p’gt;The Big East’s collapse is inevitable.

When – not if – Miami leaves the Big East… p’gt;The Big East’s collapse is inevitable.

When – not if – Miami leaves the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference, we will lose our conference’s best football school and greatest lure for television contracts. If that isn’t enough, Boston College and Syracuse would like to follow Miami to the ACC, making it a 12-team conference. The Big East will lose its best football and basketball schools ? Miami and Syracuse, respectively ? threatening its standing as equal to the Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, Southeastern and Pacific 10 Conferences, as a two-sport major conference. We need to get off the sinking ship that is the Big East.

Now that we’ve hired a new athletics director, Pitt’s athletic administration should lobby for our admission to the Big Ten at the beginning of the 2004 football season. Here are my top 10 reasons why:

10. If the Big East survives, it will be as an all-basketball conference, with Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, etc. as its backbone. If Pitt football is to continue successfully, we will have to find a new home.

9. College football and men’s college basketball are about money. That’s why Miami is leaving for the ACC ? it can make more money there. In the Big Ten, we would gain the largest share of revenue. Football schools like Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, and basketball schools like Indiana, Illinois and Michigan State, guarantee fat television contracts.

8. The Big Ten needs Pitt to make money. Adding a 12th team would allow for a football championship game, which would mean millions in additional TV revenues. That’s why BC and Syracuse will be accepted into the ACC with Miami. It’s also why the Big Ten will ultimately expand to 12 schools.

7. Related to this, the Big Ten needs Pitt if the conference is to split into two divisions. At eleven teams, the Big Ten has to play a rotating schedule in football that prevents rivals, like Michigan and Ohio State, from playing each other certain years. Having two, six-team divisions would ensure that geographic rivals could play each other every year. Rotation would occur only with non-rival schools.

6. The Big Ten isn’t the Mid-American Conference, which was reported as one of Pitt’s options when the Big East collapses. There’s a huge difference between Ohio University and Ohio State. Compare having automatic bids to the Motor City Bowl and bids to a Bowl Championship Series Bowl, such as the Cotton or Sugar Bowls. If we don’t join the Big Ten, Ohio and Toledo are likely to remain permanent fixtures on our football schedule.

5. The Big Ten isn’t Conference USA. Conference USA is our best option after the Big Ten, but it’s still not desirable. While solid in basketball, it’s weak in football. Moreover, it’s not a major conference. With schools like South Florida and East Carolina, it doesn’t compare to larger ones. This conference is suited for West Virginia, not Pitt.

4. I grew up in Big Ten country. I’ve seen that Big Ten fans are better than Big East fans, because they travel and care about football.

3. Pittsburgh is a cultural part of the Midwest, not the East. Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State are closer opponents than Philly area schools, Syracuse or Virginia Tech. Just as Miami belongs in the ACC, we belong in the Big Ten.

2. Pitt belongs to the Association of American Universities, an academic benchmark for joining the Big Ten. Also, by joining the Big Ten, Pitt will become better known in the Midwest. Joining the Big Ten can increase and extend our applicant pool.

1. Miss playing Penn State and chanting “P-e-n-n S-t SUCKS” at games? Me too. Joining the Big Ten guarantees us a football game and home basketball games with them every year. There’s no better reason to join the Big Ten.

Jason Lawrence also wants to see Pitt play his home-state Iowa Hawkeyes. E-mail him at [email protected]