This article is being posted online on R. Panth's behalf.

The rumors have started. The Big East may no longer be a part of the Bowl Championship Series. With the departure of Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech and the probable addition of Louisville and Cincinnati, it is argued that the Big East has weakened itself in football to a point that it is no longer deserving of an automatic BCS bid.

While the question of whether the Big East is deserving of an automatic bid is debatable, it is not worth debating. The BCS is not about "deserving". It is about a cartel and collusion and hypocrisy.

The public has been hoodwinked into thinking that the BCS was launched and marketed as a system that used polls and computers to settle disputes on which teams had the right to play for the national championship in college football.

Nonsense.

The BCS is nothing more than a scheme that the six major conferences employ in order to shield millions in college football revenue from their smaller (also known as mid-major) Division 1-A brethren. They do so by qualifying their conference champions for the lucrative BCS bowl slots while relegating the mid-major conferences to the second and third tier bowls. They do so not because they have better football programs but because they have a majority (64 out of 117) of the schools that play Division 1-A college football.

It is obvious that a college football playoff system would generate more money than the BCS does now. But a playoff system does not exist in Division 1-A college football because it would not be possible to create a playoff system that would produce a revenue stream that would only be available to the six major conferences … and that is what the bowl system does.

In the business world, the bowl system would be called a cartel, would be accused of collusion and would be in clear violation of anti-trust laws. In the non-profit world of higher education, it’s called the BCS.

It seems plainly obvious that when the new BCS contract is being negotiated, the six major conferences will still have the majority of the schools in Division 1-A. Any hopes a college football fan had for a playoff system should be voted down because there is little chance that the BCS schools will want to jeopardize the existence of the cartel that has allowed them to get away with collusion and the revenue stream they currently enjoy. The only question that remains to be answered is whether the Big East will be a part of the cartel. For the Big East to not be included in the BCS, the other five conferences would need a majority of the 117 schools to do so. The problem is that they only have 57 and they will have 57 two years from now …

… unless, of course, there is further expansion.

The other five BCS conferences could effectively add two more universities, hold a majority of Division 1-A schools with 59 and exclude the Big East from the BCS buffet.

The key, though, is Notre Dame.

A BCS without Notre Dame is tough to fathom because the credibility of the BCS would take a hit. Also, the TV networks and the bowls would most likely be very hesitant about supporting support such a scenario. On the other hand, Notre Dame would be reluctant to join the BCS without the Big East because it would be jeopardizing its conference affiliation in all the other sports.

Had Notre Dame accepted the invitation to join the Big Ten conference a couple of years ago, the Big East would almost certainly be excluded from the new BCS. However, as long as Notre Dame is effectively with the Big East, it should not be possible.

While the ACC has been proactive in solidifying its position in the BCS, the Big East has done nothing but sit, watch, complain and file lawsuits. Now is the time for the Big East to let the other conferences know that should there even be a hint of attempts at expansion by the other BCS conferences, the Big East would be forced to take pre-emptive action. One of their options would be to side with the mid-major conferences in support of a playoff system and totally destroy the BCS. Though a playoff system would cost the Big East millions of dollars, it would certainly be better than being on the outside of the BCS looking in.