It's been a while since college sports lost one of its "power" conferences, but with the Colorado Buffaloes looking to return to the Big 12 and potentially bringing Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah with them, it's entirely possible that we see it happen again soon. The echoes are there to connect the Pac-12 to the Big East Conference of old.

The Big East was once one of college football's most entertaining conferences, featuring high-profile running quarterbacks like the enigmatic Michael Vick of Virginia Tech or the untouchable Pat White of West Virginia, unstoppable defenses like those seen under Ed Reed's Miami Hurricanes, or legendary environments like Syracuse's Carrier Dome, also patrolled by head basketball coach Jim Boeheim. Speaking of basketball, the conference's unique split layout between football and basketball also played host to a few basketball stars as well, such as Georgetown's Alonzo Mourning and Patrick Ewing, or UConn's Kemba Walker. Even its later teams featured interesting bits of college lore - who can forget the 2007 college football season, where South Florida made it all the way up to #2 in the country, only to lose to Rutgers? Or where West Virginia's national title hopes were dashed by Pittsburgh in a Backyard Brawl for the ages? Or UConn actually being good at football?

But the Big East wasn't built to last forever. Discord and infighting between its conference members led to jumping ship and an inability to move forward, eventually resulting in the conference dissolving, the ashes of which spawned a non-football Big East and an all-sports American Athletic Conference.

Come along with me as I look back at the history of the Big East, all set to Minecraft music, because you're lying to yourself if you don't think Minecraft music is good.

0:49 - Part One: The Metro Conference
3:44 - Part Two: The Classic Big East
7:38 - Part Three: The Burning Big East
10:49 - Part Four: The "New" Big East and the American Athletic Conference
14:28 - (Part Five): Reflections

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