We should’ve added Nova when we added Cincy, Louisville, USF, and UConn. I know nothing is official but this is really our only option as of right now. Adding teams from outside the Super 16 will only threaten the basketball conference. Now if we can get Notre Dame I would be completely fine with adding Memphis and Temple to create the Super-Mega-Awesome 18 Basketball Conference and have a Football Championship. I wish.

I like it, of course I would like any team to be the 9th for scheduling purposes. I think that this will happen and perhaps as early as next season. Nova just has to raise the funds to play most or all of their home games in the Eagles stadium or maybe they could use the Phillies stadium. I don’t think the BE asks the question if they don’t already know the answer.

According to the article on ESPN, if Nova wants to continue using their own stadium, they need to upgrade its capacity from 12,000 to at least 15,000 to meet the FBS minimum and add 22 women’s scholarships due to Title IX.

NOVA might have to create a scheduling liason with Temple if they want to utilize Eagles Stadium since I think the Owls play their home games there now on Saturdays.

Great, another sucky team to drag the conference down. By the time they are a decent 1A program the BE will be dissolved.

That’ll show Osbourne what a fool he was, won’t it? Maybe the BE should invite Carlow while they are at it. No wonder Tagliabue was an unpaid consultant – if he had charged for this debachle he would have been indicted for malpractice.

I don’t really see the harm in this move. They could be another UConn and USF in a few years which adds depth to the conference without changing any other sport.

Great news. The Wildcats have to study the situation before taking action. Villanova might become a force in the FBS just as Connecticut has done. If this happens the football teams will control the vote.

Adding the Philly market would be huge for the BE. With both Pitt and Nova they would have near equal footing with the Big10/12 and Penn State.

Speaking of Farmville University, who wants to bet that if Villanova does upgrade that PSU will immediately sign a 6 year home and home claiming they are restoring (or creating) a legendary PA rivalry. Oh wait I forgot, they already have a storied rival – Nebraska.

This means Pitt will lose to Nova at home in the season opener and Nova’s first in the BE.

joking aside, this would be good for the league.

Some things to consider–
Nova is actually a relatively small school with a student body of less than 9,000. In addition, the University has very high academic standards (a plus, however, big time football programs often have to “bend” the rules a bit for quality players). In addition, the recruiting
zone for top talent will obviously reach in to Pennsylvania as well as NJ and MD, areas that are being developed by Pitt. It will take Nova at least 5 years to become semi-decent on the BCS level. Schools with long time football traditions//Syracuse>>UCLA>>Michigan>>Texas A&M have had difficult down years trying to rebuild their programs. Pitt as far as I am concerned is still not a top tier team and will be lucky given their schedule and coaching philosophy to finish in the Top 15. The Big East is already an
extremely weak football conference (let’s not kid ourselves)and adding Nova is not a quick fix or possibly not even a fix at all.

The best solution (one can dream) is to find a way to bring Boston College back in to the Big East. BC is like a duck out of water in The ACC, however, $$$$ money talks and it would take a major turnaround in TV revenue to bring them back.
BC and Navy would be sensational duo (Navy, however, would not be able to compete in The Big East on the BB court.

Nova is competitve now with Temple, who was an abve average MAC team, and a move to a BCS conference will only enhance its recruiting, is in a gigantic TV market (albeit a pro-market), and it would not necessitate adding a 17th basketball team.

15 years ago, UConn was 1AA and USF (football) didn’t exist.

While there are issues, it’s not the worst thing that can happen.

There is a comment on that Nova blog suggesting that if Nova does make the move to FBS and is successful maybe they will be courted to join the ACC or the Big Ten eventually!

Thank you Tranghese & Marinatto!

WVU is losing late in the 3rd to Marshall….

…a USF upset over Florida tomorrow might not just be huge, it may also be absolutely necessary for the Big East to save some face.

This would be a good move for Nova. UCONN did very well with their upgrade and this would be a very good selling point. Let’s get that ball rolling.

I still say drop Depaul and add UCF in all sports, Or just add UCF.

