The Big East will consider allowing Pittsburgh and Syracuse to leave the league for the ACC a year early in 2013, Big East commissioner John Marinatto said Wednesday.

College football industry sources told CBSSports.com that "there is no doubt" Pittsburgh and Syracuse will be in the ACC in 2013. It's just a question of what type of additional compensation the Big East would require from each school.

Marinatto’s stance is a complete reversal from the league's viewpoint since Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced in September they were leaving the Big East for the ACC. He has stressed continually both schools would have to remain until July 1, 2014 because "the by-laws are the by-laws are the by-laws" when explaining why both schools should remain in the Big East for the full 27 months.

When Pittsburgh and Syracuse gave their notice they were leaving the league, the Big East's exit agreement required a $5 million buyout and 27 months notice. West Virginia was allowed to leave for the Big 12 with less than a year's notice by reaching a $20 million settlement with the Big East.

“Our membership, given the speed and success of our expansion initiatives, I think it’s open to having the discussions with both Pittsburgh and Syracuse about them having an early departure,” Marinatto said. “So we haven't actually had those conversations yet, but our membership is certainly willing to do that at this point given where we've landed.”

The reason the Big East is more receptive to letting them out in 2013, instead of 2014, is with the addition of Temple and its other recent additions, the Big East would have 20 basketball members in the 2013-14 school year if Pittsburgh and Syracuse remained in the league. Without Pittsburgh and Syracuse in 2013, the Big East still would have 18 basketball members.

ACC commissioner John Swofford told CBSSports.com last month when the league announced what divisions Pittsburgh and Syracuse would compete in when they join, that the ACC was ready to add both schools as soon as they were able to leave the Big East – whether that’s in 2013 or 2014.

“The fact we made our decision how we will schedule and compete certainly helps us [when they join],” Swofford said last month. “In terms of when that time may come, I don’t want to get into a hypothetical of this or that. Our position continues to be that we want to prepare ourselves when they’re ready and it’s appropriate for them to join us.”

Temple’s football program is returning to the Big East this fall, sources told CBSSports.com.

The Big East’s presidents voted Wednesday morning to add the Owls as all-sports members, but only Temple’s football program will join in 2012. The Owls’ Olympic sports won’t join the Big East until a year later for the 2013-14 school year.

The Big East officially announced Temple's move in a Wednesday press conference.

A source told CBSSports.com that the Big East will pay for the Owls' $7 million in exit fees. Temple must pay the Mid-American Conference $6 million and the Atlantic 10 $1 million.

Temple was an original member of the Big East’s football conference from 1991-2004 until it was dismissed from the league for not being competitive and unable to meet certain financial requirements.

The Big East already had received a commitment from Temple that the Owls would join the Big East in football in 2012, sources told CBSSports.com last week. But the Big East had its presidents formally rubberstamp it in Wednesday’s meeting in New York.

After Temple’s dismissal from the Big East, the Owls were an independent for two seasons before joining the Mid-American Conference in 2007. Temple will pay the MAC $6 million to leave with less than one year's notice. The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported that amount, which is more than double what MAC by-laws require teams to pay ($2.5 million) with two year’s notice.

Temple also must pay the Atlantic 10, where its Olympic sports compete, $1 million to leave after next season. It would have cost $2 million to leave before this season.

The addition of Temple was crucial for the Big East which needed an eighth football program to replace West Virginia, which joins the Big 12 this summer. Without West Virginia, the Big East’s teams would have had only six conference games each. With Temple, each Big East team will have seven league games – as it has since 2005.

If the Owls take West Virginia’s place on the Big East schedule, the Owls will have Big East home games against Syracuse, Rutgers, Cincinnati and South Florida and league road games at UConn, Pittsburgh and Louisville. The Big East's football schedule should be released in the coming days.

