OT: texas to join pac 12.

If we added ND, there may not be too many who are stellar football schools, but possibilities:

Virginia or Virginia Tech.

Boston College would be an interesting addition to have a rival Catholic school to ND.

UNC or Duke would be an interesting addition, but no way would we be able to grab one without the other.

Maryland might be another possibility.

Rutgers or Baylor are the only others that I could really imagine, strictly from an academic perspective.

Penn State and Nebraska have been significant additions to the conference. It doesn't appear that there are 4 schools out there that would add enough in academics, athletics, and tv markets that also are a decent geographic/cultural fit.

I think ND, Missouri, and Pittsburgh would all be decent additions. I would add Missouri if ND is forced to join a conference and settle at 14. Texas, Oklahoma, and Pitt all seem to be off the table now and some combination of Kansas, Rutgers, Iowa State, Maryland, etc does not seem worth moving up to 16.

Lakes: Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame

Plains: Northwestern, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska

the B1G would have legit interest in, the options are pretty small.  I think the fact that PITT appears headed to the ACC is also indicative of ACC knowledge that something is awry in ACC country -- meaning a current member or two may be headed to the B1G. 

Of the schools B1G might consider (in probable order):  1 and 1A Texas/ND, 3. Virginia. 4. Maryland. 5. Georgia Tech 6. Boston College  7. Mizzou.  All save Georgia Tech and Texas are geographically sound choices (particularly if Maryland and Virginia became members at same time).  All of these schools would fit academically, unlike some other basement dwelling academic schools like Oklahoma, OKState, Kentucky and so on.  

If expansion is going to happen for B1G right now, it's probably b/c ND is on board.  I do think that the B1G is probably (albeit quietly) leading the recent rumors by talks with ND, Texas and some ACC schools, which is causing ripple effects in ACC adding PITT and 'Cuse. 

I look for B1G to add a combination of ND up to three others in the next 6-8 months.  Clearly UT is desireable, and it would probably like to join, if "doable" with ESPN's tv package.  ESPN probably calls the decision there.  If UT joins, would B1G invite Mizzou to head closer to UT geographically and add the KC/St Louis market or would it head east to the DC/NY markets?  Frankly, I don't see Rutgers, UConn etc. as viable candidates over the other schools listed. 

My vote:  ND, TX, Virginia, and Vandy.  More likely:  ND, TX, Maryland, BC.

I know. They say they are not going anywhere.  But look the situation they are getting into here.  The Big East, where they play all other sports is in trouble.  With Pitt and Syracuse gone they are down to 6 teams for football.  The SEC is going to add another team to balance adding A&M.  West Virginia is very a strong possibility there.  It sounds like uconn is desperate to get in the ACC (one wonders if Rutgers goes with uconn to get the ACC to 16, unless we take them.)  The Big East is dead as a football conference and damaged severely from a basketball perspective.  They will no longer have a BSC auto bid unless they can somehow add 4 or more teams. 

Also, it looks like the Big 12 is dead with Baylor, K-State, Kansas, Iowa State and Missouri left hanging.  Their BSC auto bid also looks gone.  I am almost assuming that we will add Missouri at this point and therefore need another team to get to 14.

So it looks like we will have the SEC, ACC, Pac 12 and maybe the Big 10 with more than 12 teams.  All these conferences are going to go to 9 game conference schedules.  Do the teams in these conferences really want to play Notre Dame every year along with their 9 game conference schedule?  I don’t think we know the answer to this but I assume Notre Dame must be worried about it.

If we look at Notre Dame’s schedule they have the following teams soon to be part of mega-conferences:

• Michigan
• Michigan State
• Purdue
• USC
• Stanford
• Pitt
• Wake Forest
• Maryland
• Boston College

That is 9 of 12. Several of these teams are going to see their TV money go up. Additionally their main goal has to be to get to their conference championship game. Why play Notre Dame?  It does not really help you.   If even half these teams come to this conclusion it does not take much for Notre Dame to have difficulty filling out a decent schedule that does not include conference USA and the mountain west.

It also seems like any of these super conferences are more interesting to NBC in the long run than continuing the Notre Dame Deal.  You also have to wonder why the super conferences, which will control that BCS, have any interest in a tie in for Notre Dame. 

On top of all this the current home for all of Notre Dames other sports is unstable at best.  With all this going on can Notre Dame really just put their head in the sand and stay independent? 

Let's see it actually happen before we all jump off the cliff.  Texas is a major prima-donna, and going to the Pac-16 means they will have to deal with "big" programs like USC and Oregon as well, who won't feel the need to cow-tow to UT's demands like most of the Big 12 teams.  

I'm still waiting for BSU and BYU to join the Pac-whatever.  They are an obvious geographical fit.  ND to the B1G should be done soon.  I'm still trying to figure out who the other teams will be.  Kansas, KSU, ISU, and Mizzou are a pretty nice smorgasboard from which to choose.  

It's great asking elite teams and all that, but a conference has to have a balance of elite teams and tomato cans for an optimal chance at winning the National Championship.  At least, if playoffs are done with conference champions, someone will make it out of even the toughest conference.  

One thing I don't understand about these 16-team conferences is how this affects football schedules.  If you have two eight team divisions, a team will probably play nine conference games.  That gives you seven games in a round robin format with two games to play teams in the other division.  If one of those games is a protected rivaly, you end up playing the other schools from that division once every seven years at best.  That just makes no sense to me.

If Texas and three other schools go to the Pac-Something, I'll tell you what makes way too much sense as a next step: the remaining Big 12 schools merge with the Mountain West and pick up TCU to make a 16-team conference.  The math works perfectly since as of now the MWC is scheduled to be a 10-team conference next year minus TCU.  Add the five Big 12 leftovers to the MWC and have them retain TCU since the Big East no longer makes any sense as a football destination, and you have a conference that can hang on to BCS affiliation.  The MWC schools ought to be delighted about a merger like that since obtaining BCS affiliation has been their singular purpose for a while now.

The linked blog gives some explanation for why the PAC 10 is going after Big 12 teams:



http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/the-geography-of-college-foo...

anybody?  Atlanta and GA have many disgrunted SEC and ACC fans.  Good school in a big market I would like to see get killed in BIG 10 play in perpetua and loosen vice grip of SEC on the south with respect to recruiting and brand.  See also Florida State.