Smoke your cigars and enjoy the band while you can....

[steve dave]

I bet the Book Of Mormon soundtrack that won all those Tony Awards would make excellent tailgate music

[Stupid Fitz]

Would have to target ND first, despite being laughed at. After that, BYU.

anyone that says anything about ND again should be slapped.

My God yes.  I mean, why don't we just add Michigan and Ohio State. 

[ew2x4]

I went to an AF/BYU game. I have never seen so many gingers in my life.

[WillieWatanabe]

Irish upon a star!

Big 12 finalizes deal to bring Notre Dame to conference

lol

[Panjandrum]

To follow up on my point before, if the super conferences shake out, this is what I have given a few different variables:

1) The Big 10 will only invite an AAU school (with the exception of ND)
2) The SEC will not expand into a state it already has a footprint in
3) With Texas A&M leaving and the legislature not able to stop them (should that come to pass), Baylor no longer has any protection.

If these assumptions were true, this is what I have:

Big 10:

Georgia Tech
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue
Wisconsin

The Big 10 gets into the Atlanta, Baltimore/DC, KC, St. Louis markets, and they get Notre Dame.

Pac 16:

Arizona
Arizona State
Cal
Colorado
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
Texas
Texas Tech
UCLA
USC
Utah
Washington
Washington State

The Okie schools and Texas and Tech come along to round out at 16.

SEC:

Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt
Virginia Tech
West Virginia

The SEC adds four new states to it's footprint, and it doesn't tick off any existing member schools.  Also, It still fits, geographically, because all four states added current border at least one current SEC member state.

Refugee (I have what I consider to be 15 safe additions):

Boston College
Clemson
Florida State
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Louisville
Miami
NC State
Pitt
Rutgers
Syracuse
TCU
UConn
Virgina

This is a combination any school leftover that is (A) a public institution, (B) has a stadium that holds at least 44,000 (that they don't lease from a pro sports team), or (C) currently lives in a BCS conference.  I forgot to add TCU earlier because starting in 2012, they'll be in the Big East, so, yeah, they're in there.

The schools that would fight for the sixteenth spot:

Cincinnati
USF
BYU

Cincy has a dump of a stadium, and from what I understand, it would be very costly for them to make any renovations to it that would actually make it comparable to what the rest of the refugee schools have.   It questions their ability to invest the funds necessary to compete at the super conference level.

USF doesn't even have their own stadium, but unlike Pitt (who uses Heinz Field), they don't really have any fans to fill said leased stadium.  Last year, they averaged under 30K fans per game.  That's not good.

BYU seems like a slam dunk choice with one major flaw; they are the only school west of the Central time zone.  It's cool to have a conference in multiple time zones, but when you're the only member in the Mountain time zone, that refuses to compete on Sundays, it could be a hindrance regardless of how good you are.  The logistics of playing games with BYU when you have a conference of teams mainly constituted east of the Mississippi would be a nightmare.

If I'm a betting man, Cincy would get the nod because they have a basketball team worth inviting to the table, and it would tip the scales in their favor.

I omitted Duke, Wake, and Baylor from the list.  Neither Duke or Wake will ever invest the money necessary to compete in a super-conference.  They don't have the alumni numbers, they don't have the attendance, and frankly, they don't have the infrastructure.  Yes, they have basketball, but there will be a bunch of other really great basketball schools getting left behind when the Big East collapses, and they can just go hang out with them.

Baylor is just screwed because everyone hates Baylor, and no university president will willingly invite Ken Starr into their group.  Period.

That gets you to 64, and I think it's a workable premise.  I'm omitting Boise St., all of C-USA, etc. because, frankly, people assuming they'll get taken in the realignment is silly.  Our assets and operating budgets put theirs to shame, and they simply don't have the infrastructure to be considered when you're trying to pick up the pieces.

I know that I'll get a lot of DNR responses from this, but the bottom line is that we're fine.  I think all scenarios see us into the super-conferences.

["storm"nut]

Ubben:

Dan Beebe told USA Today's Steve Wieberg that the Big 12 is not in a holding pattern, and has plans for alternative situations. He adds, however, that the Big 12 is intent on having 10 members.

This means that within a week of A&M leaving, Air Force or Houston will be announced as the tenth member.

Big12 is actively targeting a school, and it's neither of these two.

I owe you a drink some time Cap, although I can only afford Natty Light. That okay?

[Brock Landers]

Top of the Mormon To Ya!!


Big 12 Lands Cougars as Aggies Leave
Beebe: "Yeah they're a little weird, but not a bizarre, angry type of weird like A&M was"

[steve dave]

Top of the Mormon To Ya!!


