Tag Archives: Navy

Big East Expansion: Temple In Talks to Join for 2012

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Faced With a Necessity To Find an Eighth Member for 2012, Big East Taps Temple

Was this the reason the Big East has been keeping Temple waiting around this whole time? So they could use them as a stop-gap when everything’s literally about to hit the fan? Considering the options for Syracuse (and Pittsburgh) were to play conference teams twice, face several top-10 programs in one year or schedule three FCS schools (is that even allowed?), this seems like the best solution for us. But what does the Big East really gain here? We break it down:

  1. An eight-team football league for 2012. This was a key sticking point after West Virginia‘s departure left so many of their current member schools in a lurch. Now, at least schools like SU don’t have to go out and fill two open dates on such short (and late) notice. The league also won’t need a waiver to maintain its BCS status next season.
  2. One of its original (football) members back. Yes, Temple was part of the league on a football-only basis from 1991-2004. And what a terrible, awful period that was.
  3. Another basketball-rich school located in the northeast. Temple’s got history and should help cushion the fall once the three departing schools are gone. However, this also leads us to:
  4. A pissed-off Villanova. Now there’s no way the Wildcats ever get the call up to the Big East in football. With another team in their city, their bottom-line gets hit in two sports and they become the likely second game in town. Continue reading →
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Big East Expansion: Adding Memphis Edition

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The Big East Has Added Memphis in All Sports, Starting for the 2013-14 Season

Well, this is just plain laughable. The Big East, looking to make waves and solidify a 12-team football membership for 2013-14 decided to add “national powerhouse” Memphis to the fold. After adding Navy, it appeared the conference would target a strong football power (in a western-ish state) to fill the league’s final spot. And yet, it’s Memphis, the same team that’s won just five games over the past three seasons. If you’re any of the western additions, how are you okay with this “kitchen sink” model? If you’re any of the remaining members from 2011′s iteration, what part of this makes you want to stay (on the football side, at least)? There are countless issues to dive into on this, but let’s lay out the big ones:

1. Louisville isn’t just window-shopping: This was a brief news item last week, and is worth noting again. The Cardinals are “aggressively pursuing” membership into the Big 12. And why not? Adding Memphis does nothing for their growing football brand, despite its immediate must-see rivalry with the Tigers on the court. If the Cards bolt (not unlikely), another Big East team could also follow.

2. West Virginia is probably leaving, effective in 2012: Regardless of what the league has to say about it. Which would knock the Big East down to just seven football schools for the coming season.It’s a disaster that would wreak havoc on the remaining teams’ schedules. Plus, there’s no solution, since Boise’s already said no to an early arrival. This leads us to… Continue reading →

Big East Expansion: Navy-Finally-Says-Yes Edition

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The Big East Makes Another Addition: And This Time, It's Navy

After a strung-out courtship that apparently lasted 10 years according to Navy Athletic Director Chuck Gladchuck, the Midshipmen are finally part of the Big East (/Country/Continent/Least, etc.)… in 2015. While I’m always one to applaud the tradition of our service academies as major college football programs, it’s still difficult to see what this addition truly gives the “country’s first national football conference” (source: John Marinatto, who also believes Syracuse, Pitt, TCU and West Virginia were wrong in leaving). While Navy surely adds more tradition than most of the current conference schools, what it lacks is success to go along with it. Yes, the Midshipmen have been to eight bowl games in the last nine years, but just nine bowl games during the previous 125 years of play. And if for some reason, their triple-option attack just can’t measure up anymore (we saw glimpses of this during 2011), Navy could end up as an annual bottom-dweller.

So now what? For the conference to truly be a “national,” coast-to-coast league, the final addition almost HAS to be west of the Mississippi. Remember, the Big East will likely have 13 teams in 2013, but then drop down to 10 in 2014 with the departures of SU, Pitt and WVU. Navy bumps them back up to 11, but with seven teams in the Eastern time zone, two in the Central, one in the Mountain and one in the Pacific, any “Western” division likely needs another team in the western part of the country. Still, we’ll dissect some quick odds on the remaining candidates, taking an open look at the country: Continue reading →

Big East Expansion: “Now What?” Edition

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When the Big East Expands Again, This Guy's Definitely Still Interested

When we last left our more beleaguered East Coast football brethren (former rivals, for the five defectors among us), they were busy expanding to a four timezones format, extending its reach over 3,000 miles from its original locale of Providence, to the shores of San Diego. Since then, Air Force has made it awkward, and no longer wants a seat with the USSR of college football, while fellow service academy Navy is officially locked into independent status until 2014 (at least). So at this juncture, as we’ve asked several times before: now what?

