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Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

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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
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BuckeyeMike80;1948454; said:
Fuck Boston College.

Give me ND, Mizzou, Cuse and either Virginia or 'Nova

But one thing we are forgetting, college sports aren't really as big on the East Coast as you guys want them to be....there's a reason the Big East has stadiums that don't seat 40,000....
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Villanova doesn't even have a D-1A football team. Their stadium capacity is 12,500. I know some of you are hot for any northeastern school, but let's at least draw the line at those that field D-1A FB programs.
 
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One of our resident Husker fans, knapplc, had some really interesting stuff to say about folks in the "new Big XII" getting fed up with Texas and their relationship with ESPN (link to ESPN Longhorns of Texas thread). Thought the talk would be better suited for this thread instead, since it's dealing with potential expansion.

Really interesting stuff. A&M leadership thinking the "new Big XII" isn't a good fit long-term? SEC looking to add Clemson AND Texas A&M to get up to 14 teams??

Also, talk of the rest of the Big XII (minus Texas, A&M, and Oklahoma) are worried they might lose their AQ status if the Big XII were to break up. Gotta think if conferences were to start going to 16, they'd have a soft landing in the Big East/Big Ten/Pac 12-16.

Fun stuff to think about...
 
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dlrn64;1949705; said:
If the Big 10 wants ND, wouldn't you think they would put the fire to the iron by telling their teams not to schedule games with ND?
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BB73 posted some interesting history on this, particularly the long, long feud between Fielding Yost and Knute Rockne and Notre Dame. Here are some highlights though: for years Michigan bullied other Big 10 teams re:playing Notre Dame. Purdue liked the game because of the revenue and the independence; a chance to send Fielding a warm FU. Michigan State turned to ND for help in upgrading their schedule i9n the 40s and early 50s to prove their ability to play at the Big 10 level at a time when Michigan was trying to keep them out.
 
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BuckTwenty;1953849; said:
Also, talk of the rest of the Big XII (minus Texas, A&M, and Oklahoma) are worried they might lose their AQ status if the Big XII were to break up. Gotta think if conferences were to start going to 16, they'd have a soft landing in the Big East/Big Ten/Pac 12-16.

Fun stuff to think about...
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I've addressed some of the other stuff in other threads, but this is an intriguing question to me, and a poignant one as well.

If the Mega-conference expansion scenario goes into effect I think there are several programs in trouble in the current Big XII. Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M will find homes, quite easily. Missouri would be a logical fit in the Big Ten megaconference, and quite possibly Kansas as well. Missouri and Kansas are both AAU members (:(), and both have solid athletic departments. Combined they would allow the BTN to put a lock on every TV in Missouri, and both have national appeal (Missouri mostly in football, Kansas a no-brainer in basketball).

Oklahoma is a Pillar school, but not in my opinion Big Ten material. They'd be a shoo-in to the SEC, along with A&M. Oklahoma State may get a nod to the SEC as well as the Sooners' little brother, but they've got chops both in football and basketball as well, as well as baseball (big SEC sport). I'm not so confident about the Cowboys in the SEC, but it makes the most sense.

Texas, of course, is the golden cow, the crown jewel of any conference's expansion plans. Unfortunately as Nebraska fans (and Colorado fans, and Arkansas fans) know all too well, they are not nice neighbors. Texas' attitude toward others does not seem to fit into the Big Ten model, and I believe that Delaney was addressing Texas directly when he stated during the Nebraska announcement that not all schools fit with the Big Ten, and the Big Ten does not fit with all schools. Texas to the SEC would put them in company they could not boss around, but I don't know what that would do to the competing contracts ESPN has with the SEC and the LHN.

The schools I have the most concern about are Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Baylor. Frankly, Baylor never belonged in a major conference, and was only a member of the Big XII due to Texas politics. They are a fine academic school and plucky as hell in sports, but they cannot compete on the big stage. They will not be an SEC target, they will not be a PAC-12 target, and I don't know what would be left of the other conferences to figure out where they'd be. I don't think they care much about sports down there so maybe they wouldn't mind being left out, but that's a personal opinion. There are no Baylor fans out there telling me what they think.

