In football , the Big East entered competition as a conference in 1991 , after inviting five football colleges to become members of the Big East , joining three teams from the Big East whose football teams were competing as Division I independents ( Boston College , Pittsburgh and Syracuse ) to form a new Division I football league . The strength of this league earned the Big East an automatic berth in the Bowl Championship Series , when that series was created in 1998 . The Big East won two national football championships , both by University of Miami . Between 2005 and 2012 , four of the more successful football schools left the Big East for other conferences , starting a process that led to a complete realignment of the Big East in 2013
Division I independents
NCAA Division I FBS independent schools
Big East Conference (1979–2013)