The Big East initially wanted Boise State, which will join the league in 2013, to join the Big East in 2012. However, the Broncos could not afford to pay the approximate $10 million in exit fees to leave the Mountain West and WAC early and the Big East was not willing to pay for the Broncos’ early move, sources told CBSSports.com.

The addition of Temple, which shares its home stadium at Lincoln Financial Field with the Philadelphia Eagles, gives the Big East three teams that play their home games in an NFL stadium. The others are Pittsburgh/Pittsburgh Steelers and South Florida/Tampa Bay Bucs.

With Temple on board in 2012, the Big East’s football membership this fall will consist of Cincinnati, UConn, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse and Temple. The 15-team basketball membership in 2012-13 will consist of: Cincinnati, UConn, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Villanova.

The reason Temple's Olympic sports didn't join the Big East until 2013 was for logistical reasons.

"We're using the current year as a transition year in order to analyze what we can by hiring a consultant to explore how we can best exploit the marketplace moving forward," Big East commissioner John Marinatto said. "And as I said earlier, to retain each school's individual identity, a brand that Villanova has worked on for over three decades with the Big East and how to incorporate and associate that with Temple.

"So for the next 12 months, what we're going to do is with the two institutions, the conference's initiative, explore how we best move forward in order to ensure that we accomplish that because it's in the best interest of the conference obviously for the two schools to coexist in a very, very positive way, and one of the things we want to do is ensure that's the case by doing this."

The league will look much different in the 2013-14 school year. The football league could consist of up to 14 schools: Boise State, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, San Diego State, SMU, South Florida, Syracuse, Temple and UCF. However, Pittsburgh and Syracuse, who are scheduled to leave for the ACC in 2014, want to exit the Big East in 2013. If they do leave early, it would drop the football membership to 12 schools.

If Pittsburgh and Syracuse remain in the Big East until 2014, the Big East's basketball league in 2013-14 would consist of 20 teams: Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, SMU, Syracuse, Temple, UCF, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Villanova. That number would be reduced to 18 basketball members if Pittsburgh and Syracuse left early.

Also, Navy will join the Big East as a football-only member in 2015.

While Thursday’s release of the Sun Belt’s 2012 football schedule didn’t bring as much fanfare as the SEC or Big 12 schedule release, it did give us a chance to look at which other conferences love the Sun Belt. Specifically which of the other 10 FBS conferences love playing against the Sun Belt.

And no one loves playing/beating the Sun Belt more than the SEC, especially Mississippi State.

Three of the Bulldogs' four non-conference games are against Sun Belt members Troy, South Alabama and Middle Tennessee. Their fourth non-conference game is against FCS member Jackson State. I guess there were no Division III teams available that week.

Anyway, Mississippi State is among nine SEC schools that will play Sun Belt schools this fall in a total of 12 non-conference games. The only SEC schools without a Sun Belt team on the schedule is Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. Defending national champion Alabama’s schedule features two Sun Belt opponents: Western Kentucky and Florida Atlantic.

After the SEC, Conference USA has the most schools (six) playing Sun Belt opponents with a total of eight games.

Mississippi State is one of five schools with multiple Sun Belt opponents. Alabama, Memphis, Tulane and Navy each have two Sun Belt non-conference games.

The only FBS league that isn’t playing the Sun Belt is the WAC.

Last year, the Sun Belt was only 10-25 in non-conference games against FBS opponents, including a 1-2 bowl record.

Conference (games vs. Sun Belt)

ACC (3): Duke, Georgia Tech, N.C. State
Big East (1): Louisville
Big 10 (1): Nebraska
Big 12 (3): Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma State
C-USA (6): Houston, Memphis 2, Southern Miss, Tulane 2, UAB, UCF
Independents (1): Navy 2
MAC (1): Akron
Mountain West (1): Hawaii
SEC (9): Alabama 2, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State 3, Tennessee
Pac-12 (1): Oregon
WAC (0)

DALLAS – While the Mountain West finally knows exactly who will be playing in the league this season, the MWC may have to wait seven more months before knowing if it will be an automatic qualifying BCS league in the next two seasons.