We’ve mentioned most of these at one point or another, but worth noting all of the current candidates again, with odds and explanations attached. The following schools are listed from most likely to garner an invite to least likely. Also keep in mind that a) all schools are pretty much on the table at this point, and b)the conference has not necessarily said it will stop at 12 teams for football.

Temple Owls (Odds — 2:1): Already members of the Big East once, Temple fits the league’s original profile (good at basketball, eastern location), and this time brings a more formidable football program (they’d hope). The biggest barrier to their admittance has always been Villanova, but unless the Wildcats want to play basketball in the Atlantic 10, that stance will probably be changing soon.

Memphis Tigers (Odds — 8:1): Another all-sports addition, Memphis could contend immediately in basketball, but would likely be the new Temple of the league (while Temple would become the Rutgers of the new Big East?). Losing 10 games this past year won’t help them out much, but another defection (not unlikely) would.

ECU Pirates (Odds — 10:1): We’ve mentioned this several times before, but the Pirates have already applied to join the Big East! That was easy. A school that regularly draws 50-60K for football would normally be a big attraction, except that they’re the fifth-best game in town down in North Carolina, and provide little in terms of TV revenue. Ceiling in the new iteration of the league would likely be an 8-4 record.

Villanova Wildcats (Odds — 15:1): Given they’re already a member in all other sports, adding Villanova would be an easy fix. And at this point, the soonest they’d join is 2014, which as luck would have it, could coincide with Navy’s entry date. On the other hand, they play home games in a soccer stadium and usually play less compelling football than (at the very least) Penn and Temple.

Southern Miss Golden Eagles (Odds — 25:1): And to be honest, if they were in an even marginally larger media market, this would be a slam dunk already. The reigning Conference USA champs would love to continue rivalries with UCF, SMU and Houston, and raise their own national profile (they’re the San Diego State of the Gulf Coast, really). Even better than all of this: They’d be an immediate contender in a budding Western division.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane (Odds — 35:1): If you’ve already got two teams in Texas, why not add an Oklahoma team, too? Tulsa’s always been decent at football, especially with the whole not-playing-defense thing which seems to work so well for C-USA teams. The drawback — most eyes in Tulsa are likely on the other two big football teams in the state, plus it would be difficult to finish higher than fourth in that Western division.

Toledo Rockets/Colorado State Rams/UNLV Rebels (Odds — 100:1 each): And this is just a sampling of the schools the Big East could consider. Hell, might even throw Hawaii in there while they’re at it. If they’re going for eyeballs and institutional cache, then they’re going for UNLV or to be honeset, Hawaii (have been to a BCS game). Logically, the pick’s Toledo — probably as good as half of the league this year and a natural rival for Cincinnati. Colorado State’s more tossed in there to represent any mountain-type team in that general region of the country.

If we’re stopping at just one additional school (to pair with Navy), Temple would appear to be the pick. However, to avoid pushing too many teams out West (and further toward leaving the conference), they may go with another choice left of the original conference footprint. If that’s the choice, I’d give Southern Miss the call first. In the case of more than just one invite though, no blog post can truly capture the amount of teams on the table. Might as well include every team currently in the MAC, Mountain West, WAC and C-USA. And that’s just for starters.

The Army-Navy Game: An Objective Analysis by an Objective Man

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Army v. Navy Is One of College Football's Greatest, and Most Storied Traditions

Right up there with Cats vs. Dogs, Rome vs. Carthage, and Boxers vs. Briefs; Army vs. Navy is one of the oldest, most celebrated rivalries around.  Navy holds the lead with a 55-49-7 record.  Both Academies have produced Heisman Trophy winners, won National Championships, and U.S. Presidents.

Although they fight each other bitterly on the field of play, they fight together on the field of battle, representing the greatest team in the world, the United States of America.  As a USMC Officer Applicant, I am partial to the Midshipmen.  But win or lose, we should all be proud of what these young men are ultimately preparing for, and what they will do as members of our military.

Go America and Go Navy!

“The Army Goes Rolling Along” “Anchors Aweigh” “Marines’ Hymn”

P.S. Army needs to bring these uniforms back, and they needed to do it yesterday.

Big East Expansion: Spurned By Air Force Edition

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Without Air Force in the Mix, Where Will the Big East Turn Next?

