Pac Ten Expanding?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/342268-rumor-utah-and-colorado-to-th…
Rumor out on the radio that the Pac-10 might be expanding with Utah and Colorado.
Not sure how you get Utah without BYU, and it's probably bunk...but interesting.
February 9th, 2010 at 2:05 PM ^
Losing Colorado to the Pac10, does that mean the Big12 could be losing Missouri already to the Big10, meaning the Big12 is contracting to the new BigTen and the old BigTen is the new Big12?
CONSPIRACY!!!1!
[/bleacher-report-is-what-the-internets-are-for]
More plausible is the rumor about the PAC10 Network
February 9th, 2010 at 2:15 PM ^
Bleacher Report...Argh!
February 9th, 2010 at 2:17 PM ^
But I heard it on Karsh and Anderson on the radio. But they may have gotten it from Bleacher Report...soooo.....
February 9th, 2010 at 2:44 PM ^
It's learning...
February 9th, 2010 at 2:35 PM ^
I believe the Big Ten and now the Pac Ten are considering expansion an addition of a conference championship game, because they are quietly positioning for a BCS National Championship Playoff system just in case they are forced into it.
(Which brings up a scenario: if the BCS based playoff system starts with BCS conference champions - then ND has to join a conference ...)
February 9th, 2010 at 4:04 PM ^
If we do get a playoff, I'd like to see the conference championship games be abolished. And in fact, I'd go back to 11 regular-season games. There is a legitimate concern regarding the number of games we can realistically ask the players to go through. We've made the regular season 12 games long, added a 13th for conference title games, and if we have a playoff there'll be what, three or four more rounds to the championship? It's going to be a battle of attrition - and unlike the NFL, teams can't fill gaps with midseason free agent signings.
(The standard counter-argument is that the lower divisions play a lot of games as it is, and they get by. True, but I don't think small-school football is anywhere near as hard-hitting as elite I-A football.)
February 9th, 2010 at 2:36 PM ^
it would be in their best interest to pick up Boise (I know the geographical location is great) and TCU. Then we can have the Battle of the Big 12's.
February 9th, 2010 at 2:48 PM ^
Boise doesn't add enough academically or athletically. They'd be better off with Houston, Tulsa, Southern Methodist, Arkansas, or stretching east, maybe Southern Miss or Memphis.
Arkansas would probably be tough to draw back into the old SWC. Maybe not. Houston or Tulsa aren't bad pick ups. Southern Methodist hasn't quite come back to life enough to know if it's lasting.
The two schools east are meh pickups, but Memphis would probably be a solid pick up just for basketball.
February 9th, 2010 at 7:24 PM ^
Perhaps TCU and BYU?
February 9th, 2010 at 2:40 PM ^
Didn't BR 'break' the Pitt to the Big Ten story?
February 9th, 2010 at 2:42 PM ^
I doubt it would ever happen, but it would be great to see Boise State in the Pac 10. Maybe they could do it just for football. BSU plays at a high level and it would be nice to see if they could continue to compete at that level in a tougher conference. Many people say that BSU is not great or wouldn't survive against the ESS EEE SEE or the Big 12 but no one will play them. BSU even offered to only play one game against anyone last year and said that they wouldn't try to get a home and home and still no one wanted to play them. With Carroll gone from USC I think the Pac 10 is wide open.
February 9th, 2010 at 2:51 PM ^
Wake me when the story actually makes the news. BR=BS.
February 9th, 2010 at 3:07 PM ^
I would love to see the Big Ten add Nebraska, Notre Dame in the west and Pitt in the east. With 14 teams you could make 2 very geographically strong divisions.
East
Penn State
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Indiana
Pitt
Purdue
West
Nebraska
Iowa
Illinois
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Not going to happen because Notre Dame won't walk away from the NBC deal.
February 9th, 2010 at 3:24 PM ^
I read an old cnnsi article that purposed an interesting shift in the confrences.(published a year or two before the big ten started looking)
Big Ten-Add Missouri
Big 12 -Add TCU
Pac 10- Add Utah and Boise St.
This would give the BCS busters an opportunity to be in a BCS conf. And would give the Big ten and Pac 10 Championship games. If colorado and missouri leave, the Big 12 could add TCU and maybe Utah. I personally would love to see Iowa leave the Big Ten for the Big 12 then the big ten could pick up Missouri and Pitt.
February 9th, 2010 at 4:56 PM ^
Pac 10 was said to not be interested in BYU primarily because of it's religious affiliation (LDS). None of the other schools have any religious ties.
Boise is not really a suitable candidate for any conference. Outside of the last few 5 years in football (in fairness they made bowls almost annually throughout the 2000s), they haven't done much athletically. IIRC they only joined D-1 sports in 96. They won a D-1AA NC I believe in 1980. That's it. In bball, they've made the tourney 5 times, and have yet to win a game. None of their other athletics have done anything of not.
We talk about academics with Big 10 schools, and sometimes we rag on MSU, but Boise State if I recall is something like a tier 3 master's program school. They don't even offer doctoral programs, which almost all the good universities (outside liberal arts colleges) do.
February 9th, 2010 at 6:10 PM ^
I don't think religious affiliations make much of a difference. See: Baylor in the Big12. Sports revenue and academics are key. BYU brings a solid level of both to the table.
February 9th, 2010 at 6:28 PM ^
I agree with you, that religious affiliations shouldn't make much of a difference. Big 10 would jump at the chance if ND decided they wanted to join, regardless of their religious affiliation.
However, in this case I believe the Pac-10 isn't enthralled with associating with such a religiously oriented school, as per comments that Tom Hansen, the ex-commissioner of the Pac-10 made a couple of years ago. Hansen also specifically said that BYU's academics were a major impediment, as it was not a major research institution as the other schools and was mostly focused on undergraduate education (his words, not mine). What he basically means, is that BYU doesn't offer doctorate degrees like most other prominent universities, and in his eyes, makes it inferior academically.
February 9th, 2010 at 7:46 PM ^
I'd love to see the religious discrimination suit if they turned down a school joining on religious affiliation. If there's any evidence to that would back up the claim that that's the reason they don't want them.
February 9th, 2010 at 8:34 PM ^
FWIW The religious affiliation could be a bigger concern in this case for a few reasons:
- Every school in the Pac-10 needs to approve a school in order for it to join. Or, any one single member school can effectively veto extending membership to a school it doesn't want.
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the religion to which BYU is affiliated, was one of primary supporters of Proposition 8
- Cal is an extremely liberal college located in possibly the most liberal city in the country. A lot of people there are unhappy that Prop 8 passed.
February 9th, 2010 at 5:48 PM ^
This link doesn't say anything about potential new members - just that the Pac-10 will decide soon whether or not to consider expansion.
February 9th, 2010 at 6:23 PM ^
Why doesn't Fresno State join the Pac 10?
February 9th, 2010 at 7:07 PM ^
It's not a good enough school academically.
February 9th, 2010 at 8:39 PM ^
The PAC-Ten is a very good conference academically. A lot of the mid-majors in that area are pretty inferior, especially Boise State. Excellent football program... its academics are preventing it from making the next step.
February 10th, 2010 at 8:12 AM ^
The Pac-10 is probably the only conference out there that legitimately does NOT need a championship game. 9 conference games, full round robin, no controversy.
Also, there are few conferences that have been as dominant in non-revenue sports as the Pac-10, so it's not like they haven't been able to compete across the board with everybody else at 10 teams. If it's a financial consideration, that's one thing, but I don't see the Pac-10 adding 2 schools (and it would have to be 2) just to add 2 schools.