The primary story of West Virginia’s 70-33 spanking of ACC champ Clemson in the Orange Bowl the other night, besides all the broken records, was the momentum the Mountaineers would ride into the Big 12 conference provided everything worked out from a legal standpoint with the Big East.
Well, that’s an ongoing dilemma, and as much as WVU would love to have you believe the school will be in their new conference starting July 1, the truth is that negotiations between the two sides haven’t commenced yet as far as we know -- WVU president Jim Clements wouldn’t comment on such talks earlier this week -- and we’re getting to a point where what happens in the 2012 season is going to have to be decided upon.
But if WVU does make it to the Big 12, their non-conference schedule is going to have to be reduced by one game to fit the new conference slate (WVU was anticipating the arrival of TCU before the Horned Frogs went to the Big 12, so Big East football teams had four non-con games scheduled). According to the Tallahassee Democrat, WVU is trying to get out of its away game with Florida State ($) in anticipation of its own move to the Big 12. The Mountaineers would keep their non-con games against Marshall, Maryland and James Madison.
The buyout of cancelling that game has been rumored to be anywhere between $350,000 and $500,000.