Why would Villanova want to straddle I-A/I-AA? Any justification of "partial football membership" along the lines of Notre Dame and the service academies is simply not there...

There likely will be no 1A soon.Fewer toughher games less cost and more chance to succeed..

Shared BE membership goes back to 2003 after breakup of BE with Miami and votech.Originally ND would share schedule with Navy.However,the possibility of Villanova not moving from A10 to CAA under study.Also this possibility,was brought in 2003.ND name will play 3BE games plus Army and Navy.Villanova could play the other 5BE games plus Army and Navy.This is not the traditional league membership but nothing is normal with the BE.

Again, where does the benefit lie for Villanova in not playing a Football EAST schedule that would consist of at least eight games? Why wouldn't they simply follow the template established by UConn?

UConn is a special case.Their backing by the state of CONN is great.Villanova passed at that type of deal already.Villanova may want something short of a full BE BCS committment but better than their presnt membership in the A10.

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Yes there is,Currently Villanova is considering its future with the dying A10 football league.

I beg to differ that the Atlantic 10 football league is "dying". It is just going to be run under new management, namely the CAA. Did anyone say that the Yankee Conference was dying? No. The administration was taken over by the A-10 becuase they already had the organization in place, several of it's members were part of the A10 for other sports and the "Atlantic 10" moniker was more marketable than "Yankee Conference"

Based on the realignment for 2005-06, for football you will have 6 CAA teams, 3 A10, 2 America East and 1 Big East (Villanova). Doesn't it make sense that the conference with the most members should bear the most weight organizationally?

Be it that there is one league (CAA) or 2 leagues (CAA + A10), the same 12 teams are always going to cross-over and play each other during the regular seaon.

If Villanova is looking at moving up to D-1, I suggest that they look across town at Temple and do it the opposite way. Otherwise, stay with what works.

Temple is joining the MAC for football only. They will have a full schedule beginning in 2007.

for dayton, xavier, and st. louis, has the missouri valley conference ever been an option? it is equal if not better in bball, and they geography would probably make more since. imho those 3 added to the mvc would make for an awsome 12 team league.

expanding on that.........with the a10 down to 9, they decide to work together with the caa for the benefit of both leagues. ga st. adds football, which they are thinking about, and goes to the socon which works out great for the conference looking for a 9th fball school, and allows davidson to move to the north division. the a10 then takes hofstra and northeastern while the caa takes gw, richmond, and charlotte. that leaves

a10
hofstra
fordham
st. bony
northeastern
umass
uri
temple
lasalle
st. joes
duq.

caa
deleware
drexel
towson
gw
gmu
jmu
wmu
odu
richmond
vcu
charlotte
uncw

the football situation would be caa-6 a10-4 and then nova, unh, and maine as possible affiliates. odu is restarting football in 2009 and once established is probably going to join the caa. this way the caa wouldnt lose football, and both are being more concise with geography. both would also be extremely competitive basketball leagues.

a realistic WIN WIN FOR ALL:)

Its been floated around, if one of the current teams leave for I-A football (Missouri State, Illinois St, Southern Illinois) look for the MVC to try to get those teams especially if the BE splits. More than likely though only Dayton and SLU would be the ones as Xavier would probally be picked up by the Catholic schools conference.

If there is a split(a long shot) Dayton would likely go with Xavier.Moreover,St Louis would also in bb league western division Marquette,DePaul,St Louis,Xavier and Dayton.With The eastern division being St Johns,Seton Hall ,Providence,St Joes.

Where is Villanova, Notre Dame, and Georgetown at? They would be involved.

I think if a split like this were to happen, ND would probably attempt to align themselves with the other BE football playing schools just for the fact that they would probably suffer more by playing hoops in the A-10 (eg: lower RPI, less chance at a postseason berth) than in the BE (though if their current season says anything about their future, this would look like a moot point). Of course this would probably come with the stipulation that the BE allows them to retain their football independency (or have Weis suffering from a Willingham-esque fall from grace, which means ND would probably not be as gung-ho to avoid a conference affiliation). Otherwise, ND could probably seek out the Big-10 or join the other non-fb schools in a new conference or revamped A-10.

Villanova's standing would probably hinge on their football future. If the economy does improve in the next 5 years to the point it could be reasonable (and desirable) to upgrade their football, they may consider going with the I-A BE members. Otherwise, they would probably join the non-fb schools. Georgetown, on the other hand (I'm going on the thought that they don't offer fb scholarships, I'm not too sure about that though) would more than likely just bail with their other non-I-A fb counterparts. I just don't see a fb upgrade for them to be reasonable at this point.