Under the plan being circulated by the Mountain West and Conference USA to FBS administrators, those two conferences would hope to join forces with the Big East in a grouping of 28 to 32 schools in football only. The Big East is still pursuing a 12-team football league.
In the event the concept of the AQ (automatic qualifier) goes forward, the document states, the decision of which conferences receive it, will likely be based on multiple factors, some of which are tangible and others intangible.
It adds that nothing is assured in the postseason landscape after the 2013 season, the final year of the current BCS/ESPN agreement. The document acknowledges that the five power conferences have clearly distinguished themselves Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and SEC but that the Big East has not compared well to most Power Conferences from a competitive standpoint.
The document goes on to say that there is a low probability the Big East would retain its automatic BCS bid after 2013. It states what is already known -- that the conference needed a waiver from commissioners to retain BCS membership in 2008. It also says that the Big East is so low in the current qualification standards that it wouldnt even qualify for a waiver to remain a BCS league at the moment. It concludes the Big East in its current form does not merit BCS inclusion over the MW/CUSA.
