Big Ten 11 talk expansion

Big Ten Conference likely seeking universities that fit its identity in expansion talks

You gotta read it.. but I think some of the schools bandied are silly. Texas? Rutgers?
Note Cincinnati isnt in there.

- as usual some of the comments are 'interesting
'Notre Dame's only academic peer would be Northwestern'? Pretty sure NW grads might take issue.

 

If the Big Ten (and it's ELEVEN schools) expand to the first "Super Conference" of 16 schools, the dominoes will fall (big problem for the ACC and the Big East).

Texas wouldn't join the Big Ten, but Rutgers is almost a guarantee. Penn State would have an "eastern" neighbor, New Jersey is one of the best HS football recruiting states, and Rutgers sports are covered by the NYC media.

The Pac-10's dream would be Texas/Texas A&M, but that won't happen so they'll probably end up w/Colorado and Utah.

 

Didn't the Big Ten/Jim Delany already come out and said they are planning on expanding (or at least look at their options) and said 12-18 months as the timeline?

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/i ... -expansion

 

A&M and texas would look pretty closely at the Pac-10 b/c of the increased academic standards over the SEC. The real question is if the Pac-10, who has been very resistant to expansion, would attempt to go the Super Conference route. You know the SEC will once the dominos start falling.

The Big 12 is inept so I think they'd break up if this were to happen. Not sure what the ACC and Big East would do. Merge sounds logical until you look at all of the non-football Big East schools.

 

Amazing! This sure caught the sport wonks by surprise. Everyone had written off the Big 12.
Good call Don. What no one apparently thought of was: what was to be gained by Texas .. when they already were the top dog.

Maybe the Old Ten wanted to divert attention from Michigan?

But whatever... guess which school between Colorado and Nebraska is most likely to be an ongoing problem. IMO, no contest. Colorado.

 

The Big 11 and ....

As long as we are patting ourselves on the back...

Colorado and Utah in the brand new 12 Pac !!Oops, scratch that and reverse it.

Now will Sen. Hatch stop whining? Maybe he will start again when Utah starts losing 3,4, or 5+ games a year.

Gentleman, Colorado has been cleaned itself up since that SLEAZEBAG Gary Barnett left in 2005. Unfortunately, Dan Hawkins hasn't won enough and is skating on thin ice.

 

Re: The Big 11 and ....

"It's Division I football! It's the Big 12! It ain't intramurals!

 

I'm still chapped on this subject. A&M missed out on a real opportunity in my book, but I'm waiting for the details to come out before calling our leadership gutless and lacking vision.

You realize there were 6 other "show me your ID schools" involved in this potential shakeup, right?

 

I have to come to the defense of my (undergrad) alma mater here, because CU gets so unnecessarily railed by the media and that nonsense is digested as reality by people like 'fog.

There were allegations by some female students at CU, and later by a female kicker on the team, that they were sexually assaulted by football players at parties that involved alcohol, minors, and recruits. The NCAA investigated it, and no sanctions or probation were given. The local police, while inept, closed it's investigation with no findings. The CU Administration conducted an investigation, CU settled out of court with a few of the women. That is the extent of the "scandal." What really seemed to be the nail in the coffin of the court of public opinion was then-coach Gary Barnett's callous reference to the female kicker's allegation by saying she was an "awful" kicker.

Truth is, Colorado penalized itself the most with a new female Boulder DA needing to look tough after some bad press (see Ramsey, Jon Benet), an uber PC CU administration going into over-reaction mode by firing everyone and defining restrictions on recruiting, hiring a super nice guy coach who can't coach, and having media folk like Rick Reilly throw his own school under the bus.

Colorado isn't innocent, but when you compare a "scandal" that consisted of no actual criminal convictions (in probably the most litigious/severe state for such crimes) to the type of issues that have resulted in very real penalties and convictions at places like Oklahoma, USC, Nebraska, Alabama.. you wonder if people just hate Boulder and the perception that the town is teeming with hippies (it's not). I've always felt as though a story broke about girls and alcohol being involved in recruiting and Colorado was just the first to be under the microscope for it, when it goes on at every major football program (see Florida, "Gator Girls"), just without the same acrimony.

Colorado won't miss the Big 12. It was hijacked by Texas (and the South schools that ride the Longhorns' coattails) and morphed into the Southwest Conference 2.0. All of this after the Big 8 essentially saved the 4 SWC schools from an imploding conference in 1995-6 when a) Colorado was an elite football team, b) rejected an invite from the Pac 10 to honor their commitment to the new conference which they helped form, and c) at a time when Texas and Oklahoma were completely mediocre on the field and horribly corrupt off the field (see Oklahoma, Texas, probation).

Colorado got sick of its lunch money being taken by the conference bully every day, and now they're off to a new home where the other schools share the revenue equally, care about academics, and no school exists solely to ensure that their piece of the pie is bigger than anyone else's.

We fully expect a phone call from Texas in 3-5 years after they kill yet another conference. In the meantime, pass the sunscreen and fully expect the Buffs to be back to winning soon.

 

Good rebuttal!

 

Thanks for that Bradical.

Annnnnnnnnnnd this is why I think the NCAA should be outlawed and all Division 1 sports be disbanded, or just made professional.

I may be completely crazy but with the conference realignments over $$$, athletes going "one and done", various infractions at schools of all shapes and sizes, and tv contracts changing the playoff (or lack thereof) systems that result in more missed class time, public funds paying for a coach's million dollar salary...

Sorry, but it's a complete farce.