As the Big East announces the addition of Memphis to the conference for 2013, the other hot conference expansion rumor of the week is that the Big 12 is targeting Florida State and Clemson. Honus "The Dude" Sneed (hint 1) from the Mountaineers (hint 2) blog EERinsider has the report.

"The Big 12 conference will put its expansion plans on hiatus while Clemson and FSU decide to apply for membership or stay with the ACC.

Talks between the two schools and the Big 12 began late last fall and continued after the completion of the 2011 season. Recently both schools have formed committees to examine the advantages and disadvantages of leaving the ACC for the Big 12 and expect to reach a decision by late summer."

Could this be even remotely possible? I suppose there's a non-zero chance of this happening, with the fact that Clemson has recently formed an Athletic Advisory Committee fueling the expansion rumor fire. But this also doesn't seem very plausible.

This rumor seems to fall in the general trap of thinking like a fan and not like a University president. While the Big 12 may ultimately be able to offer more money to both Clemson and Florida State, that's chump change compared to the overall institutional revenue that comes with the academic association with schools like Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest and BC.

I find it even harder to believe that Clemson -- a founding member of the ACC -- would be willing to trade in existing rivalries with the other original ACC members for increased travel costs and membership in a tougher football conference. Same goes for Florida State (minus the whole "original ACC member" thing), whose road to the BCS would prove much more difficult in a conference with Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma State, West Virginia and TCU at the top.

While the ACC's football product pales in comparison to the Big 12's, in terms of academic prestige, there is no comparison between the two conferences. The Big 12 has the lowest ranked academics of the BCS AQ conferences, while the ACC is one of the premier conferences in terms of academic prestige, name brand and market values. Both Clemson and Florida State have benefited greatly from the association.

As far as I can tell, the rumors of the ACC's demise and/or perceived position of weakness are greatly overstated. Take this quote from Barry Tramel of The Oklahoman:

"No. I haven't heard it. And I'm sure the Big 12 has talked to a lot of people. I'm sure the Big 12 called Clemson and said, "Hey, we've got a great idea. How about you, Florida State and" "No thanks." "But wait," the Big 12 responded, "you didn't let us finish. We're talking about you, and" "Not interested." The ACC is solid. Academically and financially and athletically. Let me promise you, while fans get all worked about how Orange Bowls in a row the ACC has lost, the presidents do not."

Personally, I don't think either Clemson or Florida State pose any sort of flight risk for the ACC. But even in the off chance the Tigers and Seminoles did bolt for the Big 12, I don't think the ACC would skip a beat. Sure, the value of the conference's TV contract with ESPN might decrease in value, but so long as the core of Carolina schools, Maryland and the Virginias* stick together, along with the new northern tier of BC, Syracuse and Pittsburgh, the ACC will remain one of the "haves" in the college athletics conference landscape.

* It took Virginia Tech 40+ years to finally marry their high school sweetheart (the ACC and UVa). It took way too much political wrangling and effort to get the Hokies into the conference, and I don't believe Tech is going anywhere -- read: SEC, Big 12 -- any time soon.

According to CBS Sports' Brett McMurphy, the Memphis Tigers are set to become an all-sports member of the Big East in 2013.

"Memphis has accepted an offer to join the Big East Conference in all sports in 2013, college football industry sources told CBSSports.com.

The Tigers will join the Big East with three other Conference USA members - Houston, SMU and UCF - for the 2013-14 school year. The Big East also will add Boise State and San Diego State as football-only members in 2013 and Navy in 2015."

This swells the number of former Conference USA members to join the ranks of the Big East to nine, as the Tigers are set to join Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, DePaul, Marquette, Houston, SMU and UCF. Basically, if you are still a Conference USA member and have not gotten a Big East invite at this point, you are doing something wrong.

For basketball, this is a solid move. For football ... meh.

When Memphis joins the Big East in 2013, the Tigers will become the 28th different school to have called the Big East home at one point in the conference's history (inclusive of Loyola Maryland, who is an associate member for women's lacrosse.

This got me thinking: if you could construct the optimal Big East Conference from scratch, using any of the 28 members of the conference that have once called the Big East home, who ya got? (The complete list of programs can be found here.)