In December, the Mountain West applied for a BCS exemption, which would allow the league champion to receive an automatic bid to one of the BCS bowls. The exemption must be voted on by the 12-member Presidential Oversight Committee, with nine votes needed for approval.

That committee, which consists of a president from each of the 11 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences and Notre Dame’s president, doesn’t appear in any rush to rule on the Mountain West’s AQ status.

BCS executive director Bill Hancock told CBSSports.com Wednesday that the BCS will continue to try to get the Presidential Oversight Committee together on a conference call, but Hancock said there is no immediate deadline when the committee would vote and one may not be conducted until the start of the season, in late August or early September.

On Dec. 13, 2011, the Mountain West filed an exemption, claiming it met the necessary requirements to earn its champion an automatic berth to one of the five BCS bowls.

In its four-page letter to the Oversight Committee, the Mountain West stated that “important factors are at the core of the Committee’s consideration of this request for an exemption – precedent and performance. The BCS has a well-established history of granting automatic qualification exemptions. Equally important, the performance of the Mountain West during the evaluation period has clearly been deserving of automatic-qualifying status.”

The Mountain West claims the Big East was granted BCS access and kept its AQ without meeting qualification standards in February 2004 “apparently based on reputation and relationships, rather than demonstrated performance.”

Despite having only seven members for the 2004 season, after the departures of Miami and Virginia Tech to the ACC, the Big East retained its AQ status from 2004-07.

“It is only appropriate that the Mountain West's exemption request be considered in that context and a consistency of approach be maintained,” the league wrote to the committee.

Because the Mountain West, along with Conference USA, is dissolving and forming a new league in 2013, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson told CBSSports.com the Presidential Oversight Committee recently requested information regarding those plans for the new conference.

“We are in the process of answering,” Thompson said.

Because the Mountain West will be an entirely different league in 2013, Hancock said he doesn’t know if the MWC would receive AQ status in both the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

“No one knows about that,” Hancock said. “They might or might not. That would have to be revisited.”

The Mountain West met two of the three criteria for an exemption and were just outside at No. 7 in the third (needing to be ranked among the top six conferences in overall strength of the league based on the computer polls). The ACC and Big East also fell short of the threshold to retain their automatic qualification status after the four-year evaluation cycle (2008-2011), but aren’t being evaluated against these same standards. In fact, the Big East’s numbers wouldn’t even qualify it to request an exemption. 

Thompson said Wednesday he would characterize the Mountain West’s chances “as neutral right now.”

“TCU and West Virginia’s moves (to the Big 12 from the Mountain West and Big East, respectively) really effects three leagues, although two have AQ status,” Thompson said. “That shows the volatility of the college landscape.”

That landscape continues shifting and changing – sometimes on a weekly basis. While the Big East wouldn’t pay Boise State’s exit fees to leave the Mountain West this season, the Mountain West won’t technically exist next season. It will have totally new membership and a new name.

The Big East, which is close to adding Temple for the 2012 season, also will have a new look with anywhere from 11 to 13 members in 2013, depending if Pittsburgh and Syracuse leave early for the ACC. The Big 12, currently set for 10 members in 2012, could decide to expand for the 2013 season.

And who knows what else might happen involving conference realignment in the next 12-18 months?

One thing is certain: if the Mountain West is granted an exemption for the next two seasons, it would be mean one fewer team would qualify for an at-large spot in one of the five BCS bowls during the next two seasons.

If the MWC earns an exemption, the champions from the Pac-12, Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big East and MWC would all earn automatic berths to the BCS bowls. The remaining three spots would be filled by at-large selections, reducing the number of conferences with potentially two BCS bowl teams from four to three.

DALLAS – Temple is close to joining the Big East as an all-sports member in 2012, college football industry sources told CBSSports.com Wednesday morning.

The addition of Temple is imperative for the Big East, which desperately needs a school to replace West Virginia this fall after the Mountaineers reached a $20 million agreement with the league to leave for the Big 12.

