I like this for one particular reason. It will allow for a conference championship game if they keep their current members. While it's not a terribly impressive line-up, it does feature Cincy, Boise St., South Florida, SMU and Houston. While it is largely C-USA schools now, Boise St. and the tradition of Navy gives it a bit more prestige and a flagship football program. It certainly will present a tougher road to going undefeated than the WAC did, and the conference championship game helps insure a bit less of a cakewalk as well. I'd say it's marginally tougher than it was before as losing Syracuse, West Virginia and Pitt hurt, but Houston, SMU, Navy, Boise St.,+a conference championship game should keep it from being much easier.
Ultimately, the new Big East tears the state of Texas a bit more, as while SMU and Houston were together before, this step up raises their visibility a bit more and gives them a chance to do things on a slightly larger stage. So, couple that with A&M in the SEC and I think the state of Texas and perhaps even Texas' stranglehold on the state (which was always predicated on all the major in-state programs either being irrelevant or in their shadow) becomes weaker.
Finally, this does seem to finally push C-USA and the MWC into each others arms. Ironically, it would play out a lot like the 4 quadrant WAC, but it will make it that much harder for a nobody to slip through undefeated (since it will have a conference championship game as well). It also really puts the "Big-12" on an island in terms of not having a championship game and having small membership. They're still a major defection away from falling apart.
