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Seems like that decision was solely based on basketball. The Big East exists. The football schools had to scramble. It may have turned out the same way, but maybe not.

JoePa Conference c. 1981

Penn State (I)
Florida State (I)
Miami (I)
Pitt (I)
West Virginia (I)
Virginia Tech (I)
Rutgers (I)
USCe (I)

BC (BE)
Syracuse (BE)

UConn (BE)? Temple (I)? Do you want them? Do you need them? Probably not.

Would Maryland (ACC) have jumped? Maybe.

Georgia Tech (ACC)? Probably not.

But even without BC and Cuse, those 8 independents would have made a solid conference that would probably exist today.

For perspective at the time, here are those schools most frequent opponents from WWII to 1980 (1946-1980 football seasons):
Penn State:

• 35 Pitt
• 35 Cuse
• 34 WVU
• 22 Army
• 20 Maryland
• 15 Navy
• 13 NCST
• 12 Temple
• 9 Boston College, Holy Cross, Rutgers

Florida State:

• 25 VaTech
• 23 Florida
• 22 Miami, Fl
• 16 Houston
• 13 Southern Mississippi
• 12 Memphis
• 11 Auburn
• 10 Wake
• 10 NCST
• 9 USCe, MsSt, UGA

Miami, FL:

• 35 Florida
• 24 Florida State
• 16 Pitt
• 14 Bama
• 14 Notre Dame
• 12 Tulane
• 12 Houston
• 10 Boston College, LSU, Maryland

Pitt:

• 35 WVU
• 35 PSU
• 31 Notre Dame
• 26 Cuse
• 21 Navy
• 20 Army
• 16 Miami, FL
• 14 UCLA
• 10 Boston College, Dook

WVU:

• 35 Pitt
• 34 Penn State
• 27 Cuse
• 24 Richmond
• 22 VaTech
• 16 William and Mary
• 16 George Washington
• 14 Maryland
• 13 Virginia
• 12 Kentucky, Temple

VaTech:

• 35 William and Mary
• 34 VMI
• 32 UVA
• 28 Richmond
• 25 Florida State
• 24 Wake
• 22 WVU
• 15 George Washington
• 13 NCST
• 10 Kentucky

Rutgers: 

• 34 Princeton
• 30 Colgate
• 30 Leigh
• 30 Lafayette
• 27 Columbia
• 18 UCONN
• 16 Delaware
• 13 Bucknell
• 10 Holy Cross, Temple

USCe:

• 35 Wake
• 35 Clemson
• 30 Dook
• 24 NCST
• 23 Maryland
• 20 Virginia
• 20 Georgia
• 15 Furman
• 11 Citadel, GaTech

Boston College:

• 34 Holy Cross
• 34 Villanova
• 19 Cuse
• 16 Navy
• 15 UMASS
• 14 Army
• 14 Detroit Mercy
• 10 Tulane, MiamiFL, Pitt

Syracuse:

• 35 PSU
• 27 WVU
• 26 Pitt
• 24 Holy Cross
• 19 Boston College
• 18 Maryland
• 18 Navy
• 16 Colgate
• 14 Boston
• 12 Temple

Another notable within this discussion:
Notre Dame:

• 35 Navy
• 35 USC
• 35 Purdue
• 31 Pitt
• 31 Michigan State
• 20 Iowa
• 18 Northwestern
• 16 North Carolina
• 14 Miami, FL
• 13 GaTech

My thinking is that Notre Dame would have been interested in an Eastern League.  An Eastern League of something like:

• Penn State
• Notre Dame
• Miami, FL
• Florida State
• Syracuse
• Boston College
• South Carolina
• Rutgers
• VaTech
• West Virginia
• Pittsburgh
• Navy

That is a strong league both financially and competitively.  I'm not sure that it would be as strong as the SEC (now without USCe) or the B1G (now without PSU, RU, and probably also UMD) but I think it would at least be strong enough to stay in range.  

I think ND would be interested in that. The only thing I'd change is probably trying to land one of Maryland or Georgia Tech rather than add Navy. And maybe can Rutgers if you could both of those ACC schools.

I get where you are coming from but I wonder if Navy would actually be better for ratings than Maryland/GaTech?  There are a lot of guys who served in the Navy and you also get to visit Annapolis and have them on your campus regularly.  Plus, they are a frequent ND opponent.  

From ND's perspective at the time, this league would include their two of their top-4 most frequent opponents from WWII to 1980 (Navy and Pitt).  They could probably afford to keep the USC rivalry and this league would also keep #9 MiamiFL.  Then they'd only lose Purdue, MSU, Iowa (which was already over by then), NU (same), UNC, and GaTech.  

N-S organization of teams:

• Syracuse
• Boston College
• Rutgers
• Penn State
• Notre Dame 
• Pittsburgh 
• Navy 
• West Virginia 
• VaTech
• South Carolina
• Florida State 
• Miami, FL

Travel costs for non-revenue sports are reasonable as the conference and especially the divisions (1-6 as the N, 7-12 as the S) are not overly large geographically.  

Swapping out Navy for Maryland doesn't change much.  Swapping out Rutgers for GaTech moves Navy to the N and makes travel in the S easier since it is between USCe and the Florida Schools.  

I think GaTech makes a lot more sense today than it would have in 1980.  In 1980 Florida still had less people than Ohio and Georgia was ranked #13 with just 5.5M people.  Also, Atlanta was only the 29th most populous city with just 425k.  

P-1
Bama, LSU, Georgia, Flor, Tenn, Tex, Ok, Clem, ND, Mich,, Ohio St, PSU, USC, Wash, Ore

B-2
UNC, Va, Duke, UConn, Cuse,, MD, ky, Lou, Mem,  Cincy, Mich St,, Ind,  Kan, UCLA,  Ariz

MP-3
Flor St,  Miami, Aub, VT,  TCU, Tex A&M, OkSt, Col, Utah, Stan, Wisc, Neb, Iowa, Ark,  BYU

LP-4
Minn, ILL, Mizzou, Purdue, IowaSt, Pitt, WV,  NCSU, S.Car, GT, ArizSt, Cal, Hou, Ole Miss, UCF, USF

W-5
Wash St, Ore St, SDSU, FresSt, Haw, Boise,, UNLV, Col St, NM, USU,  KanSt, TT

MG-7
NW, Vandy, Wake, BC,  Rut, Temple, Rice, Bay, SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, AFA, Navy, Army,  Liberty

T-8
UTEP, NMSU, SJSU, Wy,, UTSA, NT,  TexSt, LT, LM, LL, ArkSt,  MissSt, USM, USA, Troy

E-9
GaSt, GaSou, FIU, FAU,, AppSt, ECU, Cha, CC, JM, ODU, Mar, WKU, MTSU

MAC-same

this looks like a soccer-type promotion/relegation system, which i always think is so much fun to tinker with.

Could be, but I don't think that's gonna happen.

no chance in hell it happens, but it's fun to think about.

The P1 conference is coming.  It might not happen until the 2040's but it's coming.

I agree.

The Big Ten should trademark BFC as a logo ASAP.

Well we all know who threw geography out the window...