MGoPoll: Do YOU want to see Maryland in the B1G?

Submitted by Mr. Yost on

I apologize if there is a real "poll" feature that I've overlooked. I'll just count the answers instead.

I've been going back and forth so I've been wondering what MGoUsers think.

We don't know about Rutgers or Georgia Tech or Chicago or whoever else is rumored...so I'll leave this to JUST Maryland.

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Plan and simple. Yes, No, or Don't Care. Do you WANT to see Maryland in the B1G Conference?

---Yes

---No

---Don't Care

Lost in Champaign

November 18th, 2012 at 9:35 PM ^

Absolutely not. But if the country is trending toward 14-16 team superconferences and the B1G is forced to expand again, I have a hard time seeing us getting any significantly better schools.

Michiganguy19

November 18th, 2012 at 9:41 PM ^

Maryland brings in DC area, Rutgers gets us Philly/NYC. This is like RISK, the game isnt always pretty but this is probably a winning strategy. Hurts ACC and ND, closes off the northeast. Leaves the Big12 as the home for the daughters of the poor... whatever that OSU guy says... real though. There is no magic formula to get ND into the Big Ten happily with say North Carolina...

huge

November 18th, 2012 at 9:41 PM ^

Yes.  If we have to expand I would rather be playing schools to the east like Rutgers & MD than schools to the west, like Kansas, Missouri, etc. 

MGlobules

November 18th, 2012 at 9:47 PM ^

inevitable--yes. Yes to Rutgers, too. I'm a little surprised that people here can't look toward the future and beyond football, to the potential these two schools bring and the expanded footprint. And they're not crazy geographic outliers, as we have seen with other conferences. 

But it's true that the B1G, if this comes off, is no longer about the midwest. But hey, we used to play Yale and Harvard, right? 

UMRecruitingFannatic

November 18th, 2012 at 10:25 PM ^

Oh, you're a little surprised that people here can't look toward the future?  Maybe you should go hang out with the Big East, they've done the best job "expanding their geographic footprint"... whatever the *&^%$*( that means.  Oh wonderful, they're not "geographic outliers".  Congratu-fuck-ulations.  Neither is Eastern Michigan.  Your argument is fuckin' cyclical!  You want a bigger geographic footprint, but don't want outliers... but apparently don't give a shit who the Big Tean actually takes?  Hmmmm, Western Kentucky would fit that bill, as would Marshall, or hell, Old Dominion is turning D1 soon. 

I'm drunk and going to bed.  Screw this conference's "leadership".  I hope someone throws a shoe at them when they announce this garbage.

Dezzy

November 18th, 2012 at 10:12 PM ^

Traveling out to Byrd Stadium and the Comcast Center for games doesn't sound too enticing.  Extra travel for the non-revenue sports also seems like a bad idea, especially for western schools like Iowa and Nebraska.

jmblue

November 18th, 2012 at 10:15 PM ^

If we were still looking for a 12th team, I'd be fine with it.  I don't have a problem with Maryland so much as with us expanding beyond 12 teams.  Schedules are going to be more and more unbalanced and we're hardly ever going to play teams in the other division.

BlueHills

November 18th, 2012 at 10:25 PM ^

Yes.

Michigan has a history of playing Eastern teams, including Harvard and Yale back when they were powers in the 20s and 30s. It's one of the things that brought national attention to the University. And it started a wave of students coming to Michigan from places like New York that only made the student body better, more interesting and diverse.

Why shouldn't Michigan and other B1G teams get more Eastern exposure and be able to recruit more easily there?

Why should ND lay claim to being the only "national" program? Why shouldn't Michigan and other B1G teams be able to play and promote their programs in the East? 

The idea that teams like Rutgers and Maryland aren't strong programs now is certainly true. But who knows what happens a decade or two out? 

Might even be fun.

Sure, adding a school like Oklahoma would be more impressive for football, but unfortunately, they bring OK State and neither school is on Maryland or Rutgers' academic level. There really isn't any football power that would be realistic for B1G membership. So other considerations have to be weighed, assuming that conference expansion is the future.

