Looks like Maryland is on the way

Submitted by MGlobules on

An article placed at cbs sports an hour ago says Maryland will vote as early as tomorrow on their invitation to join the Big Ten. Says that university's biggest donor backs the move. Hard to imagine that this is not a twofer deal, with Rutgers right behind. 

The article notes that the $50 million exit fee might be a stumbling block for Maryland. But from what I've read elsewhere the league may take all or part out of future revenue to the school.

Perhaps it's been noted elsewhere, but this gives the Big Ten access to 35% of the nation's viewers, bringing in the DC and NY areas, and extends the league across a fairly contiguous--that is, plausible--swath of the country, from Nebraska to the Atlantic coast. I realize that Rutgers and Maryland aren't the most appetizing draws in an immediate sense, but I like having the league entering NY and DC, taking in part of the South now, too. (And there's no reason why those schools cannot get better, including in football.) Obviously, the expanded TV revenue is the big draw for the league itself. Will be interesting to see if the league uses the pretext of expansion to reconfigure the divisions, which are pretty unpopular, at least here.

Link:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/2…

Soulfire21

November 18th, 2012 at 8:11 PM ^

Big Ten East

  • Rutgers
  • Maryland
  • Michigan
  • Ohio State
  • Penn State
  • Indiana
  • Michigan State

Big Ten West

  • Iowa
  • Nebraska
  • Wisconsin
  • Northwestern
  • Illinois
  • Minnesota
  • Purdue

This split would create an imbalance methinks, with Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State in one division.

Alternatively,

Big Ten North

  • Wisconsin
  • Minnesota
  • Michigan
  • Michigan State
  • Rutgers
  • Penn State
  • Northwestern

Big Ten South

  • Maryland
  • Ohio State
  • Indiana
  • Purdue
  • Nebraska
  • Iowa
  • Illinois

Not sure if that's any more balanced or not, and does pose the (same current) problem of Michigan and OSU in separate divisions.

Leaders And Best

November 18th, 2012 at 8:13 PM ^

Central: Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana

Northwest/East: Nebraska, Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Maryland, Rutgers

- almost every major rivalry game is protected within division (except Little Brown Jug) and creates East Coast partner schools for PSU

- Eliminates need for the protected crossover thus enabling 2 rotating interdivisional games per year (one of the biggest problems with the SEC setup)

AAB

November 18th, 2012 at 8:53 PM ^

Pitt is in a talent-rich football state and has an established history of being good at football. Rutgers is in the Northeast, and is Rutgers. Pitt also has excellent basketball, and is at worst a wash with Maryland on that (and is miles ahead of Rutgers).

Geary_maize

November 18th, 2012 at 9:53 PM ^

Pitt will always, always be second fiddle to Penn State. They will always lose more than win to Penn State for recruits. Also their 'established' history is nothing special.

Rutgers on the other hand, is the dominant pubic school in a talent rich state. If they con retain only a small percentage of their recruits, they will always have better talent than Pitt.

chitownblue2

November 18th, 2012 at 8:59 PM ^

Rutgers has potential for great football?

They've played for over 100 years. What has kept this sleeping giant a stinking shitstain for all that time?

wildbackdunesman

November 18th, 2012 at 10:10 PM ^

Meh...

Not sure I buy the logic of a team always being crappy, just because their history isn't great.

Boise State was once a joke in the lower divisions and Princeton was once a powerhouse.

Rutgers has 7 winning seasons in the last 8 years AND they have pretty much only been playing Big Boy football for 30 years.

 

I will not be excited to get them, but even Miss Cleo would have a hard time prediciting who will win games 10 to 20 to 30 years down the road.

Geary_maize

November 18th, 2012 at 9:55 PM ^

They've never had the resources of the B1G, and the old Big East poisoned any momentum they might have had, and the new Big East is a joke of a conference none of the blue chips would play for.

Put them in the B1G, and suddently the Jersey recruits have a home option. New York and New Jersey, are very, very decent recruiting grounds.

MGlobules

November 19th, 2012 at 9:44 AM ^

B1G schools, FWIW. And there's little doubt being in the conference draws more recruits. When they're kicking our a** one inevitable day down the road, then we'll REALLY regret the move. 

EDIT: this is a football conversation; any move is far bigger than that. Let's hope Delaney et al are more broad-minded than mgobloggers. "shit-stained"? I mean, c'mon. Their coach snubbed us a few years ago, so there's that. . .  

HAIL-YEA

November 18th, 2012 at 9:15 PM ^

 is going to vot in a school like Pitt that would decrease their won piece of the pie. Mew footprints like MD and Rutgers make everyones piece bigger...that is why they are considered.

Yeoman

November 19th, 2012 at 9:27 AM ^

I don't understand the "cultural leap" thing with Maryland. It's a big, state-supported research institution with a solid academic reputation. Aside from geography, that to me pretty much is the definition of a B1G school (with apologies to Northwestern and Chicago).

To me it seems like a natural extension, if we're going to extend, much like Penn State was. Pitt and Syracuse would be natural fits as well, as would Virginia. Rutgers seems a bit lightweight on the academic side compared to the other schools--if any of these isn't an institutional fit, I think it's them.

UMRecruitingFannatic

November 18th, 2012 at 8:09 PM ^

It's like asking the girl to prom when your mom says, "She's a nice girl."  Yeah, she's alright but she ain't anything special either. 

Can't wait to see the tradition, spectacle, and wonderment of seeing Nebraska and Rutgers match up! 

Thank God college football places a television network's ratings and subscribers first, otherwise the college football world wouldn't make sense.

BostonWolverine

November 18th, 2012 at 8:10 PM ^

I heard MD was going into the leaders division if they join - which sucks. I'd much rather that train wreck be in our division...at least to even out the Penn St. is gonna suck for a while.

 

FreddieMercuryHayes

November 18th, 2012 at 8:25 PM ^

Disagree.  I think MD has peices to become a good program; they're in an area that has pretty decent talent and few other schools, and more importantly, they have a very rich alum who is the sports buisness willing to sponser their program like Nike did for Oregon.  All it's going to take is the proper coach.  And honestly, Edsall may actually turn out to be a decent choice.  Too early to tell.  Rutgers is overinflated right now because they play in the Big East (an even worse version than previous versions as every single good program bailed).   Remember when Big East champions UConn got stomped by the freaking 2010 UM team.  I'll take Rutgers in our division.

But I think the real issue is a complete divisional re-alignment.  With PSU cratered from the better part of the next decade, the whole competative balance the conference was based on is thrown to hell.

HL2VCTRS

November 18th, 2012 at 8:33 PM ^

No!  They can't be in the Leaders division!  The only way I can remember who is in our division is by remembering that it's all the teams that start with "M", "N", and Iowa.  I'm not smart enough to remember that it's all teams that start with "M" - except for Maryland, "N", and Iowa.  Damn it Delany!  First you give them dumb names and now you make it more difficult to remember.