An interesting thought to consider is what happens to the auto bids to BCS games if/when superconferences are formed.
If the Big Ten goes to 16 teams and two eight team divisions, does Delaney push for two auto bids in the next BCS agreement, one bid for each division winner? This presumes that the Big East is collapsed as a football conference from realignment. The same question is open for a 16 team SEC, if such a creature were to form. It's likely that winners of any eight team division would earn a bid through the current process, but I would think that the commissioner of a superconference would want to lock that in place for revenue purposes.
Presuming that the dust settles with four 16 team superconferences, each claiming two automatic slots, that leaves two at large bids which could be thrown out as a carrot to the non-BCS leagues, giving them a slice of the pie and serving to short circuit morons like Orrin Hatch and their anti-trust mumbo-jumbo.
Granted, lots of dominoes have to fall in place for all of that, but it's a possible logical end game of all of this. I am also presuming that no major independents located in South Bend remain; at some point, they pick a league out of necessity.
Another interesting aspect of division play for the Big Ten is that you'd finally do away with the scenario of a champion skipping the runner up or co-champs due to scheduling quirks. Eight teams per division lets you play your whole division, plus one regular rival from the other division, along with a rotating slot for a random team from the other division. You'd still get a weird effect where you'd potentially only play a particular Big Ten opponent once every seven years (unless you meet them in a championship game), so maybe you rotate both of those slots rather than protect a rivalry.
As an example, let's say that Illinois is in the Western Division and OSU is in the Eastern. OSU could have Illinois as "protected", so they play each year, but then OSU would only play Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern and Iowa once every seven years.
Another solution would be to lump most of the newcomers into a new division -- call the old division the "Western Conference", perhaps, and don't make it geographical. Move MSU and PSU over to the newbie division, especially if Pitt is one of the new ones, thus renewing the Pitt-PSu rivalry. You still need one more team to make that jump, maybe Northwestern? It's important to preserve all of the trophy games -- pigs, axes, wooden turtles, etc., so that's a solution. Plus, if Texas is one of the new dogs, a division with Texas and Penn State is legit. You could again protect an interdivision rivalry or just rotate the two interdivision games around.
Given some of the names tossed around, it'd look like this:
Western: Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue
Eastern: Penn State, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Northwestern, Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri, Texas
Of course, sub out any of those for Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Nebraska, UConn or whoever else gets/accepts the offer to join the Big Ten. The balance really wouldn't be too bad, and the OSU-Michigan rivarly would still likely be for a BCS bid, presuming the two bid scenario. Tradition would be preserved as much as possible, including the renewal of some traditions, like PSU-Pitt.
Just kind of thinking out loud, but with some of the reports out there, I'm wondering if that's what Delaney is up to.
Where the rest of this shakes out is interesting. If the B12 and BEast implode, where do they go? Or does the Big 12 try and survive by picking up some of the better mid-majors and hold on to as many of their current members as they can? TCU, Boise State, Utah and even BYU would certainly jump at the chance to upgrade their standing. Plus some Big East refugees might fit, like Cincy or Louisville. They could also wind up back in CUSA.
SEC might try to pick up WVU, though the more interesting possibility is Oklahoma. We've talked about Texas, but would OU listen to an offer to join the SEC West?
UConn could really be the odd man out if a Big Ten bid isn't forthcoming, which I don't think it is. Same goes for USF. I doubt the ACC wants either, so do we wind up with a super mid-major?
What I can't see is someone absorbing the entire Big 12. Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Baylor, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech aren't likely to have anywhere else to go, and can probably find some dance partners to carry on from either ambitious mid-majors or from the westernmost scraps of the Big East. Plus, it's unlikely that they'll lose six schools -- the Big Ten won't take all four from Nebraska, Missouri, Texas and T A&M, and the idea of Oklahoma and Colorado leaving is pure speculation at this point. Given some of what else might shake out, the B12 is as likely to grow as it is to shrink, and maybe moreso.
The conference that's really limited is the PAC 10. There just aren't many schools in their footprint that fit, and the directions they can expand don't bring a lot of revenue. It's either pick up Colorado and a B12 school in Texas, or...? Utah is mentioned, and that might work out for everyone involved. Utah is going to try to make some kind of move to a BCS league in a major realignment scenario, which benefits everyone, including the BCS commissioners who want to shut up Orrin Hatch. I can see the PAC 10 becoming the PAC 12, but I am not sure they make it to superconference level without adding too many mid majors. I don't see them adding Boise at all, for example.
So, since we're guessing here, I see this shaking out as the PAC-12, adding Colorado and Utah, the Big Ten as a 16 team league, offering three B12 schools and three BEast schools and taking five. Without raiding the ACC, I see two schools the SEC would pursue, though they might also go after a B12 school that doesn't end up in the Big Ten, for whatever reason. Missouri, A&M and Texas are all desirable. Of the Big East, the only school I could see them wanting/taking is WVU, who would also be possibly coveted by the ACC.
The ACC becomes a real question -- where do they go? That's a possible landing spot for USF, which I mentioned as being unlikely in my view. The argument in favor is setting up a three way rivalry with the ACC's Florida big two; WVU would possibly fit, both with football and basketball, UConn would be a plus in basketball and a big ??? for their football, and again not one I think is all that likely. It really all depends on what the ACC wants to be, but they have some options, presuming they don't get raided by the SEC. I think they either add two, making a 14 team semi-superconference, or add none.
That leaves us with a 14 team SEC, 14 team (maybe) ACC, no Big East and a 12-16 team Big 12-16 in addition to a 16 team Big Ten and PAC-12. Right now, I just don't see two conferences collapsing, unless there is a coordinated effort to raid one (like the Big Ten, SEC and Pac Ten all going after B12 teams).
This should be interesting, one way or another.