CrabCakes_and_…

November 18th, 2012 at 10:27 PM ^

Sorry for the length. Long-time lurker here. Two things that I have seen missing from the debate: Maryland's place in the ACC and the compressed geography of the East Coast.

UMD is a charter member of the ACC but has no natural rival, in or out of the ACC. West Virginia has Pitt. Virginia has Virginia Tech. UNC has Duke. Maryland basketball has been succesfull enough to create rivalries with UNC and Duke but will always be secondary because of geography.

I think Rutgers, Penn State and Maryland could create a nice triangle rivalry if they are in the same conference. PSU alums are all over the DC area. Tons of UMD students are from NY/New Jersey, and alums from all three schools are all over NYC. There are also quite a few Ohioans at UMD because of the proximity to D.C. So if you start to think of an east division taking shape there are some interesting storylines. Columbus is only about a 6 hour drive from College Park.

I'm a transplanted Midwesterner living in Maryland and I can't overstate how significant the compressed geography is for attending football games. The only time I can usually see UM play is when they visit Happy Valley. I can't wait to go up to Connecticut next year. I'm sure many of the east coast alums from all of the B1G schools feel the same way. People from as far as New York and maybe even Boston will be willing to make the drive to College Park once a year, and anyone from Virignia to Boston will have no problem getting to Rutgers. This will improve football attendance at both schools, and help foster a better tailgating atmosphere.

The Virginia-Maryland-New Jersey-New York region really is becoming a recruiting hotbed and right now it's nobody's backyard. VaTech is a coaching change from irrelevance. UVA is too small and elitist to control any recruiting territory. If Maryland and Rutgers join the B1G either those two schools will build up recruiting territory and become consistently good football teams, or the B1G will have an easy pipeline to tap. Either way, the conference is better off.

snarling wolverine

November 18th, 2012 at 10:56 PM ^

That's a good point about the PSU-MD-RU trio.  I know PSU has felt like an odd man out (and never got into the Land Grant rivalry) so this would help them a lot.  I can definitely see an upside to this.  My main problem is just that I don't like having a 14-team conference.  I feel that's too many teams.

 

B-Nut-GoBlue

November 18th, 2012 at 11:40 PM ^

Very good post.  Many will probably disagree with you on the sole principle of not wanting more teams, but again you make some valid points that I think are very real and being discussed at the "higher" levels.  We shall see in the coming years what happens with all of this; all speculation right now.

Also a neat point, one many don't probably realize, about Va. Tech being a coaching change from basically being a Virginia or even Duke.

G-Man

November 18th, 2012 at 10:31 PM ^

No.

I don't want a 14-team conference where we play Wisconsin and Penn State less in order to play Rutgers and Maryland more.

Also, cable companies pay the rights fees for BTN because their customers want to see UM-OSU football games and MSU-IU basketball games.  Nobody's paying to see Maryland-Rutgers matchups.  When do we go from bringing the B1G product to new markets to adopting the Big East and ACC product?

AMazinBlue

November 18th, 2012 at 10:55 PM ^

The conference will be weaker as a whole and Rutgers will come too and neither provides one lick of football validity that would improve the rep of the B1G.  We will move closer to third or fourth in terms of football power if Maryland and Rutgers come.  If we could have gotten ND and Missouri I would be more OK with it, except I hate ND.  ND would addto the academic excellence of the conference.

Maryland and Rutgers are worthless to add. And a 14-team conference is so hard to schedule in football and basketball.  We would have to go to a 9-game conference schedule.

Besides Maryland comes up with the ugliest uniforms ever!

StephenRKass

November 18th, 2012 at 11:00 PM ^

I don't like the idea of adding teams further out of the traditional footprint. I'd sooner court the following (and am fully aware that some of these have commitments such that this short list is not realistic)

  • ND
  • Missouri
  • Iowa State
  • Pitt
  • Louisville
  • Cincinnati
  • Toledo
  • Directional MAC U?

Obviously, there are problems with the above list. But Maryland and Rutgers are East Coast schools, and I have zero interest in pursuing them.