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it's an okay B1G, but I'd rather trade Rutgers for Syracuse still
I would prefer Texas and Oklahoma for Big Ten additions, but ND and Oklahoma wouldn't be bad, either.
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How strict is the requirmenet? I always thought the BIG would always take ND if ND would accept. However, ND may think about it if they are put in a division like that. They would honestly be in the BIG championship 5-6/10 times.
It's not that strict since Nebraska is not an AAU member.
Nebraska lost membership after joining the Big Ten. If they had lost it before, they would not have been allowed in.
The warning signs of Nebraska's ouster from the AAU was there when they were admitted to the B1G. Nebraska was nearly kicked out in 2000 despite being one of the earliest members. The B1G knew about this, so I contend the requirement is not that strict.
Plus, Nebraska officially joined the B1G AFTER they were removed from the AAU. There was nearly a year that the B1G could have said GTFO.
The vote among Big Ten schools to invite Nebraska was unanimous, but two Big Ten schools, Wisconsin and Michigan, were among the schools who voted in favor of kicking Nebraska out of the AAU. So at least Michigan and Wisconsin don't consider the requirement to be all that strict.
"All the Big Ten schools are AAU members. I doubt that our application would've been accepted had we not been a member of the organization."
- Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman
"AAU membership is a part of who we are. It’s an important part of who we are."
-Jim Delany
Nebraska isn't in the AAU, though, and hasn't been since 2011. I'm not sure that this is a hard requirement.
Some of the initial thoughts were interesting--focusing on a conference's own region instead of others, stuff like that--but he totally lost me with how he actually worked all of this out.
The short version: his proposal is to re-align a couple of geographically mismatched teams, throw ND into the B1G, and add a bunch of lesser schools to all of the conferences to reach 16 for each. So, for example, Cincinnatti becomes a Big Ten school, UNLV joins the Pac 12, and Memphis joins the SEC. That sort of thing.
So his new alignment is the worst of all worlds. He wants to keep the playoff at four (so do I) but he adds teams to conferences to get to two 8-team divisions for each (hey, Michigan will play in Minnesota once every 10 years, works great for me) and keeps the awkward 5-conference arrangement. While basically destroying the fabric of the sport anyway.
So it's actually really, really stupid.
If we are going to completely reshape the landscape of college football, at least do it in a way that fixes the problems that we have. A 4-team playoff keeps the tension high in the regular season, but the existence of five conferences (plus a couple of independents) means that it has an inherent problem every year. The idea of blowing everything up and not fixing this is absurd.
As long as we are blowing up conferences and adopting 8-team divisions (that are basically mini-conferences in themselves) we might as well make the conference championship games a de-facto quarterfinal round and eliminate a conference. The Big 12's issues suggest to me that they might be the best choice for the chopping block (make a Pac 12 East division with some of the Texas teams, but bump Texas & Oklahoma to the B1G west, etc) but YMMV. Adding mediocre teams that can't compete with the big boys is a terrible idea.
It's probably better not to treat it as such. He at least seems to accept that we are not heading towards that scenario.
One thing I am sure of is that we will never see something so neat. Four 16 team superconferences with each conference championship serving as a first round playoff game is just a fantasy that writers like to indulge in. The political ramifications of shutting schools out of the playoff process won't be ignored by the other schools or the NCAA.
That's true. It's why most people think an 8-team playoff, however problematic it may be, is a logical end-game.
My general position is that an 8-team playoff is ok if they give the Power 5 autobids and one autobid to the best team out of a lower conference, leaving only two at-large spots for whichever SEC team lost to Alabama and someone else that might be Notre Dame.
The reason I favor this is that it continues to preserve most of the intensity of the regular season games in conference. Huge in-conference rivalries remain huge because a loss can still wreck the season. It dilutes things a bit, since a team like OSU last season still probably gets in, but a lot of things remain the same.
Puts them in the ACC which restores all the classic rivalries and gets them out of the Big Ten. Trade for Va Tech since this is the Fantasy Conference game.
I would be willing to trade/jettison penn state for a bag of magic beans.
or just a bean. Aw, heck, I'd do it for free.
At this point I'm cool with sending PSU to the ACC if we can get ND, Cincy (gotta get a second B1G team in Ohio), and Iowa State.
How could they separate a rival like Illinois from our division? At least we still have Rutgers.
In the ACC and the Big 12 we certainly have our two likeliest candidates for dissolution. My guess is that the Big 12 is more vulnerable; the ACC has more desirable targets, but also has a more cohesive conference culture that crosses to other sports. The Big 12 has two big shots in football, and the whole edifice crumbles if they decide the grass is greener somewhere else. And rumors suggest that has come close to happening before.
So, simply from a standpoint of probable scenarios, it seems more likely to me that the Big 12 gets put to the sword first. The talk about expansion smacks of desperation, and it appears that it is not going over well with every party. And who would they pull? Unless a big boy like Florida State defects (plausible) they will not enhance the conference's football standing in any way other than raw numbers, and they've already made desperation plays for schools like WVU that don't really fit.
The ACC has its own challenges, but it has a basketball locus that at least has some influence, attractive markets like Boston, and a deal with Notre Dame that at least brings some benefit. And with football driving the expansion train, the only tempting targets are FSU (who could be gettable) and Clemson (of whom I have heard no movement talk at all).
