Not blessed with either great geography or a top television market, Tulsa has been on the outside looking in during much of the ongoing realignment saga.
But as our own Bill Haisten reported in Wednesday's paper (
read the full story here) that could change soon.
It appears the Hurricane may be on the verge of accepting a Big East invitation.
An invitation was thought to be coming TU's way if San Diego State opted out of its deal with the Big East and returned to the Mountain West Conference.
According to reports by CBSSports.com and ESPN, the Aztecs made the decision to stay in the Mountain West on Wednesday (
read the full story here).
For Tulsa, a move to the Big East -- completely in self defense -- makes the best of a bad situation.
If Tulsa does receive an invite -- presumably in time for the 2014 football season -- the new Big East will just be a renamed version of the old Conference USA.
The 2014 Big East football roster as it stands right now: Central Florida, Cincinnati, Connecticut, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, South Florida, SMU, Temple and Tulane.
Navy joins for football in 2015 to make 11 and Tulsa would make 12.
There's no guarantee current Big East members Connecticut, Cincinnati, South Florida and Temple stick around -- those teams will take the first available train back to a BCS conference.
But if you're Tulsa, what does it matter? If they stay, all the better. If they leave, get on the phone to Marshall and Texas-El Paso and really get the band back together.
Tulsa can't feel good putting its faith in a handful of schools who sold the Hurricane down the river just a few months ago. But Tulsa doesn't really have a choice.
Realignment, as has been proven time and again, makes for strange -- but necessary -- bedfellows.
The new Big East allows TU to remain with familiar foes, provides a nice basketball upgrade if UConn and Cincinnati stick around and keeps the Hurricane attached to the valuable football recruiting pipeline in Texas.
Although a move west wouldn't be a bad option for TU, it would be tough to recruit Texas without any ties to the state. And that doesn't take into account the negligible difference in potential revenue and dozens of women's basketball, volleyball and other sports contests played after 9 p.m. local time.
To its credit, C-USA has been proactive in adding teams. But the new league simply has the look and feel of an inferior product to even the crippled Big East.
Tulsa has played a pat hand for long enough. It's time to make a move and hope for the best.