Iowa State doesn't have any tradition, they have no national following, they have basically nothing that a major conference wants. The Hawkeyes dominate the state, and there's no cachet attached to the Cyclone brand. I could see them falling to a D2 school, same as Kansas State, for the same reasons. Texas Tech is the hardest of these four to foresee, because they've had success under The Pirate, and middling success in basketball under Knight, but since both left both sports have fallen off. I don't see the SEC as being all that excited to acquire the Red Raiders, and they do not make a lot of sense in the Big Ten unless the BTN wanted to expand their physical footprint into the Texas market. I could see them going to the Pac-12, but that's not a natural fit, either.

Whatever happens, I would be sad to see the demise of the athletic departments of the Cyclones, Wildcats and Red Raiders. Baylor... not so much. But not out of animosity.
 
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knapplc said:
I've addressed some of the other stuff in other threads, but this is an intriguing question to me, and a poignant one as well.

If the Mega-conference expansion scenario goes into effect I think there are several programs in trouble in the current Big XII. Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M will find homes, quite easily. Missouri would be a logical fit in the Big Ten megaconference, and quite possibly Kansas as well. Missouri and Kansas are both AAU members (:(), and both have solid athletic departments. Combined they would allow the BTN to put a lock on every TV in Missouri, and both have national appeal (Missouri mostly in football, Kansas a no-brainer in basketball).

Oklahoma is a Pillar school, but not in my opinion Big Ten material. They'd be a shoo-in to the SEC, along with A&M. Oklahoma State may get a nod to the SEC as well as the Sooners' little brother, but they've got chops both in football and basketball as well, as well as baseball (big SEC sport). I'm not so confident about the Cowboys in the SEC, but it makes the most sense.

Texas, of course, is the golden cow, the crown jewel of any conference's expansion plans. Unfortunately as Nebraska fans (and Colorado fans, and Arkansas fans) know all too well, they are not nice neighbors. Texas' attitude toward others does not seem to fit into the Big Ten model, and I believe that Delaney was addressing Texas directly when he stated during the Nebraska announcement that not all schools fit with the Big Ten, and the Big Ten does not fit with all schools. Texas to the SEC would put them in company they could not boss around, but I don't know what that would do to the competing contracts ESPN has with the SEC and the LHN.

The schools I have the most concern about are Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Baylor. Frankly, Baylor never belonged in a major conference, and was only a member of the Big XII due to Texas politics. They are a fine academic school and plucky as hell in sports, but they cannot compete on the big stage. They will not be an SEC target, they will not be a PAC-12 target, and I don't know what would be left of the other conferences to figure out where they'd be. I don't think they care much about sports down there so maybe they wouldn't mind being left out, but that's a personal opinion. There are no Baylor fans out there telling me what they think.

Iowa State doesn't have any tradition, they have no national following, they have basically nothing that a major conference wants. The Hawkeyes dominate the state, and there's no cachet attached to the Cyclone brand. I could see them falling to a D2 school, same as Kansas State, for the same reasons. Texas Tech is the hardest of these four to foresee, because they've had success under The Pirate, and middling success in basketball under Knight, but since both left both sports have fallen off. I don't see the SEC as being all that excited to acquire the Red Raiders, and they do not make a lot of sense in the Big Ten unless the BTN wanted to expand their physical footprint into the Texas market. I could see them going to the Pac-12, but that's not a natural fit, either.

Whatever happens, I would be sad to see the demise of the athletic departments of the Cyclones, Wildcats and Red Raiders. Baylor... not so much. But not out of animosity.
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All of those schools would find soft landings in the Mountain West or the WAC (if its still alive in this scheme). Iowa State, K-State, Baylor and TTech would all find homes somewhere, but it may not be in a BCS conference.
 
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Just tracking the bias of ESPN and their agenda against tOSU. I copied a post from the Oregon thread yesterday, so it's now earlier in this thread, pointing out how they dealt with that story.

Today, College Football Live started with the story that Georgia Tech has been "slammed" by the NCAA, by taking away their 2009 ACC Championship, placing them on 4 years probation, and fining them $100,000.

The following has been transcribed word-for-word.

Joe Schad said that "essentially they're accused of not cooperating with an NCAA investigation.. ... former WR Demaryius Thomas is alleged to have received about $300 from the friend of somebody who was working for a sports agency." ,,, "$300, what's the big deal? The big deal is that D. Thomas was prepped for his interview by GT officials - that is a no-no."

