POLL: Which Teams Should the Big Ten Add?

[cincibuck]

Agreed. The SEC move has to be countered because of power, not money.

Either you counter it by forming an anti-SEC coalition with the other conferences and block playoff expansion, or you counter it by creating the continent-spanning Conference of Northern Aggression. The first option screws the SEC harder, but the second option creates a stronger connection (including contracts) among the members of the anti-SEC faction. I'm ok either way, but having Warren/Bowlsby et al in charge of this makes me nervous either way. If they go with the first option, I will be on pins and needles constantly, just waiting for the coalition to fall apart because somebody panicked. If they go with the second option, I seriously doubt their ability to put together the conference we've been talking about; it will likely end with 2 or more of the remaining power conferences fighting over the SEC's leftovers.

I like option one, but what seems to be coming out of the Oklahoma/Texas fracas is that TV money is the real player. If TV wants expanded playoffs, TV will get expanded playoffs and all the conferences will be played against each other in order to get it.

 

[dragurd]

I like option one, but what seems to be coming out of the Oklahoma/Texas fracas is that TV money is the real player. If TV wants expanded playoffs, TV will get expanded playoffs and all the conferences will be played against each other in order to get it.

Indeed and you know ESPN will pressure the ACC to do what they want. Go after USC etc Say join the SEC we'll take care of you etc. Which is why 2 is by far the more stable option.

 

[1926Buckeyes]

I prefer regional conferences, but the only way you counter the SEC is going for as many markets and big names as possible. 5 divisional opponents and 4 rotating cross-divisional matchups.

B1G GREAT LAKES 1/ATLANTIC
Maryland
Rutgers
Penn State
Notre Dame
Purdue
Indiana


B1G GREAT LAKES 2
Ohio State
Northwestern
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Wisconsin

B1G MIDWEST
Nebraska
Iowa
Illinois
Colorado
Kansas
Utah


B1G PACIFIC
USC
UCLA
Arizona
Cal
Stanford
Oregon

 

[Jaxbuck]

I prefer regional conferences, but the only way you counter the SEC is going for as many markets and big names as possible. 5 divisional opponents and 4 rotating cross-divisional matchups.

B1G GREAT LAKES 1/ATLANTIC
Maryland
Rutgers
Penn State
Notre Dame
Purdue
Indiana


B1G GREAT LAKES 2
Ohio State
Northwestern
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Wisconsin

B1G MIDWEST
Nebraska
Iowa
Illinois
Colorado
Kansas
Utah


B1G PACIFIC
USC
UCLA
Arizona
Cal
Stanford
Oregon

If it’s all just fantasy land then you can’t leave out Washington IMO.

 

[BB73]

If it’s all just fantasy land then you can’t leave out Washington IMO.

Didn’t you recently leave Washington?

 

[Jaxbuck]

Didn’t you recently leave Washington?

Still here for another week actually but regardless, it’s not a school I’d leave out of poaching the P12

 

[bukIpower]

I think the PAC 12 and what's left of the Big 12 need to merge and then the Big 10 needs to absorb the ACC. That way we arent all over the place with time zones and we would get Clemson/ND which is a better duo than OU/TX.

The ACC has a ton of teams at that Iowa kind of level (Va/Va Tech/ Miami/ FSU).

Not to mention academically we would be the best conference and our basketball would be completely unrivaled. SEC would be slightly better at football in this scenario but overall I really think we'd be the better conference if we could pull this off.

Us with the ACC is the move to me.

 

[dragurd]

I think the PAC 12 and what's left of the Big 12 need to merge and then the Big 10 needs to absorb the ACC. That way we arent all over the place with time zones and we would get Clemson/ND which is a better duo than OU/TX.

The ACC has a ton of teams at that Iowa kind of level (Va/Va Tech/ Miami/ FSU).

Not to mention academically we would be the best conference and our basketball would be completely unrivaled. SEC would be slightly better at football in this scenario but overall I really think we'd be the better conference if we could pull this off.

Us with the ACC is the move to me.

See why would the PAC12 want part of the flaming pile of dung left that is the BIGXII? There is a lot of Crap left of the corpse of the BigXII tht's why no one wants it. Pac12 aligns itself with the B!G which means acedemics are at least tangently important. However the 2 AAU schools left of the BigXII are crap. If you think the PacXII is desperate for markets well they don't seem to be a fan of religious Private so that leans TTU in the midle of bumfuck Egypt Tex..


Also the ACC is atraditionally aligned with SEC and the ESPN so there is that

 

[Dryden]

Mandel recently documented the Big XII TV draw outside Texas & Oklahoma in a piece for the Athletic. Removing the TCU/Ohio State game, games involving Big XII teams not named Oklahoma or Texas in the past five years have drawn 800,000 national viewers.

Those are AAC numbers. Cincinnati, Memphis, and Houston get that.

ACC GOR is tied to ESPN til 2035.

Uniting with the PAC is the only option now.

 

[jwinslow]

Didn’t you recently leave Washington?

Pretty sure that's someone else's fantasy.

 

[MaxBuck]

I think it is hilarious that nobody has select Duke……
Duke is Scum South…..

You are dead to me.

Dead.

I would never have permitted my child to matriculate in Ann Arbor.

 

[JCOSU86]

Well, I am totally out of it and have out-dated views so I probably shouldn't comment. I like our regional conference, so if we expanded I would see Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State. But that's just not bright in today's sports world. Plus, adding Maryland and Rutgers totally destroyed any "Midwest" identity anyway. I could see a Pac-12/B1G conference in that we have historically had a good relationship.

 

[AJHawkfan]

If the remaining conferences collude to stop the playoff expansion this season, you might as well strap in for a full court press to get three SEC teams and either Clemson/ND into the playoffs. If ESPN is willing to meddle into getting UT & OU to ditch the BigXII for the SEC, you can be damn sure they'll carry a major grudge and openly lobby against any team or conference that goes against their potential ratings gold mine of a 12 team playoff.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

If the remaining conferences collude to stop the playoff expansion this season, you might as well strap in for a full court press to get three SEC teams and either Clemson/ND into the playoffs. If ESPN is willing to meddle into getting UT & OU to ditch the BigXII for the SEC, you can be damn sure they'll carry a major grudge and openly lobby against any team or conference that goes against their potential ratings gold mine of a 12 team playoff.

Agree with all of this. This is why the block-playoff-expansion approach has to include moves that lithify the Four Power Conference structure (which the de facto demotion of the Big XII has created). This approach has to move to getting everyone that matters into a conference - Four Power Conferences :: Four Playoff Spots :: One from each conference. If ND wants to matter, they can join a conference. The only ones that should be resisting this are the SEC and ND. The others still have more votes if they stick together.

If you can't make this happen, then push very hard to go very big, very fast.

 

[woofermazing]

If the remaining conferences collude to stop the playoff expansion this season, you might as well strap in for a full court press to get three SEC teams and either Clemson/ND into the playoffs. If ESPN is willing to meddle into getting UT & OU to ditch the BigXII for the SEC, you can be damn sure they'll carry a major grudge and openly lobby against any team or conference that goes against their potential ratings gold mine of a 12 team playoff.

Pretty much. ESPN's next move will be to get the B12 to dissolve so they can dump that billion dollar TV contract and save OU and UT some rights payments.