Big East blanked again in pre-season football poll

The USA Today Football Coaches Poll is out and to no one's surprise no Big East Conference team is in the top 25

It didn't have any in the final BCS standings when the season ended last year, so we should not be shocked.

But then again this is one of six BCS conferences that is hauling in all that money from BCS Bowls. Is it asking too much that they have one team in the top 25?

USF received nine points to place the Bulls way down the totem poll, but at least were mentioned. More importantly it gets a chance to rectify things in its season opener at Notre Dame, which is ranked 18th.

West Virginia is the highest ranked Big East team at 27 (149 points). In the state of Florida, USF ranks behind FSU, Florida and Miami, which is no disgrace. But also behind UCF (ranked 33)!

Now that's got to stick in the Bulls craw. But hold on UCF finished 21st in last season's final BCS rankings.

Bulls head coach Skip Holtz is one of 59 coaches who vote in the poll. But they've got to help him.

USF scheduling cautiously as Big East considers more expansion

Football expansion will be a hot topic when the Big East Conference hold’s its annual spring meetings this month in Ponte Vedra.

Big East teams are being encouraged to leave room open on future schedules if the league adds a 10^th team. TCU joins the conference in 2012 to become its ninth football team and the league wants to expand to 10.

Villanova, an FCS (I-AA) power has been talked about as the natural addition, but there doesn’t appear to be a lot of passion to add the Wildcats, particularly with the Big East already under fire for being part of the BCS.

To keep its options open, USF is scheduling future football games with the understanding that it may have to back out with buyout penalty.

One of the big motivators to add a so called “name” team is television money. The new Pac 10, which now has 12 teams, announced its launching its own television network and will make $3 billion over the next 12 years in a joint agreement with ESPN and Fox.

According to a Forbes Magazine report, West Virginia topped the Big East in football revenue in 2009 with $29.5 million. USF was fifth ($16.5 million) behind Pittsburgh ($22.5), Rutgers ($19.5), Syracuse ($19.1).