The first thing you need to do is determine what the conference's priorities are. If you are going to be a basketball-first conference, then ditch the geographically absurd Boise State, and you can probably also live without Rutgers, DePaul (obviously), Houston, SMU and South Florida.

Or maybe you want to be a football-first conference. In that case, the basketball-only schools quickly get the boot -- Georgetown, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova -- and you are left to choose from the original Big East football members, former C-USA programs like Louisville, Cincinnati and USF, the Mountain West and Navy.

For me, if we are doing this thing over, I only want all-sports programs who provide some value in football and basketball but are solid football programs. Having an all-sports conference where programs share revenue equally is much more tenable than the existing Big East basketball-football hybrid.

Here is my ultimate Big East Conference. Leave your own thoughts in the comments section.

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Everyone is happy with the new ACC Atlantic and Coastal Divisions, yes? Well sounds like you have our school ... and Virginia Tech to thank for this? Via The Daily Press' David Teel:

"Swofford said the "overriding factors" in the division assignments were keeping Virginia Tech and Boston College as partners, and rekindling the Boston College-Syracuse and Virginia Tech-Pitt rivalries that waned when the Hokies and Eagles left the Big East for the ACC."

Wait, huh? Pitt-Virginia Tech? A rivalry 11 games in the making? There has to be more to it than that ...

Officials from Syracuse and Pitt "were full participants (in the discussions)," Swofford said, "short of having a formal vote. They were fully agreeable and supportive of the end points."

Got it. So neither Pitt nor Syracuse had a formal vote in last Friday's divisional alignment. Which is why preserving a 67-game football series between Pitt and Syracuse wasn't officially an "overriding factor" in the decision. Hey, it all worked out in the end and nothing to complain about here. The conference preserved yearly games between BC-Syracuse and Syracuse-Pitt. Virginia Tech also gets their fake rivalry with Pittsburgh back. Cool.

However, it does shed some light on just how screwed both Pitt and Syracuse are as they wait to extricate themselves from the Big East and join the ACC. No vote in the ACC ... no vote in the Big East. If BC and Virginia Tech wanted, the ACC could have just as easily Oklahoma-Nebraska'd Syracuse-Pitt with the divisional alignment, placing Cuse in the Coastal, Pitt in the Atlantic and pairing BC-Cuse and Tech-Pitt as the permanent intra-divisional rivals.

Luckily, it didn't come to that.

I also hope the Pitt and Syracuse football programs enjoy their trips to Boise in late November over the next 1-2 seasons.

The ACC announced today the future football and basketball scheduling formats, as well as the divisional placements of Syracuse and Pittsburgh. Eagles fans should be pleased.

"The Atlantic and Coastal divisions will remain the same with Syracuse joining the Atlantic and Pitt joining the Coastal. The current primary crossover partners will remain consistent with Syracuse and Pitt becoming primary crossover partners with each other.

When Pitt and Syracuse join the ACC, the league will play a nine-game conference schedule. The format will consist of each team playing all six in its division each year, plus its primary crossover partner each year and two rotating opponents from the opposite division. This six-year cycle allows each team to play each divisional opponent and its primary crossover partner six times (three home and three away) while also playing each rotating crossover opponent two times (one home and one away)."

Here are the new divisions:

Atlantic Division
Boston College Eagles
Clemson Tigers
Florida St. Seminoles
Maryland Terrapins
N.C. State Wolfpack
Syracuse Orange
Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Coastal Division
Duke Blue Devils
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Miami Hurricanes
North Carolina Tar Heels
Pittsburgh Panthers
Virginia Cavaliers
Virginia Tech Hokies

As has been mentioned several times on this blog, this was the path of least resistance for the conference. This divisional alignment preserves an annual game with BC-Syracuse (46 games in the all-time series) and Syracuse-Pitt (67 games). Syracuse has more ties to the Atlantic Division in football, anyway (95 total games played, compared to 51 against Coastal teams), while Pitt has more in the Coastal (79 total games played, as compared to 58 against Atlantic teams). It will also allow the conference to set the BC-Syracuse game for the final weekend of the regular season as DeFilippo had planned for the Eagles and Oranges previously scheduled non-conference series from 2013-2021.

