Navy to Partner Up With The Big East

Just as I predicted two weeks ago, Navy will in fact have a limited partnership with the Big East. Unfortunately for Big East fans, the agreement is betwen the Midshipmen, the Big East and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.  MSNBC reports that should Navy become bowl eligible, they will compete for a spot with the Big East's third place finisher for a berth in the Charlotte, NC-based bowl game to play against the ACC's fifth place finisher. Navy, with its broad-based appeal, boasts one of the better followings in college football. They sold their 20,000 ticket allotment to the Poinsetta Bowl last season, with bowl officials indicating that they were responible for upwards of 35,000 total ticket sales. They also brought an average of over 20,000 fans to their previous two bowl games--the Emerald Bowl in 2004 and the Houston Bowl in 2003. Only two Big East programs, Louisville and West Virginia, have a comprable history of bringing their fans to bowl games. What does this mean for the Big East? First consider that Notre Dame already owns a similar arrangement with the Big East and the Gator Bowl. So, in a worst-case scenario for the conference, if Notre Dame falls below their BCS-bowl expectations and Navy becomes bowl eligible, the Big East's second place team could fall all the way to one of two brand new (read: not very prestigious) bowls--the Birmingham Bowl, played in Birmingham, AL, or the International Bowl, played in Toronto, Canada(!!!).