Big 12 Lands Cougars as Aggies Leave
Beebe: "Yeah they're a little weird, but not a bizarre, angry type of weird like A&M was"

 

[Panjandrum]

Top of the Mormon To Ya!!


Big 12 Lands Cougars as Aggies Leave
Beebe: "Yeah they're a little weird, but not a bizarre, angry type of weird like A&M was"

Well done.

[SkinnyBenny]

To follow up on my point before, if the super conferences shake out, this is what I have given a few different variables:

1) The Big 10 will only invite an AAU school (with the exception of ND)
2) The SEC will not expand into a state it already has a footprint in
3) With Texas A&M leaving and the legislature not able to stop them (should that come to pass), Baylor no longer has any protection.

If these assumptions were true, this is what I have:

Big 10:

Georgia Tech
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue
Wisconsin

The Big 10 gets into the Atlanta, Baltimore/DC, KC, St. Louis markets, and they get Notre Dame.

Pac 16:

Arizona
Arizona State
Cal
Colorado
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
Texas
Texas Tech
UCLA
USC
Utah
Washington
Washington State

The Okie schools and Texas and Tech come along to round out at 16.

SEC:

Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt
Virginia Tech
West Virginia

The SEC adds four new states to it's footprint, and it doesn't tick off any existing member schools.  Also, It still fits, geographically, because all four states added current border at least one current SEC member state.

Refugee (I have what I consider to be 15 safe additions):

Boston College
Clemson
Florida State
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Louisville
Miami
NC State
Pitt
Rutgers
Syracuse
TCU
UConn
Virgina

This is a combination any school leftover that is (A) a public institution, (B) has a stadium that holds at least 44,000 (that they don't lease from a pro sports team), or (C) currently lives in a BCS conference.  I forgot to add TCU earlier because starting in 2012, they'll be in the Big East, so, yeah, they're in there.

The schools that would fight for the sixteenth spot:

Cincinnati
USF
BYU

Cincy has a dump of a stadium, and from what I understand, it would be very costly for them to make any renovations to it that would actually make it comparable to what the rest of the refugee schools have.   It questions their ability to invest the funds necessary to compete at the super conference level.

USF doesn't even have their own stadium, but unlike Pitt (who uses Heinz Field), they don't really have any fans to fill said leased stadium.  Last year, they averaged under 30K fans per game.  That's not good.

BYU seems like a slam dunk choice with one major flaw; they are the only school west of the Central time zone.  It's cool to have a conference in multiple time zones, but when you're the only member in the Mountain time zone, that refuses to compete on Sundays, it could be a hindrance regardless of how good you are.  The logistics of playing games with BYU when you have a conference of teams mainly constituted east of the Mississippi would be a nightmare.

If I'm a betting man, Cincy would get the nod because they have a basketball team worth inviting to the table, and it would tip the scales in their favor.

I omitted Duke, Wake, and Baylor from the list.  Neither Duke or Wake will ever invest the money necessary to compete in a super-conference.  They don't have the alumni numbers, they don't have the attendance, and frankly, they don't have the infrastructure.  Yes, they have basketball, but there will be a bunch of other really great basketball schools getting left behind when the Big East collapses, and they can just go hang out with them.

Baylor is just screwed because everyone hates Baylor, and no university president will willingly invite Ken Starr into their group.  Period.

That gets you to 64, and I think it's a workable premise.  I'm omitting Boise St., all of C-USA, etc. because, frankly, people assuming they'll get taken in the realignment is silly.  Our assets and operating budgets put theirs to shame, and they simply don't have the infrastructure to be considered when you're trying to pick up the pieces.

I know that I'll get a lot of DNR responses from this, but the bottom line is that we're fine.  I think all scenarios see us into the super-conferences.

DID read.  oh man.  Posts in this thread from Pan always take me from   down to   and by the end I am  

[sys]

pan, your list makes more sense than 99% of the crap thrown out, but i saw two things that appear completely impossible to me.  i imagine there are others if you look closely.

nd is given no incentive to join the big 10, they haven't done it for the past 100 years, they aren't going to now, unless the conditions change.  your scenario does not include any conditions changing for them.

you split unc, leaving ncstate in a worse conference and consigning duke and wake to lose fball programs entirely.  even if unc wanted to do that (they don't), it would be impossible.



creating 16 team superconferences is really hard.  if you try to do it by adding teams to the strongest existing conferences, it may be impossible.

[michigancat]

Pan, CU was in the mountain time zone, too. Sheesh.

[Panjandrum]

Pan, CU was in the mountain time zone, too. Sheesh.

