A proposal for the new Big East:

(This year's stats)

No. 1 Miami (11-0)

No. 10 Penn State (9-3) *

No. 11 Notre Dame (10-2)

No. 15 West Virginia (9-3)

No. 18 Virginia Tech (9-3)

No. 25 Pittsburgh (8-4)

Marshall (9-2)

Boston College (8-4)

Connecticut (6-6)

Syracuse (4-8)

*Better officials in the Big East = more wins

What must happen:

--football doesn't join.

-- Marshall is looking to jump ship anyway.

-- Big East needs to drop Rutgers and Temple.

-- Bring in upstart UConn to add some interesting rivalry games.

Pros:

-- Each team plays all nine
other teams, plus however many non-conference games each wants to schedule.

-- Potential Big East championship game in primetime at Heinz, FedEx or Lincoln Financial fields.

-- More Thursday night and Saturday night games, because the Big East loves night football.

Cons:

-- Wouldn't get to watch the Michigan State Spartan mascot in Beaver Stadium every other year.

-- Michigan and Ohio State have pretty solid fight songs.