I live in CAA country (Virginia) and this was discussed at length today on radio. Villanova has had a very competitive team at this level(New Hampshire is member of conference). That being said – the stadium is a big issue as discussed before, but an even bigger issue is attendance. They don’t even fill up 12,000 when they have a good team. If Big East wants to go to this level to pick up another football member Delaware or James Madison would be a far better fit, both are committed to football, are larger schools (esp JMU) and have much better facilities in place.

In your wildest dreams, could you ever imagine any other serious Division I conference adding Nova?

Pitt has gotta find another home.

conferences matter in college football. the only popular sport without a playoff. this system will not last another 20 years.

I hear what you’re spraying, square 44 – but Delaware doesn’t want to make the jump to FBS. I would love to have them playing football in the Big East, in fact I think Villanova would double their impact in the Philly market if they joined along with Delaware – but UD just doesn’t want to play up to Div 1-A.

UD has a great fan base, but they have their priorities out of whack. I don’t know whether it’s a complex of being one of the 1-AA “big fish” for so long or what, but most every UD fan I have talked to is content staying at the FCS level.

It is mind blowing and frustrating to me, a huge Big East fan (and Delaware fan) that the Delaware fanbase can be so strong and typically not desire a place at the next level for their team.

Basketball adds a whole different dynamic that I am not qualified to comment on, but in my estimation the BE would be better off with any existing B.East team in bball rather than Delaware.

I don’t know much of what James Madison is worth as a possible BE member, but I know they don’t have the fb history of Delaware. JMU would have to add on to their stadium, which Del. is already doing – but I think UD is expanding their stadium specifically to piss me off; by adding seats while not making a move to Div 1-A.

What kind of ponzy scheme is this, Nova to the BE. I though that guy Madeoffwiththemoney was in prison. Did he use a cell phone to set this abortion up?? I’ll bet anyone, the ACC and the B-1 little-11 is laughing their azz’z off.

ChrisA:

Much more aware of JMU than Del– thanks for info. JMU is in midst of statium expansion (to 25,000 I think)and a lot of alums want to go big time- not sure of administration. BTW they just beat Va Tech

I wish I was at this game.. Man it’s hot..

I saw on one of the other blogs that Franklin Field would be a possibility for Villanova. It seats 60,000 and currently Penn plays there. I am sure an agreement could be worked out between Villanova and Penn, as they have played each other in basketball for decades as part of the Big Five.

As for Villanova’s total enrollment not being large, Boston College doesn’t have a huge enrollment either and they managed to maintain a Division I football program in an area where college and high school football is not nearly as popular as it is in Pennsylvania.

Adding Villanova as a football program to the BE makes a lot of sense politically. The balance of power would shift to the football schools and they could conceivably take control of the conference.

Let’s face it. Notre Dame will not join the Big East as a football member and no other prominent school will join, either. It is either convince Villanova to join or to stay at eight FB schools.

This would just be cool for us Pitt fans in Eastern PA to be able to go to a game close to home every other year like we used to with Temple….. of course then Temple would beat us and you’d want to strangle someone, but thats another story. I like the move. Lets face it, the big east isn’t going to be considered any better of a conference without Nova any time soon, so I’m not worried about Nova dragging us down anymore. If we want to be a better conference, screw geography and invite TCU (The Cowboys play in the NFC East.)

On a different note, I wished Wanny and Wise would watch the James Madison vs VT game. I watched a little bit of it and JM’s OL beat VT’S line like a drum. Wanny =s Harris in recruiting OL.

Square44’s comments look pretty knowledgable today after a JMU win over the defector Hokies. Good call, old college roomy! Beat Miami!

We should add Penn State and Boston College.

I love that you are debating whether to add Villanova to the conference!! Villanova!! Who is next, The Citadel? Maybe Furman? The Big East is a complete joke. Teh MAC deserves a BCS bowl more than they do. West Virginia is supposed to compete for the title, and they got dominated for 3 and a half quarters by Marshall.

Hey, BE Joke….you sound like you get all of your information from the talking heads at ESPN…..from 2003.

Go away, little boy, SpongeBob is on.

Wow, Penguins fan, that was a witty comeback. You’re right, SpongeBob IS on TV, as opposed to the Pitt/New Hampshire game. IUP to the Big East in 2015!!