The Big East is not a sinking ship, but the bottom of the raft has a giant hole that needs to be patched up.  Many of the leagues remaining teams (West Virginia, UConn, Louisville, South Florida, Rutgers, and Cincinnati) are looking for a way out. West Virginia has been discussed as a target for the ACC, SEC, and Big 12. UConn is said to have hopes of going to the ACC. Louisville has been discussed as a target of the Big 12. Rutgers has been mentioned as a target for and expanded B1G. Worst case scenario for the Big East in the next couple of years: South Florida and Cincinnati are the only remaining Football Playing Teams. I think the most likely losses for the conference will be West Virginia and Louisville to the Big 12 and the ACC, SEC, and B1G will stand pat at 14, 12, and 12.

Boise State would then be a major player for 'the next best conference's as it holds most of the cards football-wise. It should push to create a new conference with the CUSA philosophy of spanning the country with region-based divisions. An eastern division could include the remaining Big East teams as well as newcomers Navy and Temple. By partnering with the eastern schools, BSU could then choose its favorite 5 schools from the western half of the country to join in a Western Division. A list of choices could include Air Force, San Diego State, Nevada, Houston, SMU, Tulsa, and even BYU. A second tier of choices might include the not good, but not horrible choices of Fresno State, Colorado State, Wyoming, Utah State, or UTEP. I think Air Force and San Diego State would be open to this idea, but Nevada would try to stay with UNLV. BYU would be a hard sell, but would think about it if the Big 12 took Louisville and West Virginia instead of them. Houston, SMU, Tulsa, and UTEP would try to get their friends into the party, but might come alone if we taught them a secret handshake.

A best case scenario football schedule might include Air Force, BYU, Houston, Nevada, San Diego State, and three of the following: Cincinnati, Navy, Rutgers, South Florida, Temple, and UConn. More likely divisions might look like this:

East: Cincinnati, Navy, Rutgers, South Florida, Temple, and UConn (Add Notre Dame for non-football sports?)

West: Air Force, Boise State, Houston, San Diego State, SMU, UTEP (Add BYU for non-football sports?)

Otherwise, joining the Big East could be a nightmare with Air Force as the only other school west of the Mississippi River and a bunch of third tier football schools from the east coast (Directional Carolina and Directional Florida) and BSU would not have a home for basketball or any of its other sports. Reports state the conference is looking toward 12 teams, so we might as well help them find the right 12. Then of course, BSU could do nothing and decide the Mountain West is the best fit and continue with Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego St., UNLV, and Wyoming and the possibility of Air Force.