A lot of thins are answered and many more still need to be resolved, but the Mountaineers insist they’ll be in the Big 12 Conference July 1.

The Big East begs to differ, though, to be fair, the conference hadn’t exactly heard from WVU late last week, even as WVU said its people were working with the Big East’s people to get out of the 27-month deal. Maybe that’s changed. Whatever the case, I suspect Pitt and Syracuse are far further down the road out of the Big East and that WVU has been paying attention.

If it does happen, the Mountaineers have some things to work out to make it work.

The Big 12 says WVU will be in — this is where the college football CEO could really help by sitting with the respective commissioners and arranging a settlement — and that means the conference schedule could be shuffled.

There’s a theory out there WVU will simply assume Missouri’s Big 12 schedule. Missouri has nonconference games Sept. 8, 15 and 22 and plays host to Oklahoma Sept. 29. WVU would absolutely love to have its first Big 12 game at home against the Sooners, the only Big 12 team with which it has any real history.

There are still some problems with simply dropping WVU in Missouri’s spot. Most notable is assuming Texas Christian can simply take Texas A&M’s spot, which would mean WVU playing host to the Horned Frogs in 2012. Then there’s the neutral-site game against Kansas that Kansas City rather likes. I’d have to think would become a fifth home game for WVU.

So it’s five at home and four on the road in that model. WVU then has three nonconference dates and woudl prefer to get at least two home games out of that. Remember, WVU is paying a $5 million exit fee and will pay a multiple of that (I say roughly four times that) to get out ASAP. So, ideally, WVU would have seven home games, which means making two of those three nonconference dates home games.

The money would be nice. It might not happen.

WVU has signed game contracts for home games against Marshall and Maryland, the game against JMU at FedEx Field and a game at Florida State — ironically, that’s a home-and-home series created by the Big East’s lawsuit against the ACC after the ACC acquired Boston College, Virignia Tech and Miami.

The buyout in the Marshall contract is $300,000. That’s low and that’s not great news for Marshall, which would be screwed as it tried to find a game this late. Games like Maryland have a buyout at or around $500,000. Florida State is similar and, fortunately for WVU, the Big East has no contractual attachment to the game, ie. the Big East and the ACC don’t own the game and therefore don’t control the buyout power, which would be thorny as it relates to WVU. The buyout for the FedEx game is, I’m told, “huge” and not a part of the thought process at this early juncture.

So you’re likely looking at losing the Florida State or Maryland game. Believe the Big 12 would be interested in seeing WVU play and beat Florida State. That would be a televised game and a nice showcase for the the Big 12 and its new member. Maryland, though, is a home game. It’s got income. It’s critical for recruiting.

Then again, Missouri’s nonconference schedule has dates for Sept. 1, 8, 15 and 22. WVU is scheduled to play host to Marshall Sept. 1, play at Florida State Sept. 8 and play JMU Sept. 15.

Sept. 22 and 29 are open and presumably reserved for Maryland  … which, ahem Marshall, has an opening right now for Sept. 1.

I mention that because if WVU plays Maryland, Florida State, JMU, that’s three games, a break and then Oklahoma Sept. 29. WVU would save $200,000 and not engage in the largest buyouts. And a season-opener against Maryland isn’t bad and a six-game home schedule with Maryland, Oklahoma, Kansas State, TCU, Baylor and Kansas.

There are other ways around this, like playing Maryland at FedEx and buying out JMU. WVU is also going to get calls from others inside and outside of the Big East to get an idea what might happen and WVU could, in theory, hand off a game like Maryland or Marshall or even Florida State and maybe remove, or at least lighten, the buyout.Think Cincinnati and Whit Babcock would take the Seminoles off WVU’s hands?

Yet even when this season is resolved, WVU has more issues in the years to come with series against Maryland, Florida State, Michigan State and East Carolina. Single-game buyouts would be multiplied for the length of the contract, so a $500,000 buyout in the ECU contract would be for $3 million since it’s a six-game contract. WVU could keep some or all of those and change its philosophy and just cut the FCS teams, but those are income games and guaranteed wins when guaranteed wins will become more valuable.