One source told CBSSports.com that Temple to the Big East in 2012 "is done."

An announcement could be made as early as next week, sources told CBSSports.com.

MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, attending the BCS meetings at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Grand Hyatt Hotel, told CBSSports.com that discussions are ongoing between Temple and the Big East.

"I don't know where those will lead," Steinbrecher said.

Big East commissioner John Marinatto, also at the BCS meetings, declined comment Wednesday.

The Big East initially wanted Boise State, which will join in 2013, to join this fall as West Virginia’s replacement. However, the Big East was not willing to provide the Broncos with about $10 million they needed to leave the Mountain West in football and have their Olympic sports join the WAC a year early.

Boise State president Bob Kustra confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the Broncos would remain in the Mountain West in the 2012-13 season.

"While we have had several discussions with the Big East and the WAC in moving our sports into those two leagues a year earlier than previously stated, the University feels there were too many obstacles to overcome to make the move at this time," Kustra said in a statement. "While there certainly would have been advantages in making the move a year early, it became clear that it would not be fiscally responsible, as all of the expenses associated with early entry into the two conferences would not be covered."

Boise State would have had to pay the Mountain West between $8 million and $9 million and also pay the WAC $1.5 million.

With Boise State out of the picture, the Big East then turned its attention to Temple. The Mid-American Conference's exit fee is $2.5 million with two years notice, but it's unknown what the amount would be for a school providing less than a year's notice, a source said. To leave the Atlantic 10 Conference, where the Owls’ Olympic sports compete, would cost Temple $2 million with less than a year's notice, a source said.

Temple was one of the Big East’s original eight football members in 1991, but was expelled from the league after the 2004 season for not being competitive and not meeting certain financial requirements. However, the Owls’ program has been resurrected under the direction of Al Golden and Steve Addazio, posting a 26-12 record the last three seasons.

Golden, who left for Miami after the 2010 season, guided the Owls to their first bowl in 30 years. Addazio completed his first year with a 37-15 victory against Wyoming in the New Mexico Bowl in December, only the second bowl victory in school history.

The addition of Temple will be the latest change for the Big East, which also added Memphis two weeks ago.

With Temple being added, the Big East’s membership is expected to have eight football members and 16 basketball members in 2012. In 2013, the football membership will grow to 14 with the addition of Boise State, SMU, UCF, Houston, Memphis and San Diego State. However, if Pittsburgh and Syracuse are allowed to leave a year early to the ACC, the league would have 12 football members.

In 2014, the football membership will be 12 (after Pittsburgh and Syracuse leave) but it will grow to 13 in 2015 with the addition of Navy.

Sources told CBSSports.com, the reason the Big East decided to go beyond 12 football members is because the league is preparing for the possibility it will lose Louisville if the Big 12 decides to expand by at least another team.

Multiple sources have told CBSSports.com that Louisville is the consensus choice for the Big 12’s 11th member, if the league expands, and that the Cardinals would accept an invitation to the Big 12.

Big 12 acting commissioner Chuck Neinas said Wednesday his league has no expansion meetings scheduled and is concentrating on the additions of West Virginia and TCU.

Two weeks ago when the Big East added Memphis, Marinatto said the league had reached its “primary objective” of securing a 12-team football league when Navy joins in 2015. However he opened the door to further expansion.

“We’re always going to be vigilant and we’re going to continue to do whatever is in the best interest of the conference,” Marinatto said. “You never say never (about future expansion), I guess. But we’ve reached our goal and we’re pleased that we’ve done that. But we’re always going to be obviously continuing to evaluate different opportunities as time goes on."

Although West Virginia is bolting from the Big East early, Pittsburgh and Syracuse will not leave the Big East this fall for the Atlantic Coast Conference, college football industry sources told CBSSports.com.

