I was going to call it news. but most of it doesn’t even come close to that. Opinions, pontifications, lunacy, and stupidity? Plenty. Actual news. Well, that’s rather limited.

So let’s get that out of the way first with some comments from Big East Commissioner John Marinatto from a Wednesday interview.

One factor that could play a huge role in the league’s expansion plans are its current and future television markets. The Big East’s current TV contract with ESPN/ABC expires after the 2013 football season and the 2012-13 basketball season.

If the Big East added new members before the current TV contracts expire, the league could seek to renegotiate.

“Membership — quality membership and quality inventory — drives value,” Marinatto said. “We’re certainly cognizant of the value that expansion and quality inventory would bring to a television partner.”

Marinatto also indicated there has been “no discussion” about forcing out any existing members to make room for any additional schools.

None of this is really news, so much as confirmation of what was believed/expected.

This just in, the Bulls at Buffalo are aware that they are not up for Big East consideration. Only one god-forsaken hell-hole of a city from New York is allowed in the conference.

An editorial from a Greenville area paper exhorting the Pirate faithful to pack the place this weekend.

A capacity crowd is likely to fill Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday as East Carolina University takes on the U.S. Naval Academy in the Pirates’ final non-conference game this year. Rarely have those in the stands been more important since it emerged this week that the Big East Conference will likely pursue the expansion of its football membership in the coming weeks.

And guess who’s name has not been mentioned as being a contender?

A column in Orlando insisting that UCF should not even consider a football-only offer from the Big East. The column spits on the Big East. “You suck, so let us in,” is probably not the best negotiating approach for UCF if they do start talking with the Big East. Another columnist acknowledges that UCF is kind of screwed if they do or don’t take a football-only offer.

UCF simply gets squeezed out because of convenience/logistics.

And that simply stinks. Pardon the parochial rant, but the school has done everything possible to make itself more attractive to prospective conference suitors.

And after all that, UCF is given these two choices:

Accept the football-only invitation and muck it up for everybody else. It’s a big upgrade for football but leaves all other programs scrambling for conference affiliations of relevance nationally.

Decline the football-only invitation, leaving open the very real possibility that it will be ignored by in the conference-upgrade frenzy as the major schools separate themselves farther and farther from the pack.

For the record, I’m against football-only invites. That is a recipe for increasing instability. Not reducing. Still, it is kind of fun to see an oddly self-entitled program/local media/fanbase like UCF squirm over the situation. Besides, when Mike Bianchi (a Jay Mariotti wannabe) goes one way, my impulse is to run the other.

There’s always the Notre Dame issue. Kevin Gorman goes Big East populist and pretends the Big East has any leverage in forcing Notre Dame to choose. Sorry. It doesn’t work that way no matter how much we wish for it. Andy Staples at SI.com contrasts it as ND should join to be the equivalent of Miami in the conference (or FSU in the ACC in the 90s).

It may take a few more hirings and firings, but sooner or later, the people in charge at Notre Dame will figure out that the Irish’s recent failures aren’t exclusively the fault of the past four coaches. Some of the issues are systemic. The Irish will not contend for the national title on a regular basis, and the dream of winning enough games in most years to qualify for a BCS bowl is fading fast.

Notre Dame has every reason to cherish its football independence. It is woven into the fabric of the university, and it is a noble ideal. Unfortunately, it isn’t practical if the Irish want to win on a consistent basis. Unlike the other still-powerful schools in desolate recruiting areas, Notre Dame can’t bring in a bunch of junior college transfers. It also can’t take a lot of players with risky transcripts. It needs a different solution. That solution is joining a conference of which it is already a member.

The sheer power of Notre Dame’s marketing might — what other average football program receives this much coverage and interest? — would assure the Big East of keeping an AQ spot for as long as the BCS exists. Television networks would line up four-deep to throw money at Marinatto. If Villanova is the other new addition, the Big East could maintain its current 16-team basketball alignment and avoid damaging its valuable hoops television package.

Most importantly for Notre Dame, the Irish could win the conference in football and go to a BCS bowl every few years. Of those four wins this season, one came against Pittsburgh — the only team in the Big East that controls its destiny for the conference title. Every Big East team begins each season with at least a puncher’s chance, and only West Virginia and Cincinnati have managed to maintain consistent success recently.

Notre Dame to the Big Ten made plenty of sense on the balance sheet, but it made no sense on the field.

The one problem with this plan is that it is always about the money. If ND were to go to a conference, the only thing that might save the collective asses of the administration that makes that call are buckets of money that can placate the subway alum. Besides, no fan wants to hear that they should play in a “lesser” conference to get the wins. You are essentially saying, “no we aren’t that good.”

Finally, for those dreaming of the day when mega-conferences roam college football, Mr. SEC has his projected SEC in circa-2018. Not sure I buy it since Oklahoma is in, but not Texas. I think we have all seen that Oklahoma is following Texas wherever it goes.