Dari Nowkhah - "Mayday, 2009 never happened, 4 years probation, all because of this $300 situation concerning Demaryius Thomas, and a coverup ... coverup? Have we heard of this recently? How might this affect what the NCAA does with Ohio State, if at all?"

Mary May - "Well, I think the President of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, right now, he's in a position where the pressure is on him, because he has to respond, not only to the Ohio State situation, but people are going to question 'If you don't slap Ohio State now, back to the Leather Helmet Days, for what they have done, what's going to happen to the teams in the future that do break the rules?' If you look at Georgia Tech for a $300 violation ... USC - they missed 2 years, they lost scholarships, they won't be able to go to Bowl Games. If Mark Emmert, if Jim Delany (the Commissioner of the Big Ten), don't step up to the Ohio State situation, the debacle that happened there, and put them on probation and make sure that they don't play in Bowl Games the next couple years, the system definitely needs a change. And we all know it needs a change, but right now if you look at this situation, and they don't do what's right, it should be an equal and level playing field - everyone is going to start questioning 'Is the system broken?' .. We know it's broken, but how do we fix it and when do we fix it?"

Dari - "Three big words, the NCAA's throwing down on Georgia Tech, you'll probably hear them with Ohio State, 'Failure to Cooperate', that's something that is included here with Georgia Tech."

May - "Sound familiar?"

Dari - "It does, and we may be hearing it again."

End of transcribed quotes. They didn't mention Oregon in the exchange.

Later, they decided to talk about TSUN again, so they started off the topic with the Kalis switching him commitment story.

So those two (or at least the ESPN folks scripting their exchange) have apparently decided that tOSU has 'failed to cooperate' in the NCAA investigation, despite the fact that tOSU self-reported and GT didn't. And Mark May has taken it upon himself to try to sway public opinion and pressure the NCAA into giving tOSU a multi-year bowl ban, although GT was not hit with one at this point.
 
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cincibuck;1953866; said:
True, but they also get whipped in most of their games against ND.
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'10 - were down 8 pts, early 4th after consecutive TDs
'09 - led Irish until last 0:25 seconds

'08-05 - ND won by double digits

'04-03 - Purdue won by double digits

'02 - ND won by 7 with zero offensive TDs.

'01 - another 1 score win by ND (24-18)

'00 - 2 pt win, ND hit FG as time expired



I'd say they've been pretty competitive with ND overall.
 
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BB73;1953871; said:
Just tracking the bias of ESPN and their agenda against tOSU. I copied a post from the Oregon thread yesterday, so it's now earlier in this thread, pointing out how they dealt with that story.
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Sweet mother o' God.

Thanks for taking the time to post that. Insane.

Just let me know when BigTen 2 comes out and shows ALL of the Buckeye games.
 
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Diego-Bucks;1953869; said:
All of those schools would find soft landings in the Mountain West or the WAC (if its still alive in this scheme). Iowa State, K-State, Baylor and TTech would all find homes somewhere, but it may not be in a BCS conference.
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That's the point I'm getting at, though - if they're not in a BCS conference, in the Mega-conference scenario they're essentially in D2.

Four sixteen-team mega-conferences would have the clout to and the interest in dominating the BCS bids. For eight slots, that's only two per conference. There's no way they're not going to throw their weight around and have teams from C-USA, the MAC, the WAC and the MWC entirely excluded. The revenues would be there to back up their demands, and it would happen.
 
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knapplc said:
That's the point I'm getting at, though - if they're not in a BCS conference, in the Mega-conference scenario they're essentially in D2.

Four sixteen-team mega-conferences would have the clout to and the interest in dominating the BCS bids. For eight slots, that's only two per conference. There's no way they're not going to throw their weight around and have teams from C-USA, the MAC, the WAC and the MWC entirely excluded. The revenues would be there to back up their demands, and it would happen.
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I agree with what you think they would try to do. However, I don't think federal law wouldn't allow the exclusion to take place in actuality. Would access to BCS bowls by the MWC et al. be severely limited? Definitely, but I think with the 5 BCS Bowls, 2 slots would still have to run through at-large bids with one of those pretty much being a non-BCS bid. Kind of how it works now.
 
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