhere, and they get to 16 teams. Next, the ACC takes Temple and the Big Ten takes Connecticut plus another ACC team or Notre Dame to get to 16. Expansion is pretty much done, at the cost of the Big East. The ACC would take a hit but would survive as a legitimate 5th power conference. Now, this scenario will never happen, as Big East teams simply don't add enough value. Then again, I'm no economist. If the Big East does break up I think we all want the best for its member institutions.