ESPN College Football

You don't have to know the fight song for Mensa to figure out that the Atlantic Coast Conference turned itself into a football powerhouse through expansion. Three of the top six teams in the BCS ranking released Monday will be bunkmates in the new ACC: Florida State is third, Miami fourth and Virginia Tech is sixth.

You could say that Tobacco Road traded in its hightops for cleats, because the ACC made the conscious decision to strengthen itself in football while weakening itself in hoops.

If you knew Virginia Tech had a basketball team, take 10 points. If you've actually seen the Hokies play, take 50. (And while we're at it, dump the "Tobacco Road" name. It's as passé as, well, tobacco. The new ACC identifies more closely with I-95 than it does Tobacco Road.)

The league will heighten, if that is possible, the rivalry between Florida State and Miami, taking a spirited in-state battle and tying the fortunes of 10 other schools to it. Florida State and Miami are marquee names in college football, self-made former independents that, in the early 1990s, came in from the cold and joined a league.

Florida State's leap to the ACC a decade ago forced the other schools in the league to improve. Miami's leap had the same effect in the Big East.

Virginia Tech's football legacy would have fit on a fortune cookie before the last 10 years. The Hokies answered the call to compete. The Hurricanes don't need to galvanize the ACC in the same way. Florida State has done the heavy lifting. But Miami's arrival in the league will nonetheless raise the standard for the Georgia Techs and Marylands of the world.

And given the stature of Duke and North Carolina these days, Miami won't miss Rutgers and Temple as much as you might think.

Boston College is the anomaly in the deal. The Eagles add depth to the league, which is a nice way to say that they will be indistinguishable from the rest of the middle of the pack.

The ACC's gain is the Big East's loss, which -- given the former's rapacious method of expansion -- is sort of like saying Bonnie and Clyde's gain was the bank's loss. Nevertheless, the Big East remains a couple of steps ahead of the Mountain West and the remaining current non-BCS leagues. Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia have history that the western schools don't. The first two have won national championships and Heismans. The Mountaineers have played for a national title. Tradition is a big contributor to any league's gravitas, which is why the Big East won't lose its BCS bid.

Syracuse athletic director Jake Crouthamel sounded a pessimistic note recently about the future of the Big East. When discussing why he felt compelled to pursue following Miami to the ACC, Crouthamel said, "You've got to have strength in your conference to maintain a BCS position, at least, now. Miami was our best shot. They were our only shot."

Syracuse got dressed up for the ball, but its date never came to the door. Crouthamel said that he and Syracuse would do everything possible to keep the bid. He and his university may not have to do much as he fears. For one thing, the other BCS leagues, with antitrust watchdogs sniffing around, will be reluctant to turn even more schools away. For another, the other leagues will have trouble looking Big East commissioner Michael Tranghese in the eye and saying, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

A BCS bid is a self-perpetuating mechanism. As long as the league maintains a BCS bid, the quality of Big East football will rise to match it. The Syracuses and West Virginias can recruit with the promise of contending for a major college bowl game. Again, ask Virginia Tech to attest to the power of the lure of a BCS berth. And ask why Boston College didn't stick around. The road to a major bowl will be a lot shorter in the new Big East.

The whole realignment smacks of the method in which English football leagues get their members. The best teams rise to more competitive leagues. The poorer teams drop to the less competitive leagues. When Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida join the Big East, they will take the heart right out of Conference USA, a name that accurately describes the league's geographical nature.

C-USA loses its southernmost member, South Florida, and its northernmost, Army, which has decided to return to independent status. Coming in are three southwestern schools - Rice, SMU and Tulsa - from the Western Athletic Conference that have a combined record this season of 7-19, and the lack of fan base to show for it. The new C-USA will belong to TCU and Marshall, which brings a recent legacy of success from the Mid-American Conference. The MAC, with its long history of regional rivalries, won't miss Central Florida and Marshall at all.

The league loses the above two schools, South Florida and Army in exchange for Central Florida, Marshall and three fill-out-the-bench teams (Rice, SMU and Tulsa).

The WAC has swiped two schools from the Sun Belt -- New Mexico State and Utah State. There is something slightly Darwinian about this whole process. The strong take from the less strong, which take from the weaker, which take from the weak. The way this process has been going, any day now I expect to see a Division III league invite Concord (Calif.) De La Salle High.

Ivan Maisel is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ivan.maisel@espn3.com.