Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[sepia5]

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) The University of Utah to the PAC 10? BYU to the Big 12?? It could happen.

This is all speculation...but sources are telling ABC 4 Sports that Utah will be invited to join the PAC 10 conference, but not BYU. The Cougars could wind up in the Big 12...or staying put in the MWC.

Several dominoes have to fall first, but here's how it could all play out...

The Big 10 wants to expand to a 12 team league..giving them a conference championship game in football, like the SEC and Big 12. Pittsburgh could be asked to join the Big 10..or possibly Rutgers.

The PAC 10 would then follow suit, and it would need to invite 2 schools, and it could be Utah and Colorado.

BYU would not be invited, primarily because they don't play on Sunday...and the PAC 10 has a lot of Sunday games. Officially, the PAC 10 would say Utah is a better fit, because it's a research institution and has a medical school, like most of the other PAC 10 schools...and BYU does not.

Again, this is all speculation, but the PAC 10 TV deal is about to expire, and a new TV partner would want the league to have a football championship game, which requires the league to have 12 teams.

PAC 10 commissioner Larry Scott said today "We're looking at it very seriously. If we were ever going to look at expansion, this would be the logical time."

Utah and Colorado would be good fits for the PAC 10, giving the league exposure in 2 new, top 35 markets.

Utah would make that jump for several reasons, the 2 biggest being it would get them into a BCS conference, and it would be a huge boost for recruiting.

As for BYU, the Cougars could stay in the MWC, or accept an invitation to the Big 12 to fill Colorado's spot, although the Big 12 also has some Sunday competition.

Entire article: Utah to the PAC 10? Not BYU? It could happen - ABC 4.com - Salt Lake City, Utah News

So the Big 12 would lose one of the better academic institutions in the conference and replace it with BYU. Wonder how the Texas brass would feel about that . . . .

 

[JCOSU86]

So, did I miss the big announcement about Pittsburgh joining?

:)

 

[jlb1705]

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) The University of Utah to the PAC 10? BYU to the Big 12?? It could happen.

This is all speculation...but sources are telling ABC 4 Sports that Utah will be invited to join the PAC 10 conference, but not BYU. The Cougars could wind up in the Big 12...or staying put in the MWC.

Several dominoes have to fall first, but here's how it could all play out...

The Big 10 wants to expand to a 12 team league..giving them a conference championship game in football, like the SEC and Big 12. Pittsburgh could be asked to join the Big 10..or possibly Rutgers.

The PAC 10 would then follow suit, and it would need to invite 2 schools, and it could be Utah and Colorado.

BYU would not be invited, primarily because they don't play on Sunday...and the PAC 10 has a lot of Sunday games. Officially, the PAC 10 would say Utah is a better fit, because it's a research institution and has a medical school, like most of the other PAC 10 schools...and BYU does not.

Again, this is all speculation, but the PAC 10 TV deal is about to expire, and a new TV partner would want the league to have a football championship game, which requires the league to have 12 teams.

PAC 10 commissioner Larry Scott said today "We're looking at it very seriously. If we were ever going to look at expansion, this would be the logical time."

Utah and Colorado would be good fits for the PAC 10, giving the league exposure in 2 new, top 35 markets.

Utah would make that jump for several reasons, the 2 biggest being it would get them into a BCS conference, and it would be a huge boost for recruiting.

As for BYU, the Cougars could stay in the MWC, or accept an invitation to the Big 12 to fill Colorado's spot, although the Big 12 also has some Sunday competition.

Entire article: Utah to the PAC 10? Not BYU? It could happen - ABC 4.com - Salt Lake City, Utah News

Some of these "news" articles about conference expansion are as bad as recruiting coverage. There's one supposed nugget of actual information in there and even it was preceded by a qualifier:

This is all speculation...but sources are telling ABC 4 Sports that Utah will be invited to join the PAC 10 conference, but not BYU.

By my count, the word "could" is used six times. The word "would" is used ten times, sometimes two or three times in the same sentence. The phrase "this is all speculation" is used twice.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

BYU would not be invited, primarily because they don't play on Sunday...and the PAC 10 has a lot of Sunday games. Officially, the PAC 10 would say Utah is a better fit, because it's a research institution and has a medical school, like most of the other PAC 10 schools...and BYU does not.


