After beating Rutgers and Wake-who was leading the ACC last week, it may be time to figure out a new approach to lure Navy into becoming a member of the Big East football conference. Navy has for several years now maintained a high quality team and been to several bowls. And before anyone says that they couldn't compete with the big boys, see last two wins and the fact that they have more BCS wins (12 or 13 now I believe) than ANY non-BCS team. That means they have more wins than BYU, Utah, TCU--ECU by the way was not in the top 5.

Navy could still play a lighter non-conference schedule if they felt it necessary of 4 teams. They would add a team with a very nice fanbase, television appeal and, some bowl appeal, in the vicinity of the DC AND Baltimore markets--not to mention they have alot of national appeal. As has been discussed, they are an independant and this eliminates many problems with getting them out of a conference.

They would appear to be the best option in the east at the moment.

They don't want to. What else can anyone do? Schedule them and Army anyway. Schedule UB and Temple. Most BE schools allready do this or have done it anyway. I don't think scheduling is that difficult. Almost any non-BCS school is dying to play BCS schools.

The reason scheduling is difficult is because of costs. Other BCS leagues can simply pay more and have been buying out BE opponents at the last minute, causing scheduling headaches and big $ for low level opponents to continue to increase.

Navy has changed coaches since the first attempts, and we don't know how strong the attempts were or what might have been offered. It doesn't hurt to try again, and perhaps now they'll realize they can indeed succeed. IF they joined and scheduled correctly OOC, they could have four wins before even starting league play. Based on wins such as this year over two BCS teams, they likely could beat at least two league foes per year making them bowl eligible. They'd want to keep playing ND undoubtedly though, so that could make 6 wins difficult, but in years like this they may even have more than that.

In a 9 member BE the schools would want to play all members once a season leaving Navy with 4 OOC games. Since 3 of these would be army, air force and ND they would only have one other open slot. Would they go for that?

buckaineer Wrote:The reason scheduling is difficult is because of costs. Other BCS leagues can simply pay more and have been buying out BE opponents at the last minute, causing scheduling headaches and big $ for low level opponents to continue to increase.

Oh okay, my bad. Well if you wanted a football only in the heart of Big East country, that has been doin' it right for years and would continue: Delaware. They have the $ bills to make the leap, I know that for sure. Great school too. I actually thought about them as the tenth team in the ACC awhile back, based on potential and the quality of the school.

Navy isn't joining the BE. They play a NATIONAL schedule that includes several teams from the BE (Rutgers, Conn, Pitt), several teams from the ACC (Maryland, GT, Duke, and Wake), seveal Mac teams for Midwest coverage, several Cusa teams (ECU, SMU, Rice), a couple of B-12 teams (Baylor and Texas AM), and several teams on the West Coast around Navel bases (San Diego St., Standford, and Washington). They also have annual games with ND, Army, and Air Force. They also play Temple on a regular basis.

The BE, ACC, and Temple games are big draws to their stadium as well as easy traveling games for their fans. The ND and Army games are like minibowls and championship games with very lucrative pay outs. Million dollar payouts they don't have to share with anyone else. The same goes for their bowls payouts. They keep every cent.

As far as bowls go they have he Congressional Bowl every other year, and have just signed a deal with the Poinsetta Bwl to play there again in a year that Army has dibs on the Congressional Bowl. Also Navy has proven they can take BE Bowls by stealing the Meineke Bowl out from under them in the past, and they are a National draw and good enough to take an at large bid at bowls where conferences cannot fill their slots with winning or 6&6 teams.

Finally Navy has the deep pockets of Uncle Sam and our tax dollars. Navy enjoys their independent National schedule and uses it for recruiting purposes not only for football, but for academic recruitment and their other sports as well. Their scheduling as an independent has been very successful for them too, giving them excellent chances at winning seasons with out the grind of the BE or any other conference. Success on the field, their own bowl packages they don't have to share, the lucrative ND and Army contracts, the deep pockets of Uncle Sam, and the Patriot League for their BB and olympic sports where they can be competitive rather than bottom dwellers will keep Navy out of the BE or any other Non-BCS for now and the forseeable. They like ND won't join a FB conference until they are forced too, if that ever happens either.

panite Wrote:Navy isn't joining the BE. They play a NATIONAL schedule that includes several teams from the BE (Rutgers, Conn, Pitt), several teams from the ACC (Maryland, GT, Duke, and Wake), seveal Mac teams for Midwest coverage, several Cusa teams (ECU, SMU, Rice), a couple of B-12 teams (Baylor and Texas AM), and several teams on the West Coast around Navel bases (San Diego St., Standford, and Washington). They also have annual games with ND, Army, and Air Force. They also play Temple on a regular basis.

The BE, ACC, and Temple games are big draws to their stadium as well as easy traveling games for their fans. The ND and Army games are like minibowls and championship games with very lucrative pay outs. Million dollar payouts they don't have to share with anyone else. The same goes for their bowls payouts. They keep every cent.

As far as bowls go they have he Congressional Bowl every other year, and have just signed a deal with the Poinsetta Bwl to play there again in a year that Army has dibs on the Congressional Bowl. Also Navy has proven they can take BE Bowls by stealing the Meineke Bowl out from under them in the past, and they are a National draw and good enough to take an at large bid at bowls where conferences cannot fill their slots with winning or 6&6 teams.

Finally Navy has the deep pockets of Uncle Sam and our tax dollars. Navy enjoys their independent National schedule and uses it for recruiting purposes not only for football, but for academic recruitment and their other sports as well. Their scheduling as an independent has been very successful for them too, giving them excellent chances at winning seasons with out the grind of the BE or any other conference. Success on the field, their own bowl packages they don't have to share, the lucrative ND and Army contracts, the deep pockets of Uncle Sam, and the Patriot League for their BB and olympic sports where they can be competitive rather than bottom dwellers will keep Navy out of the BE or any other Non-BCS for now and the forseeable. They like ND won't join a FB conference until they are forced too, if that ever happens either.

In the BE, Navy could still play ND and Army and realize a big payday for this. Yes money would also go to other schools, but they would make much more by being part of the conference (millions)because they'd also get some of the money the other schools earned. As far as bowls, they would go from one option to lots of options with higher profile games and even BCS guaranteed rather than a slim possibility if they were to win the conference. Their TV appearances would improve as far as network coverage and amount and they would therefore get more exposure for showing off their institution for recruiting athletes and students. As far as their other sports, they are independents now in football only and that's all the BE would ask to join. Other sports could remain part of the Patriot-not an issue. Their other sports would likely benefit greatly though by being able to get some games with BE schools-something that would surely take place which would undoubtedly boost those other sports revenues for Navy.

yeah...i don't see any way navy or army would want to join the big east...they got every other sport covered being in the patriot league. As for football, they make a huge paycheck with the army game + navy has the ND game also ++ funding really isn't that big of a concern, its the govt afterall...yet the thing with army and navy is schedule wise they are fine, ie not difficult for them to fill their schedule + they like to hit different area's of the country and still add a few cupcakes and any bowl will take them...doesn't add up for them to join a league.