Okay, yeah, but there's really no way you can make a division in my scenario where you aren't crossing at least two time zones if you add them, unless you do the four-team pod idea.

Which I guess is on the table...

[sys]

unless you do the four-team pod idea.

most serious stuff i've seen on 16 team conferences use the pod model.  8 team divisions leaves so little room for inter-divisional play that it is basically two eight team conferences with a marketing agreement.  which is usually considered a negative for some reason.

[pissclams]

byu isn't joining any conference.  i bet they're talking to colorado state, seems like a b12 thing to do.

[steve dave]

I don't think conferences want to go to 16 teams.  I think some would if they could get a Texas or OU but I don't think anyone is going to 16 just to go to 16. 

[Panjandrum]

pan, your list makes more sense than 99% of the crap thrown out, but i saw two things that appear completely impossible to me.  i imagine there are others if you look closely.

nd is given no incentive to join the big 10, they haven't done it for the past 100 years, they aren't going to now, unless the conditions change.  your scenario does not include any conditions changing for them.

you split unc, leaving ncstate in a worse conference and consigning duke and wake to lose fball programs entirely.  even if unc wanted to do that (they don't), it would be impossible.



creating 16 team superconferences is really hard.  if you try to do it by adding teams to the strongest existing conferences, it may be impossible.

If this really does come to fruition, I think the NCAA is going to have to step in a la a "Too Big to Fail" scenario where the NCAA and BCS get them all together and start talking about the long term ramifications and how to distribute these teams in a much more civilized fashion, or the whole system is going to fall apart.  In that event, if we're going to 64 teams, and that by no means is a hard number, you're looking at probably telling ND that their automatic bid to the BCS is done.  If this is the way we're headed, they need to get on the train or get off of the tracks.  Either way, we're moving on with or without them.

You can totally nitpick certain schools in the list.  I'm sure if you really wanted to, you could swap out North Carolina and Virginia.  The end result is that you're still going to get about 60 safe teams and about eight teams that are on the borderline.  It's like projecting NCAA bubble teams.  Really, you're looking at a pool of twenty or so realistic options looking at about 10 spots or so.

I completely concur about your thoughts regarding super-conferences.  I know that the media wants us to jump right into them, but this would be the most difficult undertaking in the history of college athletics, and it's the most risky as well.  You're basically reducing the FBS division to 64 teams, and expanding FCS by 40-some because there is no need for a mid-major any longer.  You have to assume a completely seismic shift before we even start these conversations because you're practically destroying college football and rebuilding it all over again with X number of teams that want to pay to play.  I'm just going to assume in this scenario that teams like Duke and Wake would simply bow out because the construct that they would be working in would simply not be possible for them to compete.

Of course, every team on this list gets a seat at the table if we go to 72 overall teams with four 18 team conferences, and teams like Boise get into the mix as well.

[Panjandrum]

I don't think conferences want to go to 16 teams.  I think some would if they could get a Texas or OU but I don't think anyone is going to 16 just to go to 16. 

I think most conferences just want to blow themselves up and start over to remove some dead weight.

As i said before, I think you're right with the exception of the Big Ten, and they just want the right number of teams so they can show enough live events to build a network that doesn't need to fill slots with cable access quality programming about what robots the nerds at Northwestern are working on this month.

[Rage Against the McKee]

OMG, the desperation in these comments. . .

http://espn.go.com/espn/conversations/_/id/6862753/help-us-reasons-sec-want-your-team

[username]

OMG, the desperation in these comments. . .

http://espn.go.com/espn/conversations/_/id/6862753/help-us-reasons-sec-want-your-team

hey col. sanders shut you mouth and get me a bucket of chicken.

[sys]

I think most conferences just want to blow themselves up and start over to remove some dead weight.

this is what the expansionist tards don't understand.  there's no mechanism for kicking a school out once it's in.  the risk of mistakenly adding a school that hurts your conference is much greater than the risk of not adding a school that might help your conference.

[OK_Cat]

probably already posted, but kinda 

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/15441477/iowa-states-move-to-nfc-north-flying-way-under-radar

[deputy dawg]

probably already posted, but kinda 

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/15441477/iowa-states-move-to-nfc-north-flying-way-under-radar

Most awesome article in this whole realignment discussion.  On par with serious ku bbs'n.

[steve dave]

I think most conferences just want to blow themselves up and start over to remove some dead weight.

this is what the expansionist tards don't understand.  there's no mechanism for kicking a school out once it's in.  the risk of mistakenly adding a school that hurts your conference is much greater than the risk of not adding a school that might help your conference.

yeah, the Pac12 would do anything for a do over

[kstatefreak42]

Brady Quinn