Entire article: Utah to the PAC 10? Not BYU? It could happen - ABC 4.com - Salt Lake City, Utah News

Pac 10 is being politically correct and avoiding the religious issue. The real reason BYU will never be invited is that there's no way Cal, Stanford, UCLA or Washington will vote to include them. BYU has had some very serious issues of academic freedom for its faculty and has been formally censured by the AAUP. The Pac 10 requires a unanimous vote to accept an expansion candidate. They'll never get into the Pac 10.

 

[IronBuckI]

Some of these "news" articles about conference expansion are as bad as recruiting coverage. There's one supposed nugget of actual information in there and even it was preceded by a qualifier:



By my count, the word "could" is used six times. The word "would" is used ten times, sometimes two or three times in the same sentence. The phrase "this is all speculation" is used twice.

My count is; "would" sixteen times, "could" seven times, "should" zero times and at no point were any of those words followed by "of". The writer only had one opportunity to colosally fail in such a way, because he only followed "would" with the word "have" once, and never followed "could" with the word "have".

 

[RugbyBuck]

I like that move for both the P10 and Utah. The Utes have shown that they can play big boy football and are a decent state university. They deserve a shot and have been consistently better of late than at least WashU, Arizona and ASU.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Now tell me that Michigan and Penn State are has beens or never will bees.

OK, I'll tell you...there are indeed has-beens, especially Michigan. You mean to tell me that if Michigan keeps going 3-9 or 5-7 and bowl-less that they'll be a "premier" program? Not fucking hardly. Remember HBO's special "The Rivaly" that came out a couple years ago? In it, they showed photos of inside Michigan Stadium during their two-decade down period (early '50s-late '60s), in which the end zone section was virtually empty. A lot of good a 110,000-seat staduim does you when you can get it only half filled. If Michigan keeps fucking around like they are, it could be deva ju all over again. As for Penn State, are they more of a "premier" program than say, Texas, just because they have a bigger stadium? Not hardly. They've played well over the last couple years (after sucking in the early part of the decade). A couple more years of making the top-10, along with winning the Big Ten at least once again, would put them back as a "premier" team...but not now.

In my mind, "premier" suggests that a team consistently--that's the key qualification--finishes in the top 10, and occasionally wins/plays for a national title. College footbal "premier" teams, currently, in my opinion are: USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio State, and LSU. I'd include Alabama if they have another top-10 season or two (although they just won the national title, they went completely unranked four of the last seven seasons).

 

[Buckeye Maniac]

OK, I'll tell you...there are indeed has-beens, especially Michigan. You mean to tell me that if Michigan keeps going 3-9 or 5-7 and bowl-less that they'll be a "premier" program? Not fucking hardly. Remember HBO's special "The Rivaly" that came out a couple years ago? In it, they showed photos of inside Michigan Stadium during their two-decade down period (early '50s-late '60s), in which the end zone section was virtually empty. A lot of good a 110,000-seat staduim does you when you can get it only half filled. If Michigan keeps fucking around like they are, it could be deva ju all over again. As for Penn State, are they more of a "premier" program than say, Texas, just because they have a bigger stadium? Not hardly. They've played well over the last couple years (after sucking in the early part of the decade). A couple more years of making the top-10, along with winning the Big Ten at least once again, would put them back as a "premier" team...but not now.

In my mind, "premier" suggests that a team consistently--that's the key qualification--finishes in the top 10, and occasionally wins/plays for a national title. College footbal "premier" teams, currently, in my opinion are: USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio State, and LSU. I'd include Alabama if they have another top-10 season or two (although they just won the national title, they went completely unranked four of the last seven seasons).

So which of these guys is going to bring about their rebound?

Jim Bollman
Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line
	   	
Jim Heacock
Defensive Coordinator
	   	
Luke Fickell
Co-Def Coord/LB Coach
	   	
Paul Haynes
Safeties Coach
	   	
Darrell Hazell
Ast. Head Coach and Wide Receivers Coach
	   	
Taver Johnson
Cornerbacks Coach
	   	
John Peterson
Tight Ends Coach and Recruiting Coord.
	   	
Nick Siciliano
Quarterbacks Coach
	   	
Dick Tressel
Running Backs Coach

 

[Bleed S & G]

So which of these guys is going to bring about their rebound?

