Source: Big East adding Boise State, four others in 2013

In an AP article on si.com, sources report that the Big East is set to add 5 new members to the conference in 2013. Boise State and San Diego State will join as football-only members while Houston, Central Florida, and SMU will join as all-sports members.

This move will help the conference rebuild after losing Syracuse, Pitssburgh, West Virginia, and TCU to other conferences. The Big East has also pursued Navy and Air Force to join the conference, but they aren’t ready to commit to joining the conference just yet.

Nonetheless, the conference still does not have 12 teams committed for the 2013 season even with the new additions. They would like to become a 12 team league with 2 divisions with 6 teams each in order to have a conference championship.

I like this move for the Big East, as all 5 schools are teams on the rise. They were never going to get high profile teams to join, so they had to go after these mid-major schools. They should be able to add 2 more teams too to attain their goal of a 12 team league, which will be another boost to a conference that many thought was doomed to extinction.