Streaking The Lawn, a Virginia Cavaliers community

The Big East will hold a live teleconference at 5:00 PM Eastern to announce that Houston, Southern Methodist, Central Florida, San Diego State, and Boise State will join the Big East Conference for 2013. Click the above link to be transported to hear Commissioner John Marinatto to announce it live.

These rumors seemed rather dubious to begin with, but Fanhouse's Brett McMurphy has definitive confirmation. Besides, how is John Marinatto going to invite UCF and Memphis when he's so busy dealing with florists and annoying the heck out of every Big East fan? My favorite candidate remains Temple. It's a major stretch to call them the next Boise, but they're doing well for themselves. However, it's clear that while expansion isn't imminent, the Big East does have UCF on speed dial and would probably bring them in at a moment's notice of any member defections to another conference. Star-Ledger beatwriter Tom Luicci appeared on Rivals Radio Thursday morning to give some context on Big East expansion rumors. He said that the Big East football coaches want to add a ninth member, which would financially help the conference by creating more games to sell. Luicci further speculated on the Big East either raiding C-USA or a program like Villanova jumping to FBS, but was adamant that he didn't know what would happen and that all of the involved parties have been covering their tracks. Update: I was reading the linked Orlando Sentinel piece on how USF outmuscled Memphis for membership, and the bit about how the athletic directors voted against a 16-team conference only to be outvoted by the presidents reminded me of this 2005 Providence Journal article. The following bolded section is one to keep in mind moving forward, although be careful not to jump on every rumor out there. The 16-school Big East begins play next fall. The group has amended the conference's constitution and agreed to withdrawal and dissolution clauses that allow the group to break up with no penalty after five years. Anyone that leaves before five years is subject to a $5-million withdrawal penalty and must wait 27 months before departing.