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Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

Which Teams Should the Big Ten Add? (please limit to four selections)

  • Boston College

    Votes: 32 10.2%
  • Cincinnati

    Votes: 19 6.1%
  • Connecticut

    Votes: 6 1.9%
  • Duke

    Votes: 21 6.7%
  • Georgia Tech

    Votes: 55 17.6%
  • Kansas

    Votes: 46 14.7%
  • Maryland

    Votes: 67 21.4%
  • Missouri

    Votes: 90 28.8%
  • North Carolina

    Votes: 39 12.5%
  • Notre Dame

    Votes: 209 66.8%
  • Oklahoma

    Votes: 78 24.9%
  • Pittsburgh

    Votes: 45 14.4%
  • Rutgers

    Votes: 40 12.8%
  • Syracuse

    Votes: 18 5.8%
  • Texas

    Votes: 121 38.7%
  • Vanderbilt

    Votes: 15 4.8%
  • Virginia

    Votes: 47 15.0%
  • Virginia Tech

    Votes: 62 19.8%
  • Stay at 12 teams and don't expand

    Votes: 27 8.6%
  • Add some other school(s) not listed

    Votes: 25 8.0%

  • Total voters
    313
Buckeye86;1660314; said:
what made the game The Game is the excellence that both teams brought to the field for decades, if Michigan and Ohio State weren't consistantly the best teams in the Big Ten and the country every single year then the rivalry wouldn't be what it is
The Rivalry was The Rivalry when Michigan sucked throughout the '50s and most of the '60s. It was The Rivalry in 1987 when we were 3-4 in conference and 5-4-1 overall heading into The Game, with a just-fired head coach. It was The Rivalry back in the late '40s when we were going 4-3-2, 2-6-1, and 6-3. The records of the teams means shit. The only people that think/say so are those in the media. What truly defines a rivalry is how it affects the players, staffs, schools, and fan bases. Was The Game in 2004 any less important because we were 3-4 in conference and 6-4 overall going into it? If you do, relook at the end of The Game when Santonio Holmes rushed to the O at the 50 yard line, and planted his helmet there. Look the thousands and thousands of fans who stormed the field.

Buckeye86;1660314; said:
Michigan sucking diminishes the rivalry, that's not an opinion, that is a fact
No, it's an opinion, and an inaccurate one at that. Again, the only ones who feel that the magnitude of a rivalry is defined mainly by the records of the teams are those in the media.
 
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MililaniBuckeye;1660336; said:
No, it's an opinion, and an inaccurate one at that. Again, the only ones who feel that the magnitude of a rivalry is defined mainly by the records of the teams are those in the media.
When the majority of buckeye nation doesn't think UM has a chance at making a bowl game, let alone beating them... it's not remotely inaccurate to say that the rivalry game is diminished.

The all-time rivalry isn't affected, but the current year's game certainly is.

To extend this point, imagine if RR were given a coaching extension after going 6-6 again, and OSU was blessed with 4-5 more years of bumpy UM transition from the Carr years.

It certainly wouldn't be as exciting or intriguing as when UM was a more realistic threat to beat OSU year after year.
 
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Enjoyable read that was originally posted at shaggybevo:

Barking Carnival — Blog — Being Bill Powers

The inevitable age of the college football superconference will soon be upon us. Who will the Big 10 lure to share in its cable network riches and join its elite academic consortium, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation? Will the PAC 10 make the first move? Will Notre Dame wise up and end a century of isolationism? If it suffers from a defector, what will become of the Big 12? Speculation on the Interwebs runs wild. And in a recent development, most pundits are aligning on the University of Texas, not Notre Dame, as the true ?belle of the ball.?
Frustrated Horns fans seeking informed insight are buying fresh fish to capture some residual value from their Statesmen subscription and looking online for answers. The uncertainty of travel itineraries to PAC 10 vs Big 10 venues, and the glass-half-empty thought of being stranded in a weakened Big 12, has our spoiled, elitist community on the verge of panic. There are so many moving parts, and so much (of not our) money at stake, we are longing for a Valentine to tell us whether to buy, sell, hold or panic.
Fortunately, the fate of our conference affiliation does not rest in the portfolio of a panicked commodities broker concerned about his love life. The man with his finger on the button is a rational, deliberate, intelligent leader ? a university president that actually fits the profile you would expect but so rarely find. Therefore, all one needs to do to visualize the most probable end game for the Texas Longhorns is to find the secret portal into the mind of William Powers Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin.
If such a portal existed, what might we see?


cont.
 
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Gatorubet;1660470; said:
So let's just bring it out into the open...

Change the name to "Big-14" if the deal goes down, or leave it at "Big-10" and let everybody fight about who are the four weaklings?
I like the idea of adding Texas, Missouri, and Pitt or Texas, Texas A&M, and Rutgers and then keeping it the Big 10 because it covers 10 states.
 
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Big Ten expansion and the Directors' Cup - Big Ten Blog - ESPN

Several of you have astutely pointed out how the Big Ten should look beyond the two primary revenue-generating sports, football and men's basketball, when assessing expansion candidates. An athletic department as a whole, just like a university as a whole, should be considered when evaluating a potential addition to the conference.

The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup measures overall athletic department strength in fall, winter and spring sports and provides the final standings for all Division I schools (not to mention, Division II, Division III and NAIA members). You can read all about the Directors' Cup here as well as the scoring methods.

Let's take a look at where Big Ten schools ranked for the 2008-09 season and the 2007-08 season. Then we'll examine where the Big Ten expansion candidates stack up.

2008-09

No. 5: Michigan
No. 10: Ohio State
No. 14: Minnesota
No. 19: Penn State
No. 20: Illinois
No. 27: Michigan State
No. 38: Purdue
No. 41: Wisconsin
No. 44: Northwestern
No. 45: Iowa
No. 55: Indiana

2007-08

No. 3: Michigan
No. 9: Penn State
No. 11: Ohio State
No. 18: Wisconsin
No. 28: Minnesota
No. 29: Michigan State
No. 34: Purdue
No. 35: Illinois
No. 39: Indiana
No. 40: Northwestern
No. 50: Iowa

Looking at these rankings, the Big Ten likely would want an institution ranked in the top 50 of the Directors' Cup and certainly no lower than 60-65.

Here's where some potential expansion candidates ranked in the last two years:

Notre Dame: 21st in 2008-09, 21st in 2007-08
Texas: 6th in 2008-09, 5th in 2007-08
Missouri: 36th in 2008-09, 38th in 2007-08
Nebraska: 31st in 2008-09, 31st in 2007-08
Rutgers: 92nd in 2008-09, 126th in 2007-08
Pittsburgh: 93rd in 2008-09, 85th in 2007-08
Syracuse: 63rd in 2008-09, 87th in 2007-08
Connecticut: 52nd in 2008-09, 49th in 2007-08
Boston College: 75th in 2008-09, 69th in 2007-08

Some interesting takeaways from these rankings:

  • Of the Big East candidates, Connecticut brings the strongest profile as an overall athletic department. Rutgers would really need to convince the Big Ten that things are on the upswing. In 2007-08, Rutgers ranked between Marist and Delaware in the Directors' Cup. Pitt is also a little weaker than I expected.
  • Texas is a no-brainer addition (but you already knew that). So is Notre Dame.
  • Both Nebraska and Missouri are right in the middle of the Big Ten rankings for the Directors' Cup.
 
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