After yesterday/today’s big news, it seemed like it would only be a matter of time before Navy and Air Force joined the Big East so the league could get to 12 teams (the magic number to split into divisions and stage a championship game). Now, it appears there’s about to be a wrench thrown into that whole plan. Or maybe multiple wrenches.

With Air Force officially saying “thanks, but no thanks” (using the surprising logic of travel time and geography!) and Navy apparently locked into independence until at least 2014, the Big “East” is once again in a tough spot. Do they wait around for the Midshipmen, or just move on two new options? Logistically, if they manage to force Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia from departing for greener pastures in 2014, the conference becomes even more of a mess — supporting 13 schools for football, and 19 for basketball for one season — and that’s assuming they stand pat. If they add two more teams, now you’re looking at 15 for football (ironically, a superconference) and possibly 21 (!!!!!!!!) for basketball. Horrifying.

As much as Navy made sense before, especially with Air Force in tow, adding them no longer pays real dividends. The conference needs additions to be further west, to help bridge the enormous geographic gap between current schools and the recent five invitees. As much as people like watching the military academies, Navy usually has an eight-win cap on their season (and that’s while making their own schedule) and may not even be the biggest draw in the Annapolis area. Without a natural rival (Rutgers?), any remaining intrigue around their contests vanishes and people just wait out the string until we get to Army-Navy come years’ end.

So what’s left? As always, Temple is the top replacement candidate, and the conference would be foolish not to add the Owls for all sports. Unless, of course, they fessed up to the fact that they are no longer a basketball conference. In that case, now you’ve suddenly got some better options: ECU, Southern Miss, Toledo, Marshall (and their hoops program’s on the upswing) — hell, why not throw Tulsa into the mix? No, none of these solutions are perfect, but “perfect” went out the window for the Big East long ago. They have to do what’s necessary to survive. In this case, it might mean compromising basketball (gasp!) for the good of the football side.

Parting thoughts: They’ll end up adding Temple and Navy. However, if I were John Marinatto (and thank God I’m not), I add ECU and Southern Miss, and call it a day. Not only do you invade ACC territory, but you also inch a bit further west, making it slightly less awkward for UCF to be in the same division as Boise State. Once again, it’s not perfect. But how can it be anymore?

Big East Expansion: Four Different Time Zones Edition

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Will Boise State's Lauded Arrival Save the Big East's AQ Status?

As most have probably heard by now, the Big East is suddenly not so “east” anymore. With the additions of Boise State, SMU, Houston, UCF and San Diego State, the conference is now one that stretches all the way from Florida to California, or the just as ridiculous Rhode Island to Idaho if you’d prefer that visual. Further complicating matters is the fact that it still needs two more schools to reach its goal of having 12 football-playing members. Who are the big contenders? To me, you first look at the two obvious answers:

Navy — end the years-long flirtation and help the Midshipmen get out of some of their scheduling conflicts, so they can join the league as soon as possible.

Air Force — you’re not getting one of these military academies without the other. And now that the Falcons have several travel partners out west, it’s a lot more palatable of a move for them.

If you’re Louisville Cardinals basketball coach Rick Pitino, however, you have something else in mind:

“…my hope is that they’ll go out there and get a Temple or a Memphis to keep basketball strong.”

Something tells me that Air Force and Navy will be easy gets, and the Big East probably stops there. They’ve also stated that Temple is their first alternate should there be a snag in their plans — something I support, so long as Memphis isn’t part of the deal (terrible facilities, poor academics). Then again, Syracuse won’t be the ones that have to travel all over the country just to play in-conference, so I’m not as broken up as I once would’ve been.

The bigger question, once the league fills out at 12 schools for football and who knows how many for basketball, is are they better off? For its traditional strength — basketball — there’s no way the schools above replace SU and Pittsburgh (and even West Virginia, to a point). For football? I still think it might be more of an even swap (or even a downgrade) than anyone within the conference is letting on. The Mountaineers are no Boise, but they are regularly in the BCS standings and usually win their BCS bowls as well. Pitt, Syracuse and oft-forgotten defector TCU have also been to BCS games with varying degrees of success. The other adds besides the Broncos? Zero BCS berths, few appearances in the standings and outside of the former Southwest Conference teams, little history to speak of.

Yes, as they’ve done before, the Big East will surely write its own epilogue here. But for those already penning a success story on the gridiron, maybe you should hold off for a few before you start throwing a parade for the league’s bumbling leader up in Providence, John Marinatto.