Jim Bollman
Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line
 
Jim Heacock
Defensive Coordinator
 
Luke Fickell
Co-Def Coord/LB Coach
 
Paul Haynes
Safeties Coach
 
Darrell Hazell
Ast. Head Coach and Wide Receivers Coach
 
Taver Johnson
Cornerbacks Coach
 
John Peterson
Tight Ends Coach and Recruiting Coord.
 
Nick Siciliano
Quarterbacks Coach
 
Dick Tressel
Running Backs Coach

Give 'em Heacock

 

[jlb1705]

Here's the story you get when professional journalists take a crack at it. Not much real info, but there's not much to be had. More notably, there is none of the wild conjecture, and the article doesn't use any of the qualifying words or phrases that I picked out of the story that came out of Utah.

Larry Scott says Pac-10 to evaluate expanding beyond 10 teams - NCAA Football - SI.com

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott says that if the conference is going to expand, a decision will likely be made in the next year.

Scott spoke Tuesday on a conference call to announce the hiring of former Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg as his new deputy.

Scott said it made sense to have a decision about expansion before starting to negotiate new television deals that expire following the 2011-12 academic year.

Scott says "serious evaluation" of the topic will go on in the next six to 12 months. He said the primary factor in the decision will be finding schools that fit into the conference culturally and academically and determining whether the benefits of adding extra teams outweigh the costs.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

The PAC-10 can expand to whatever amount of teams they want and simply change their name to match (PAC 8 became the PAC 10 with the addition of the Arizona teams). It's "bad enough" that the Big Ten doesn't have 10 teams, but if we were to expand to 12 to match the Big 12, while keeping the "Big Ten" moniker, then I think we'd look pretty frickin' stupid.

 

[jwinslow]

Just drop the number and embrace the stereotypes with the name itself.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

The PAC-10 can expand to whatever amount of teams they want and simply change their name to match (PAC 8 became the PAC 10 with the addition of the Arizona teams). It's "bad enough" that the Big Ten doesn't have 10 teams, but if we were to expand to 12 to match the Big 12, while keeping the "Big Ten" moniker, then I think we'd look pretty frickin' stupid.

In honor of Mr. Oden, we could call it The Big Twelve and a Half.

 

[broken24]

What about Maryland? They are good academically and you make in roads to DC, Baltimore and Philly.

 

[Jagdaddy]

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) The University of Utah to the PAC 10? BYU to the Big 12?? It could happen.

This is all speculation...but sources are telling ABC 4 Sports that Utah will be invited to join the PAC 10 conference, but not BYU. The Cougars could wind up in the Big 12...or staying put in the MWC.

Several dominoes have to fall first, but here's how it could all play out...

The Big 10 wants to expand to a 12 team league..giving them a conference championship game in football, like the SEC and Big 12. Pittsburgh could be asked to join the Big 10..or possibly Rutgers.

The PAC 10 would then follow suit, and it would need to invite 2 schools, and it could be Utah and Colorado.

BYU would not be invited, primarily because they don't play on Sunday...and the PAC 10 has a lot of Sunday games. Officially, the PAC 10 would say Utah is a better fit, because it's a research institution and has a medical school, like most of the other PAC 10 schools...and BYU does not.

Again, this is all speculation, but the PAC 10 TV deal is about to expire, and a new TV partner would want the league to have a football championship game, which requires the league to have 12 teams.

PAC 10 commissioner Larry Scott said today "We're looking at it very seriously. If we were ever going to look at expansion, this would be the logical time."

Utah and Colorado would be good fits for the PAC 10, giving the league exposure in 2 new, top 35 markets.

Utah would make that jump for several reasons, the 2 biggest being it would get them into a BCS conference, and it would be a huge boost for recruiting.

As for BYU, the Cougars could stay in the MWC, or accept an invitation to the Big 12 to fill Colorado's spot, although the Big 12 also has some Sunday competition.

Entire article: Utah to the PAC 10? Not BYU? It could happen - ABC 4.com - Salt Lake City, Utah News

Would love to see the Pac-10 add Utah and CU. I think CU is much better suited for the PAC-10 than the Big 12, and it would make for some great road trips to watch the Buffs for my wife's family. I just don't want to see thenm grab Texas. I want the Big Ten to grab Texas. Nobody actually watches the Big 12 anyway, so filling them out with TCU and BYU or SMU would probably work out okay for them.