Gator “interested” in SEC; Big East looking to raid ACC?

Posted Aug 5, 2009 by Brett McMurphy

Updated Aug 5, 2009 at 11:48 AM

It appears it will be see ya later Gator. There are more signs that the Gator Bowl will not be part of the Big East’s bowl lineup in 2010. On Monday, I reported in the Tampa Tribune that Big East commissioner John Marinatto said it would be “doubtful” the Big East would remain with the Gator if it maintained its hybrid Big East/Big 12 model.

Now, Gator Bowl President Rick Catlett told the Birmingham News Tuesday his bowl is “very interested” in joining the SEC lineup.

Catlett declined to comment on the record when I spoke to him about the Big East situation while in Newport, R.I., the past few days, but told the Birmingham News “While that’s disappointing the Big East feels that way, the hybrid works very well for us. It keeps fans and teams from going back to the same city over and over again.”

The Gator also wanted to be able to select Notre Dame twice in the four-year bowl-cycle, while the Big East only wanted Notre Dame available once in the four-year cycle.

With the Gator all but officially out of the mix, look for the Big East to ramp up its talks with the Sun and Champs Sports. Sun Bowl executive director Bernie Olivas told me his bowl would be interested in the Big East’s second selection but “was waiting to see what the Gator Bowl would do.”

It appears the Gator Bowl’s decision already has been reached.

Intriguing idea: Lenn Robbins of the New York Post, quoting two unnamed sources, reports a fascinating possibility for Big East expansion: raid the ACC.

Robbins reports two sources said the Big East would explore “whether there was interest on behalf of Maryland to jump from the ACC, and for Boston College to rejoin the league.

“Both seem a little far-fetched on the surface, but Maryland always has played Big East schools, and the balance of power in the ACC is in the south. And Boston College is learning that life in the ACC, where it has no natural rivals, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

Robbins also said the Big East would no longer consider a Conference USA team, such as Memphis or UCF, or even Army or Navy because of the league’s success in the BCS bowl games and overall strength.

Marinatto told me that he doesn’t believe that Army or Navy have any interest in being a ninth member.

The biggest difficulty of adding Maryland or Boston College would be the league expanding to 17 members.

However, Marinatto told me last week that if the right team came along the Big East would consider growing to 17 members. Marinatto did not specifically identify any teams that the league would consider as a 17th-league team.