I was a bit surprised about the nine game conference football schedule, as I was starting to think with the SEC and Big Ten stating they would stay with an eight game schedule that the ACC would follow suit. That means that programs like Miami, Pittsburgh and Virginia will hit BC's annual football schedule at roughly the same clip as they do today (two times in six years). The downside, of course, is that this gives BC one less non-conference opponent each season. I'd imagine the priority will be to keep a non-conference series with Notre Dame, and the program will fill the rest of the schedule with a game against a I-AA team (Maine, New Hampshire, Stony Brook, Fordham, etc.) and a non-AQ program (UMass, MAC, Conference USA).

Don't expect too many changes to BC's future football schedules, either, as the ACC's new ninth football game will likely replace BC's annual non-conference game with Syracuse (scheduled for 2010, 2013-2021, with SU opting out of last season and this season).

Leave your thoughts on the new divisional alignment below.

Another day, another report of the Big East's imminent demise. CBS Sports' Brett McMurphy is go.

Go to 11? Multiple sources have told CBSSports.com if/when the Big 12 decides to expand to 11 schools, Louisville will be the choice. "They are clearly the best fit," a college football industry source said. Not only are the Cardinals the overwhelming favorite as the Big 12's 11th team, but sources told CBSSports.com that the Cardinals are aggressively pursuing a Big 12 invitation.

[snip]

Go to 12? If Louisville is No. 11, what school would be No. 12? BYU continually gets mentioned as a Big 12 target, but everything I hear -- and I mean everything -- from sources is "look east, not west" for the Big 12's 12th school.

If that's the case, Cincinnati would appear the most likely candidate as the 12th team, but the league hasn't seriously discussed a 12th member and the Bearcats have nowhere near the support of Louisville, making the move to 12 even more tricky.

So it would appear that the Big 12 is attempting to rival the ACC for BCS conference that can pick off the most Big East programs. To Louisville, I say please, please, please go to the Big 12. If for no other reason that I'd love to hear bloggin' Rick Pitino's asinine rationalizations about why the Big 12 is the best conference for Louisville after publicly calling out Syracuse and Pittsburgh, and BC, and UConn.

Should Louisville eventually wind up in the Big 12, there's also the question of what becomes of the Big East. Could Rutgers and/or UConn find their way to the ACC? What becomes of Notre Dame and their current home for non-revenue sports?

In other conference expansion news, the public release of the 2012 Big 12 football schedule will be delayed as West Virginia and the Big East come closer to a settlement as part of the two parties court-ordered non-binding mediation. And if the public release of the Big 12 schedule is delayed, you can bet the release of the ACC's 2012 football schedule will be delayed too, as the conference attempts to figure out what to do with Florida State's September 8 date with West Virginia.

The Newport News Daily Press' David Teel has the story:

"First, a glance forward to next week's ACC winter meetings in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

In between poolside margaritas - on the rocks, with salt, barkeep! - league and school officials could well finalize football divisions for the 14-team alignment created by the addition of Syracuse and Pittsburgh."

As we've known for some time now, the smart money is on the ACC simply plugging Syracuse and Pittsburgh into the existing Atlantic and Coastal Divisions. Teel weighs the pros and cons of adding either Syracuse or Pittsburgh to the Coastal Division, ultimately deciding that Pitt is a logical choice for the Coastal Division, if you are a Hokies or Cavaliers fan.

"If I'm a fan of Virginia or Virginia Tech, both Coastal members, I'd prefer the Panthers in the division because a road trip to Pittsburgh every other year is easier than the hike to Syracuse. Plus, Heinz Field parking is far better for tailgating than the Carrier Dome. That said, the dome, though an eyesore, protects spectators from the elements."

Gobbler Country begs to differ, preferring the Orange in the Coastal, Pitt in the Atlantic and replacing BC with Pitt as the Hokies' permanent cross-over rival.

"Currently, the Hokies are the only team in the ACC that has to play at Boston College and at Miami (the league's North and South Pole) in the same season consistently, which they do every even-numbered year. The difference between Syracuse and Boston is about 140 miles one way."

Should the ACC add Syracuse and not Pitt to the Coastal, Teel says not to be surprised if the new inter-divisional protected rivalries become Virginia Tech-Pitt and BC-Syracuse.

