Once again I'm writing another post about the ever confusing Big East Conference. The Big East, should none of the football schools leave by 2015, will have 13 football members when Navy is scheduled to come aboard (nautical pun intended). Expecting everyone to still be here in 2015 is presuming a lot in the Big East but I'm going to presume it none the less even though I am not sold on this being a reality.
So how do you align divisions when you have 13 members, 4 of whom are in the northeast, 3 are in the upper south, 2 are in Florida, 2 are in Texas, and the 2 affiliates are west of the Rockies (that is if they are even still coming)?
You could add another football affiliate but who out there is going to jump on that offer? BYU, Army, and Air Force have already said no.
Rather than talk about the problems involved or the ludicrousness of putting Temple in the West, far away from its regional rivals so that Temple can once again become a failed Big East football program, I'm going to go straight to my solution but there are two versions of it. Align like this:
East: UConn, Rutgers, Temple, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis
West: South Florida, Central Florida, Southern Methodist, Houston, Boise St, San Diego St
I kept the upper south triad and northeastern triad together as well as all 3 "pairs" thus preserving all the big rivalries as well as keeping things regional. While the schools I put in the east might like to have more recruiting trips to Florida, Texas, and California I think that staying regional and playing both of their regional rivals annually is a good thing. It also boosts the chance that an old guard member (4 of the 5 are in this division) get represented in the title game.
But what about Navy?
Solution 1: Navy, as a service academy that feels having a nationwide presence is critical to their mission as ambassadors of our sailors, spends even years as a member of the East Division and odd years as a member of the West Division thus ensuring that they have exposure to all parts of the country.
I like this for a number of reasons but mainly because while asking Navy to be "the awkward school" its really to their benefit and fits with their current scheduling philosophy of trying to play everywhere. It also means in years where they are playing further from home in the West Division they will have Air Force at home and in years where they are playing more games in the northeast they get a road trip out west to play the Falcons thus keeping a presence out west in years when they may not be scheduled to visit San Diego St or Boise. Yes it means they are always in the division of 7 but conference titles aren't what the Midshipmen are about and they always have their end-of-season Super Bowl, the Army -Navy game as a source of pride in lean seasons.
Solution 2: Instead of being in a division, Navy plays 4 games against East schools and 4 against West schools each year which still gives Navy national exposure and the benefit of having 8 opponents each year in a college football landscape in which it will be harder for independents to schedule games.
Initially I like this idea a lot less. It pretty much sends the message to Navy they are an oddity and that no one thinks they will actually contend for a Big East title in football. Then I think about Navy's reasoning for joining the Big East in the first place: they were worried about scheduling as an independent. They also signed on thinking that Army, Air Force, or both academies would be joining them. Neither did and now they are in a position where it looks like they will have 8 conference games, 3 against traditional rivals Army, Air Force, and Notre Dame, leaving only one opening which will inevitably have to be an FCS school because with the other 11 games they have will be brutal. Getting to a bowl game will be very difficult for them and losing records year after year will be bad for Navy's morale. Then it hit me: Don't have Navy as a full member! Instead of conference membership lets have a scheduling agreement with them instead. The Big East enters into a contract with Navy for 3 home games and 3 away games annually. It means that every other year each Big East football school has to find one less out-of-conference game to schedule and that they will host Navy once every 4 years. Navy still gets to maintain all 3 of their big rivalries and has 3 openings left on the schedule for an FCS team and 2 MAC/Sunbelt teams to give Navy a solid shot at a bowl game every year. Navy could still be included as part of the Big East's bowl tie ins too. I see this as a win-win for everyone, especially Navy.
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