According to the ESPN Big East Blog, the Big East offices broke silence this afternoon to issue the following statement about Villanova football:

The Big East Conference and Villanova University have worked closely with each other over the past several months regarding potential football membership," Marinatto said in the statement. "We will continue with our due diligence process and work with Villanova to continue to share relevant information and materials. The Big East Conference obviously very much values its long-standing relationship with Villanova and we are committed to continuing to work with them on this matter in an open and forthright manner. Until there is additional information to report, the conference plans no further comment.

According to an article by Dick Weiss that came out today, accepting Villanova as a football member requires a 75% vote of the football members. In other words, the support of six members is a MUST to get an upgrade plan approved. That also means that at least three Big East football schools were not convinced during yesterday's phone conference.

Discussions will be ongoing, and Villanova will attempt to collect and provide whatever additional information that the football schools have requested.