psychomatt

June 15th, 2010 at 10:51 PM ^

Hmmmm ... I wonder if Sen. Hatch will continue to threaten Congressional action to eliminate autobids and open up the BCS system equally to all.

OHbornUMfan

June 16th, 2010 at 8:39 AM ^

Senator Hatch is a man dedicated above all else to the principles of fairness, justice, and the rest of the components of The American Way.  Only a cynic would believe that his interest in college football was due to a perceived slight to teams in his state.  It is my belief that, until his last breath, "I'm in, you're in, we're all in for Orrin" will play the role of Robin Hood in protecting the meek against the mighty.  Equality of opportunity is the foundation stone of our nation - all else is sinking sand.  Orrin knows this and will pursue the most equal of equality possible with every fiber of his being.

/hyperbolic s

MGoShoe

June 15th, 2010 at 11:03 PM ^

...else stays the same, these BCS conferences will (in 2011 or 2012) have conference championship games:

  • Big Ten
  • SEC
  • Pac-10
  • ACC

While these BCS conferences won't:

  • Big XII
  • Big East

My take is that even with the less than tectonic shifts in conference realignment that have taken place to date, the Big Ten's decision to explore expansion -- culminating in the addition of Nebraska -- will have far reaching effects for the perception of the conference's relative strength and competitiveness with the other BCS conferences. 

The extra media attention that the Big Ten will receive at the end of November and early December will be significant as the WWL's machine focuses on the race for the conference championship game.  In college football, it's almost as much about perception as it is about on field performance.  Teams from more highly regarded conferences generally get the benefit of the doubt vis-a-vis teams from more lightly regarded conferences with the same record and the Big Ten's top to bottom strength will have multple teams in contention through the last several weekends providing multiple story lines.

The Big Ten has positive buzz and the BTN is now recognized as the model for conference revenue generation.  The conference's staid and stolid image is now for all intents and purposes a thing of the past.  And that change in perception can only help Michigan which has already undergone its own football revolution since RichRod's hire. 

Just in time for the inaugural Big Ten Championship game, Michigan will be poised to regain its historic place among the college football elite in 2011.

MGoShoe

June 15th, 2010 at 11:18 PM ^

...defection makes that dream a pipe dream.  See Brian's take on that here.

The Mountain West. The addition of Boise State brought the upstart league this close to the automatic BCS bid that had the potential to catapult them into revenue parity with the Big East. Losing its flagship school will have them right where they were before the year started: close, but not close enough.

B

June 16th, 2010 at 12:32 AM ^

This is a bummer for the MWC.  Utah is a more complete member of the MWC than Boise St.  This is status quo at best, but probably a step down.  I also don't know who the natural replacement would be.  Maybe Houston?

Plegerize

June 16th, 2010 at 8:12 AM ^

This'll bring the Pac10 to 12 teams and the Mountain West will see all its hopes and dreams shattered.

Unfortunate but I could see TCU and BYU finding another home if offered and then you are stuck with Boise St being the only mid-major power in that conference again. Who knows at that point whether the WAC and MWC decide to merge again or not, it might be in their best interest and I could see it happening. Might be their only chance at a BCS bid. That's the only Superconference I could see forming in the coming years too.

So you would have two divisions in the Pac10 divided based on geography:

East/Desert - Utah, Colorado, Arizona, ASU, USC, UCLA

West/Pacific - Stanford, Cal, Oregon, OSU, Washington, WSU