West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse were scheduled to leave the Big East in 2014, but the Mountaineers filed a lawsuit to exit early. CBSSports.com reported last week that West Virginia and the Big East reached a verbal agreement that would pay the Big East $20 million and resolve the issues between the two parties, allowing the Mountaineers to join the Big 12 on July 1. 

Sources told CBSSports.com that Pittsburgh and Syracuse won’t try to leave this summer, but will attempt to negotiate deals to allow them to join the ACC a year early in 2013. Unlike West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse have not pursued any legal action to get out of the Big East’s 27-month exit requirement and leave before 2014.

The main reason Pittsburgh and Syracuse are not trying to leave the Big East this season is both schools don’t want to be “any more disruptive to the Big East” for the coming season. If Pittsburgh and Syracuse left for the ACC this summer, the Big East could be down to only five football members.

Another reason, Pittsburgh and Syracuse aren’t trying to join the ACC this fall, is because the ACC doesn’t desperately need the teams to fill out this year’s league schedule, like the Big 12 needed West Virginia to replace Missouri in its 2012 schedule.

With West Virginia paying $20 million to leave the Big East two years early, Pittsburgh and Syracuse each would likely have been required to pay the same amount to leave this summer. Also by waiting until 2013, they likely can negotiate a deal to only pay $10 million – double the $5 they initially paid when they announced they were leaving. That $10 million figure is the Big East’s current exit fee since Navy announced it was joining the league last month.

Finally the timing of a move in 2013 for Pittsburgh and Syracuse also would make more sense logistically since that’s when the Big East will be adding six members – Boise State, San Diego State, Houston, Memphis, SMU and UCF.

In December, Syracuse athletic director Daryl Gross said his school would honor the Big East’s 27-month exit agreement, but indicated the Orange preferred to leave sooner.

“We’re just open to seeing what happens,” Gross told CBSSports.com two months ago. “They (the Big East) are starting to put together what the new Big East will look like. As they go forward to put together new multi-media deals, they’re going to need us to move out of the way. We’re waiting for that.”

Big East commissioner John Marinatto has said repeatedly that West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse would not be allowed to exit the league until 2014.

Two weeks ago, when the ACC announced that Pittsburgh would compete in the ACC’s Coastal Division and Syracuse in the ACC’s Atlantic Division when they officially join the league, ACC commissioner John Swofford would not speculate whether the ACC would help Pitt and Syracuse financially to leave the Big East before 2014.

“The fact we made our decision how we will schedule and compete certainly helps us (when they join),” Swofford said. “In terms of when that time may come, I don’t want to get into a hypothetical of this or that. Our position continues to be that we want to prepare ourselves when they’re ready and it’s appropriate for them to join us.”

That won’t be this summer, but the ACC won’t have to wait until 2014 either.

If you're looking for more evidence West Virginia is likely headed to the Big 12 this fall, the Mountaineers canceled their Sept. 8 game at Florida State, sources told CBSSports.com.

West Virginia originally had its 2012 schedule formatted for eight conference games as a Big East member - that's before TCU's decision to join the Big 12. But if the Mountaineers join the Big 12 this fall, they will have nine conference games and had to drop one contest.

Florida State released a statement Saturday morning confirming West Virginia's decision.

"We were informed in writing late Friday afternoon of West Virginia University’s intention to cancel its 2012 football game with Florida State University scheduled for Sept. 8 in Tallahassee," Florida State AD Randy Spetman said. "We are disappointed for our coaches, players and fans that this game will not take place as originally scheduled.

"We now face the challenge of completing our 2012 schedule just seven months before the start of the season. We will work quickly and diligently to fill the hole on our schedule and will communicate with our season ticket holders and fans as the process moves forward."

The Mountaineers must pay Florida State at least $500,000 because they cancelled the game less than 12 months before kickoff, The Orlando Sentinel reported.

Florida State's best option to replace West Virginia is one of the remaining seven Big East teams, all of which will need at least one game if WVU leaves for the Big 12. The most likely candidates to replace WVU on Florida State's schedule would be future ACC members Pitt or Syracuse.

