Guide Note:

The Big East Conference is one of eleven leagues participating in NCAA Football at the Division 1-A level. The eight current league teams play seven in-conference opponents, and the league champion is automatically awarded a birth in a BCS bowl game.

Fast Facts:

1. Established: 1991
2. Commissioner: Mike Tranghese
3. Members: 8
4. 2007 champion: West Virginia
5. League does not include Notre Dame, which plays football as an independent
6. Georgetown and Villanova have football programs that compete at Division I-AA
7. Home office: Providence
8. Miami won two national titles while member of Big East

The conference, which has existed since 1979, began playing football in 1991. Before that, member schools played in other leagues or as independents. The league gained immediate national credibility as a new major conference with the addition of Miami as one of the eight schools. The league grew in prominence during the 1990s, helping to form what would become the Bowl Championship Series. The league faced a near catastrophic crisis in 2004, when Miami and Virginia Tech defected to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Boston College followed suit in 2005. This left the league with UConn, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse and West Virginia. The league reacted by adding Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida.

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