Report: Villanova asked to join Big East for football

The Philadelphia Daily News is reporting that the Big East recently asked Villanova to make the jump from the Football Championship Subdivision to the big time (Football Bowl Subdivision).

As the story points out, there are some obstacles that must be addressed, such as finding a home stadium that can meet seating requirements by the NCAA.

Plus, the story also points out that Villanova couldn't make the jump to full-time status until 2014.

Villanova already is a Big East member in other sports. Villanova's football program won its first FCS national title last year. The Wildcats played Temple, an FBS member and bowl team last season, tough in the season opener, losing 31-24.

Connecticut made the jump from what was once Division I-AA to the Big East and has built a pretty good football program.

On a larger scale, the Big East may feel that it needs to act now as another round of conference expansion is coming soon. Big East schools are rumored to be targets when the Big Ten expands again.

The Mountain West, which will lose BYU (going independent) and Utah (going to the Pac-10), will replace those schools with Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada. As a result, the Western Athletic Conference is in a tough spot with the defections of Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada and only six schools remaining in the near future.

The Big East is a BCS conference. Losing one or two schools to another conference could jeopardize that BCS status. And at that point, the Mountain West looks good as a possible BCS conference. The Big East only has eight schools, so getting to nine or 10 helps on various levels.