For a brief stint the BCS gods looked to be ready to rip apart the Big 12. As a Big East fan I can relate; normally they’re calling for our collective head in the off season. Thankfully it’ll be at least five more months until Lee Corso calls for Big East to step aside so the latest hot minor conference can finally have their shot at a perennially power, so soak it in while you can. We take it as an annual right of passage that the Big East is always facing extinction, but what does it mean from a school perspective when they talk about restructuring and where should a fan stand if their team enters the fray? I’m going to use three area teams to show the different effects movement can have.

Temple Owls: Bring on the rains!

As a temple fan, or perhaps the temple owl fan, you probably know your team has fallen on rough times (you could also use the phrase “sucks’). After being unceremoniously tossed from the Big East in 2004 you wondered around as an independent until you finally limped into the MAC. While your national sporting presence was buoyed for sometime by your basketball program; you’ve slipped almost completely into obscurity.

Anything that upsets the status quo is great news for you. As things are now, you’re boned. In the current system you’ll never get back to a Major Conference and you’re unlikely to stay competitive even in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The best case scenario is carnage, a sinking titan may grab on to you to keep itself afloat. While this may mean you end up in a geographic miss-match, essentially killing your non money earning sports, your football team may get into greener pastures in the process. In the perfect scenario a hobbled Big East is forced to come crawling back after being ransacked by a southern conference, this would mean the northeast would open up significantly for you. Maybe a disgraced coach with some recruiting juice left waltz’s in to turn the program around. A couple of wins and a Bill Cosby telethon might get you into a bowl game people will actually know is happening.

In the same boat: Seton Hall, St Johns, Depaul, Providence, Syracuse

Villanova Wildcats: I don’t check the weather…

Aside from Brian Westbrook, your ex-player roster is largely anonymous, and your football team wasn’t even picked up by the Big East with your basketball team. But your basketball team is a national powerhouse, and is the last truly strong member of the Philadelphia Big 5. You’ve also come off a National Championship in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Sit back, relax, and let everyone else worry. One of the major differences between you and Temple is that you’re football team is actually thriving in the CAA and wants no part of a stronger football division. You probably will keep an eye on what Georgetown is doing, but even then with the number of out-of-conference games a basketball team plays each year, why bother moving? Truth of the matter is that no one will let your gridiron gang play in their reindeer games and at most likely you’ll end up a filler for a conference like the Big 10 to add credence to a laughable in conference schedule.

In the same boat: Syracuse, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Marquette

Rutgers Red Raiders: Find higher ground

This is where I may get some push back, assuming Jon reads anything I write. Head coach Greg Schiano has managed to recruit in the fertile areas of NJ, NY, and PA aka “your backyard”. This is something no one before him could do. While you’re still unable to beat more established Big East powerhouses like the Mountaineers of West Virginia University you have stepped into the national spotlight, so much so that other teams have already tried to steal your coach.

You have the most to lose from a major restructuring of the conference landscape. Why? Remember this phrase, “Big Fish, Little Pond”. Yes, you’ve done well the past few years but you’re still located in Piscataway, NJ, better known as, “where the fuck is that, NJ”. Your key to fame is the same thing that was your key to failure; you’re now getting players from NJ/NY to stay. If you move to a new conference, that will all go away. Schiano leaves if he’s in the Big 10 or Big 12. He goes to Texas, Florida, or Ohio where he continues to recruit players from this area. Rutgers will go back to not recruiting players from this area, and back to the type of obscurity only Middle Jersey can produce. With no other major sports to fall back on, and crippling travel costs for your teams caused by poor attention to geography, you’ll become a shadow. Keep in mind you’re in the same conference where the South Florida Bulls are always contenders, don’t mistake that with being able to play with the Longhorns in Texas. Don’t believe me? Maybe you’ll listen to TLC.

 In the same boat: Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida