Big East wants to expand to 10 teams in football

Good news for the University of South Florida and the other members of the Big East Conference.

The conference presidents agreed that the interests of each of the league's 16 member institutions would be best served by increasing the number of Bowl Subdivision football-playing members to 10. The decision has come after a lengthy study.

They unanimously approved the process to evaluate the terms and conditions for potential expansion candidates.

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto said the conference will refrain from commenting further on the expansion process.

Athletic directors and football coaches in the Big East Conference have spoke publicly in favor of a ninth team if only to even out the schedules. Right now, conference teams alternate playing four Big East home games one year and three the next.

The most likely candidate right now appears to be Villanova, which is studying plans to move up to the FBS Division(I-A) from I-AA. Another school often talked about is TCU, now a member of the Mountain West Conference. Also in the discussion is UCF, though there is a feeling that USF would oppose allowing the Knights into the conference.