Villanova takes Syracuse to 2ot, in football

[DudeAnon]

What? I thought we had no football teams in the conference.

[Professor_Bulldog]

So will Nova get an invite to the American now?

[robinreed]

What? I thought we had no football teams in the conference.

This is a moral victory for Nova. It means nothing to the Big East. I still believe Nova should move up to division 1A in football however one of the P5 or G5 conferences must invite their membership. That means Nova would need to withdraw from the BE and they will never do it. Perhaps I should say I hope they will never do it. Of course they could seek a football only membership however that course seems unlikely after U Mass was kicked out of the MAC. Nova is better off with the BE. Imagine being kicked out of the MAC!!!!!!!!

[MUPanther]

So will Nova get an invite to the American now?

Villanova was asked to join the Big East, now the American for football. Villanova said, no. It's a better choice to stay at the FCS level.

As for the game. I watched the end of it on espn3. Villanova missed a very short field goal to win it at the end of regulation. Total heartbreak.

[robinreed]

So will Nova get an invite to the American now?

Villanova was asked to join the Big East, now the American for football. Villanova said, no. It's a better choice to stay at the FCS level.

As for the game. I watched the end of it on espn3. Villanova missed a very short field goal to win it at the end of regulation. Total heartbreak.

My memory of the situation was that Nova wanted to join the BE in football but Pitt, Rutgers and Syracuse blocked the entry. However I may misremember the situation as my primary interest at the time was XU and not the BE. I seem to remember that Nova wanted to play in a small soccer stadium (18,000 capacity) and the aforementioned schools objected.

Maybe someone from Nova or one of the other BE schools at the time can clarify. Sorry that Nova did not win the Syracuse game.

[HoosierPal]

Football Upgrade Controversy

Villanova has considered moving into the Football Bowl Subdivision and joining the American Athletic Conference in football. Villanova Stadium located on-campus stadium seats only 12,500, less than the requirement for an FBS-eligible team. In September 2010, the Big East informally discussed the possibility that Villanova might become a football member. The school undertook several feasibility studies involving the costs involved with such an upgrade. An upgrade of the football program would require building expensive new football facilities and increases to its women's sports program due to Title IX issues, as well as a move to a larger game venue in the region with speculation focused on the new PPL Park soccer stadium. The study projected Villanova would lose over $7M each year at its inception based on their current Big East opponents and potential revenue. Prior to the scheduled April 12, 2011, Board of Trustees vote on the football upgrade, several Big East football schools objected to the Villanova plans to use PPL Park. That venue currently seats 18,500, but is expandable up to 30,000 seats in 3 separate increments; however, there is no specific timeline available when that expansion would begin or if it would be completed. With the ongoing uncertainty of the Big East Conference after losing founding football members Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia, the Villanova Board of Trustees has never voted regarding the topic of moving to FBS.

[Professor_Bulldog]

So will Nova get an invite to the American now?

Villanova was asked to join the Big East, now the American for football. Villanova said, no. It's a better choice to stay at the FCS level.

As for the game. I watched the end of it on espn3. Villanova missed a very short field goal to win it at the end of regulation. Total heartbreak.

Guess I forgot to use the sarcasm font

[billyjack]

In defense of Villanova, this is what i remember:

Big East football had 8 teams, and a BCS Bowl auto-bid. No championship game. Perfect scenario for each team, I think. Seven game conference play. Many good reasons to stick with that design. The 8 always had trouble agreeing on expansion candidates (like East Carolina or Central Florida (blocked by USF)) for football. At the same time, hoops schools were incorrectly screamed at as being the cause of no football expansion.

Anyway, they came up with a reason to expand... one was the feeling that more schools equaled more money... another was to complain about non-conference scheduling difficulties or something idiotic... there were probably other reasons that I don't care to remember, like that it was a mediocre football conference that needed a shot of credibility, though they weren't any worse that the also-mediocre ACC.

Anyway, the key points are that the 8 of them were often at odds with one another, and they couldn't agree on expansion schools. Another key is that in 2010, they (the 8 of them as a whole) were released from any commitment to the 8 hoops schools... so they could leave without penalty at any time. However, I would guess that Syracuse and Pitt didn't want to break away from respected schools like Georgetown, etc, in order to hitch their wagons to different-prioritied West Virginia and South Florida... so they (the 8 as a whole) never split with us.

So around this time in 2010-ish, they came to an agreement on inviting Texas Christian, and we hoops schools accepted them as well. Though you'd never know it talking to these football crackheads, the hoops schools basically never gave them problems in going along with their requests.

So with TCU settled on, the football schools couldn't agree on #10. The only proposed school that made it through initial discussions was Villanova (previous year's "1-AA" National Champion). So VU, with everyone's support, was asked to put together their proposal on upgrading and joining the Big East in football. They were given several months to put their plan together. VU internally was split on upgrading, but moved forward to put a proposal together (their unease at upgrading was partly because football can be a money pit with the increased scholarships; also, with such uncertainty in the make-up of Big East football, VU didn't want to get hosed like Connecticut, which poured tens of millions of dollars into their football upgrade, just to be backstabbed by Miami (Fla) and Boston College (and Va Tech to a lesser degree)

Note that around this time, ESPN 's contract was close to running out, and the Pitt guy Nordenberg (sp) was taking the lead on that, preparing to backstab all of us.

Anyway, this is making me nauseous recounting this... so... Villanova proposed to use the Philadelphia Union's soccer stadium for football... great new stadium right on the river... could easily expand. Temple had rights to Lincoln Field (Eagles stadium). Anyway, Pitt took the lead in freaking out, was in secret negotiations with ESPN and the ACC, and was now looking to split... they hatched an excuse that the Villanova proposal was too weak (though UConn had done the same thing 10 years earlier). Basically Pitt and those guys reneged on their earlier pro-Villanova vote, and VU was left hanging.

Soon after, Pitt bailed with Syracuse on the night of Dave Gavitt's passing. So the Judas brothers moved on. Villanova thankfully didn't upgrade their football. Villanova did everything they were asked to do. The football schools were well aware that they would propose using the soccer stadium. Nothing about VU's upgrade proposal was a shock or surprise to anyone. The only moving part variable was that Pitt and SU cut backroom deals with ACC behind our backs WHILE negotiating with ESPN on our new TV deal.

Conclusion:
I am absolutely thrilled that the 10 of us are together in the Big East. I wouldn't trade any of us for any combination of those football crackheads.