TCU to join Big East in 2012

[obucard]

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/ne ... id=5862368

Should I have put this in the WTF thread?

[Hungary Jack]

WTF? Yes. I don't get this at all. I don't see how the Big East fits with TCU's profile. TCU recruits a lot of players from Texas, and with Nebraska and Colorado leaving the B12, one would think TCU would be a great fit for that conference.

I guess the only advantage is that TCU gets into a BCS conference that offers little competition in terms of powerhouse school. But now TCU will be playing 1/2 its conference games in very faraway places that get regional, not national, tv coverage for their games.

[Radbird]

Are they at least considering a conference name change?

[Leroy]

What, like the Big Least?

[Popeye_Card]

What they lack in "East", they make up with "Big" (17 teams). It all balances out.

[lukethedrifter]

Isn't the thinking that the Big East is going to end up a basketball conference in the long run? Weird.

[clevername]

pretty sure the other Texas teams moved to keep TCU out of the Big 12 (or whatever it is after this year).

TCU to the Big East should make for a relatively easy path to a BCS Bowl game each year and solves the whole mythic BCS Buster stigma TCU has fought for the past few years.

The Big East gets a high ranked team to keep from further discussion that the conference should be dropped from the BCS.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

pretty sure the other Texas teams moved to keep TCU out of the Big 12 (or whatever it is after this year).

Don't think that's true. The Big 12 doesn't really have any use for TCU. They'll still be plenty strong to validate their BCS standing, and they already dominate the TV markets that TCU resides in.

The only logical explanation I've heard for this move is that the Big East is afraid that a MWC with TCU/Boise/Nevada/Fresno could steal their automatic BCS berth.

[clevername]

don't know if it's true or not, but that's the scuttlebutt I get from other state of Texas fans.