Pittsburgh and Syracuse may not be leaving the Big East for the ACC for another two years, but the Panthers and Orange know now which ACC divisions they’ll be in. Pittsburgh will compete in the ACC’s Coastal Division, while Syracuse will be in the ACC’s Atlantic Division, the ACC’s athletic directors voted Friday.

The ACC also voted to increase its league football schedule from eight to nine conference games when the Panthers and Orange come on board.

Pittsburgh and Syracuse aren’t scheduled to join the ACC until July 1, 2014. However, that timetable could get moved up depending on if West Virginia is allowed to leave the Big East early for the Big 12. West Virginia is trying to join the Big 12 this fall, while the Big East is trying to make the Mountaineers honor the league’s exit agreement and stay until June 30, 2014.

Pittsburgh and Syracuse have not indicated they would pursue legal action, like West Virginia has, to leave the Big East before 2014, but sources told CBSSports.com that both schools are monitoring West Virginia’s situation and would try to join the ACC early if the Mountaineers are able to leave before 2014.

ACC commissioner John Swofford wouldn’t speculate on Pittsburgh and Syracuse joining the ACC before 2014. “First of all, (that decision) is between Pitt and Syracuse and the Big East,” Swofford said.

However, if the Panthers and Orange can leave before 2014, the ACC will be ready.

“The fact we made our decision how we will schedule and compete certainly helps us (when they join),” Swofford said. “In terms of when that time may come, I don’t want to get into a hypothetical of this or that. Our position continues to be that we want to prepare ourselves when they’re ready and it’s appropriate for them to join us.”

If West Virginia leaves the Big East before 2014, it will likely have to pay a substantial financial penalty to the Big East. Swofford would not speculate whether the ACC would assist Pitt and Syracuse financially to assist them if they were able to leave the Big East early.

The ACC is expected to announce its 2012 football schedule in the next two weeks, so even if WVU and the Big East settles in the coming days it's unlikely Pitt and Syracuse would be able to join for the 2012-13 school year. Before the 2013 season is a more realisitic possibility.

Whenever they do get to the ACC, Pittsburgh will join Miami, Georgia Tech, Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech in the Coastal Division. Syracuse will join Clemson, Florida State, N.C. State, Boston College, Maryland and Wake Forest in the Atlantic.

The current primary crossover partners will remain consistent with Syracuse and Pitt becoming primary crossover partners with each other.

When Pitt and Syracuse join the ACC, the league will play a nine-game conference football schedule. The format will consist of each team playing all six in its division each year, plus its primary crossover partner each year and two rotating opponents from the opposite division.

“We’ve been evaluating (eight or nine-game league schedules) since back in the fall,” Swofford said. “We want to see and play each other as much as reasonably possible.”

Swofford also said that adding conference television inventory (more ACC games) also was beneficial.

This six-year cycle allows each team to play each divisional opponent and its primary crossover partner six times (three home and three away) while also playing each rotating crossover opponent two times (one home and one away).

In basketball, the ACC will play an 18-game conference schedule beginning in the 2012-13 school year.

After Pitt and Syracuse join, each school will have one primary partner (Boston College and Syracuse; Clemson and Georgia Tech; Duke and North Carolina; Florida State and Miami; Maryland and Pitt; N.C. State and Wake Forest; Virginia and Virginia Tech).

The scheduling model will be based on a three-year cycle during which teams will play every league opponent at least once with the primary partners playing home and away annually while the other 12 rotate in groups of four: one year both home and away; one year at home only; and one year away only.  Over the course of the three-year cycle primary partners play a total of six times and all other conference opponents play four times.

The format allows each program to see opponents with more regularity and creates an increase in competitive balance throughout the teams.

The league also determined that all 14 league members will qualify for the ACC men's and women’s basketball tournaments. However, how the tournaments will be formatted will be announced at a later date.