But this arrangement seems extremely unnecessary. BC's preference is to continue its long-time rivalry with Syracuse (over Pitt), while I'm sure Syracuse and Pittsburgh don't want to see a 67-game football series hit the schedule once every few years (Don't Oklahoma-Nebraska Syracuse-Pittsburgh!).

If the ACC is bent on preserving the current divisional alignment, then the simplest solution is Syracuse to the Atlantic, Pitt to the Coastal, and Syracuse-Pitt added as a protected cross-over.

This is probably the first move that actually makes some sense for the Big East.

Navy is expected to announce soon that it will join the Big East Conference for football in 2015, a source said Monday.

The Big East, which has been hit by the departures of Pittsburgh and Syracuse (to the ACC) and West Virginia and TCU (to the Big 12), will reload with Boise State and San Diego State in football, and Central Florida, Houston and Southern Methodist for all sports, starting in 2013. The addition of Navy in 2015 ups the total number of football-playing members to 11. The conference will no doubt be looking to add a 12th and a conference championship game, adding either another western school or a program like Temple or East Carolina.

I've been underwhelmed with every Big East football addition since Virginia Tech, Miami and BC all left, but adding the Naval Academy makes a lot of sense. Navy has a national following that will help the conference in TV negotiations, as the Academy arguably has the most value of any remaining non AQ program. The Navy football program also fits well within the Big East's traditional geographic footprint (err, east). All things considered, the Big East could have done a lot worse than Navy. You know, like, Memphis.

Navy has long been a traditional opponent of the Eagles that I would love to see back on a future football schedule. However, I'd imagine the Midshipmen's move to the Big East may make that more difficult going forward. After playing an eight (or nine?) game conference slate in addition to non-conference matchups against Army, Air Force and Notre Dame (should neither of the other two service academies join the Middies in the Big East), I doubt there'd be much room left on the annual schedule to face Boston College.

Anyway, I'm sure Susan Herbst will be happy with Big East football's most recent addition. Gotta cut down on all those football travel costs, you know, because UConn is all about the student-athlete and graduation rates.

According to a report in the Sporting News, the Big East won't be backing down on its 27-month notice of withdrawal for West Virginia, Pitt and Syracuse. It doesn't sound like John Marinatto is accepting cash, either.

A high-placed Big East source told Sporting News that not only will the Big East not back off its 27-month notice of withdrawal for West Virginia, Pitt and Syracuse, but there's "no chance" the three wayward universities can buy their way out of the contract - for any amount of money - and leave in time for the 2012 season.

"It's not about money," the Big East source said. "It never has been."

It's unclear whether this is further positioning from Providence to get a larger buyout from West Virginia, as the other BCS commissioners seem to believe that West Virginia and the Big East will cut a deal that will allow the Mountaineers to compete in the Big 12 next season.

It may not be about money, but maybe just a little? The conference's TV partners can renegotiate a reduction in media rights fees should any current Big East member leave the conference before the current contract is up, which could end up hurting current Big East football and basketball programs financially.

As the Mountaineers and the Big East battle it out in court, West Virginia could simply leave and play in the Big 12 next season, breaking their current contractual obligations with the Big East and being subjected to a whole heap of legal fees.

West Virginia has been extremely aggressive in trying to bolt for the Big 12 in time for the 2012-13 season. Pitt and Syracuse, on the other hand, have been slow-playing the conference switch, bypassing the legal route and surveying the WVU-Big East battle to gauge whether the two programs could join the ACC sooner than 2014-15.

As the Big East digs in here, it doesn't appear likely that the Big East will release Pitt and Syracuse before 2014-15, and you can bet that the conference isn't going to do either program any favors when it comes to football scheduling in 2012 and 2013.

The timing also raises an interesting question about what to do about BC's 2013 home game against Syracuse. Will the two schools want to keep this game on the schedule if Syracuse is still in the Big East? BC will likely want to keep the return game from the Eagles' 2010 trip to the Carrier Dome, but the programs may simply want to cancel the rest of the long-term non-conference series that runs from 2013-2021 and let the ACC conference schedule take over starting in 2014.

Boston College was put in a similar position when the program moved to the ACC. In 2004, the Eagles traveled to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest in the return trip of a home-and-home non-conference schedule, only to host the Demon Deacons in an ACC contest the following season.