If a conference reduction is to occur, that means that other conferences are going to grow by necessity. The Big Ten and/or the SEC are going to lead the charge if that is ever to occur.
The Big Ten doesn't want Clemson or Florida State. Schools like Duke and Ga Tech (we used to be able to throw UNC in here, too) are good academic and department fits, but they aren't football powers. The Big Ten's natural final two are Notre Dame... and Texas.
That even being a remote possibility was a fantasy of theirs. They've got no shot at any current power 5 school. The Big XII is still incredibly fragile. If either Texas or Oklahome leave, the other will too. They will always have good options. The SEC would love to have OU. I could see Texas to the Big Ten happening. ESPN would probably love to buy out their LHN contract so the finances would work for all parties.
Those departures would leave the other members scrambling for new homes. I think the ACC or Big Ten might take Kansas. The SEC would take one more and the rest would end up resembling the old Big East. They would try to cobble together replacements like Boise to cling to Power 5 status.
I don't see how anyone leaves the ACC with their media grants clause that runs for another ten years. Maybe if it was an amicable parting offset by another move. The Big Ten offering to trade PSU for Pitt is my fantasy.
well 4 of them were flirting with pac-12 not long ago, so that's possible. Problem is with expanding to 14 with the utterly despised addition of rutgers and maryland, we have no realistic possibility of offering the same. Oklahoma may 'settle' for the pac-12 to keep rivalries with ok st and texas, because there's room for them all. I honestly don't think the BiG or SEC would take both oklahoma teams, unless texas included...and there's no room. But perhaps oklahoma would settle for keeping just 1 rival in order to join a richer conference. So the only likelihood i see is oklahoma and then texas follows to reach 16 in BiG/SEC, or 4 teams to Pac-12
i can't see nd+texas because either texas will follow oklahoma or oklahoma won't be going anywhere without them. It's not all about what we want. They're more joined at the hip than the a&m rivalry and nd has things all ways possible with the acc
I doubt very much the OU rivalry will be a dealbreaker. Nor would it be for OU. It's possible that Texas could be guaranteed a lot more money, but only by the Big Ten or the SEC. The PAC-12 deal fell through because of money and the situation has changed where the gap between what the Big Ten/SEC earn vs the other conferences has widened. The LHN will be much less of a stumbling block than it was then.
I think the Big Ten would take Texas and/or Oklahoma. They're not taking OK St. The Big Ten turned down the two Oklahoma schools as a package last time the Big XII was in trouble. I don't believe the SEC would take them either. OU can go where they want, but only the PAC 12 looks likely to accept the Cowboys.
they will be 'raided' as in 3 teams - oklohoma, ok st, texas - will be taken quickly, maybe 1 more like west virginia for balance. I certainly can't see the kansas teams finding a spot for football, or iowa st, or the newcomers. Those are all dying parts of the country or have no fanbase to speak of. That's one reason that have conference needs to die. Half the teams are totally undesirable to the other conferences
The best parts about that entire story was the video of that QB tossing one into a trash can on the field from the top row, and the lone goose looking for water on Boise State's blue field. Other than that, he wasted his time dreaming up that story...
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Cincy has strong grad programs. It's undergrad programs leave much to be desired, but we could do way worse.
That would be like adding Georgia Tech to compete with UGA. Tech gets a cutesy win every once in a while but is vastly overshadowed by UGA. Cinci would be the same in Ohio.
Yeah, I'd rather have Pitt.
I see I was not the first to make this comment, and so I neg myself twice.
Exchange Pitt for Cincinatti and it's good.
Cincy is necessary to bring OSU down a peg via an intra-conference instate rival.
Kick PSU out and bring Iowa State, or Syracuse, or Boston College in.
At this point, I'd trade Penn St for Pitt.
Just to see MSU fans lose it when Narduzzi's Pitt starts beating Dantonio's MSU and he declines their offer once Dantonio retires.
You can't possibly be serious. Iowa State and Cincy? Open the window, and throw the crack pipe out. Those schools do nothing for prestige factor, nor do they add to our TV foot print. According to your plan, we may as well take Eastern Michigan as well.
I would love to see us swap Pitt for PSU. Then add Va and GT. If you want to take 2 schools from the same state, Va and VT or Duke and UNC.
For a twenty team conference consisting of 4 pods of 5 teams. The aforementioned swap of PItt for PSU. Then add Va, Duke or UNC, GT, Texas, Okie, and ND. If ND doesnt want to join, throw FSU a chance provided they continue working on AAU. They sound better than BC.
Pod 1 Michigan, Sparty, TUOS, ND, and Rutgers
Pod 2 Texas, Okie, Neb, Iowa, Wiscy
However you wish to place the other 10 in remaining 2 pods.
Thought train is each of the 2 main pods get a good recruiting state. Texas a bit better than either Ohio or NJ. With swapping pods thru every 3 yrs, 2 of those 3 yrs will give an easier slate.
The TV footprint won't mean a thing once streaming services replace traditional cable tv.
Cincy was about giving OSU an intraconference instate rival.
Iowa State is weak, but I'd rather have them than PSU after you keep hearing about Joe Pa's enabling of a child molester for decades.
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For that, I'm willing to lower our standards.
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I think it would be awesome, and it would bring in a good rival for MSU.