Dana Holgorsen had a very standard press conference this afternoon in that he eschewed Bob Hertzel’s questions, highlighted another lowlight of last season and generally talked up his offense and how the system and the parts work in unison to achieve the success it has thus far experienced. I was told by an emailer that Holgorsen went sans water bottle today. He’s messing with us now, right?

Here’s a recap of the week that was and the week to come:

As for the conference call, it was what we thought it was.

The members voted unanimously to double the exit fee to $10 million and John Marinatto pretty much acknowledged it wasn’t a Herculian deterrent and that he doesn’t know what the “right number” would be. To me, it seems like upgrading your cell phone. When the Big East lost Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami years back, the Big East raised the fee from the rotary phone $1 million to a more modern $5 million. Now it’s Zack Morris is turning in his cell phone for a flip phone.

The conditions were as expected, too. The fee jumps to $10 million as soon as one of the schools the Big East has privately targeted agrees to join. So say, as an example, Navy is invited tomorrow and joins Friday and no one leaves the Big East before then. Every league  member adheres to the $10 million. If Navy is invited tomorrow, Louisville withdraws Thursday and Navy joins Friday, Louisville can head to, say, the Big 12 for just $5 million.

I know I said an extra $5 million isn’t a lot of money, but I wonder if some of these Big East schools many suppose are on the fence, or looking over it, are scurrying right now and trying to save $5 million. I mean, $5 million is a lot of money!

Marinatto wouldn’t name any of the schools the Big East will court, bu the did say there were no offers out at the present. And he reiterated if any one of them joins, then the fee takes effect.

It’s also worth noting that the 27-month exit schedule will not change and that Pitt and Syracuse are stuck with it. Marinatto said the Big East continues to chase a 12-school football conference. If that means playing a season or two with 14 teams, so be it. He also said the ultimate goal is a Big East championship game, ideally in New York City. The only surprise there is that it’s not planned for Providence.

Marinatto repeated that all 14 members voted for the hike and that it was not only a sign of stability, but about as strong a sign as a group in that position could possibly produce. No one has asked out and no other conference has told Marinatto it is interested in one of his football schools. He also said — and I fould this to be sneaky interesting — that the Big East “won’t close the door on future expansion to enhance the prominence of our basketball league.”