As another piece falls off the house they are trying to rebuild, the higher-ups in the Big East are trying to keep faith that their project is still going to be finished before it crumbles completely.

Though Big East officials, athletic directors, and conference officials alike expressed their disappointment at Boston College's decision to join the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), all said that they still believed that the conference would be able to rebuild itself.

Boston College's move does, however, make a collapse of the Big East football conference all the more possible.

Miami and Virginia Tech both announced before the season that this would be their last year in the Big East. The Big East is also refusing to renew Temple's contract with the conference, which expires at the end of this year.

With Boston College now out of the picture, the Big East only has six schools signed on for football in the 2005 season, though it does have six members that play other sports in the conference. In order to compete at the Division I-A level in football, a conference needs eight teams.

The Big East has been in contact with several teams and conferences in order to get back to the minimum membership. The conference's goal is to decide on the additions by the end of November, and to have eight teams actually playing football in the league by 2005. According to Big East spokesman John Paquette, the loss of Boston College doesn't change that timetable.

"We're continuing with our plans to pursue other members," he said. "[Commissioner] Mike Tranghese is very confident that we can still get this done by the end of November."

According to Villanova athletic director Vince Nicastro, the Big East is looking at Louisville and Cincinnati -- current members of Conference USA -- to join the Big East in all sports. It is also looking at Conference USA members Marquette and DePaul to join the basketball conference. Nicastro would not say if a formal offer had been extended to the schools or if any additional schools are being considered.

Paquette would not confirm that but he also said he would not dispute it.

"If you have that, you should go with that," Paquette said. "The conference office won't confirm any specific teams, but I won't dispute what he said."

Paquette did say that several conferences had been contacted about their teams, including Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference. Conference USA confirmed that the Big East had contacted it to make the conference aware that Big East was recruiting some of its schools. The MAC would not confirm or deny that the Big East had contacted it, but in a release announcing its extension of full membership to Central Florida, it said that the decision was "pending determination by the Big East as to its future membership plans." According to Paquette, the ACC never contacted the Big East when it was talking to Big East schools.

Should the Big East collapse, the entire structure of college football in the East could be shaken up. Several Big Ten coaches have expressed a desire to add a 12th team for the purpose of having a conference championship game and eliminating ties for the championship. Penn State football coach Joe Paterno even mentioned Big East schools Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Rutgers as teams he would like to see join the Big Ten. Though the conference office has never talked about adding a 12th team, it would become all the easier should the Big East dissolve.

Several of the Big East coaches expressed their displeasure with the move on their weekly teleconference with the media. Though all of the coaches that were questioned said they still had faith in the presidents and athletic directors of the Big East schools to keep the conference intact, they also lamented the fact that changes are being made.

"It's too bad," Pittsburgh football coach Walt Harris said. "We've have to be more like a team in this thing. The stars have to be team players. Everyone needs everyone else. But the stars are acting like it's all about themselves, and that's the opposite of what we're trying to teach our players, not just in football, but in all sports."

Even Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer, whose team will be moving to the ACC, expressed his concern for the Big East.

"I'd say this: whatever happens here, I hope the people in Big East will be OK," he said. "I think they will. But we have some great friends in the Big East. They've been great to us. The presidents have to make decisions about what's best for the university, and that's why we're moving, but I still am hopeful and confident that the Big East will continue to be a strong football conference."

Last weekend's events poked another hole in the conference's sinking ship. The loss of Boston College will make it even tougher for the Big East to maintain its automatic bid in a Bowl Championship Series bowl when the system is reevaluated in 2006.