rams80

There's got to be an election at some point. If nothing else that is when it will end. Either way, nominates "The Neverending Story" as the theme song of the Phoenix Coyotes debacle.

O'Neal Division or Maravich Division (Yes, I know he played for the Jazz, but the New Orleans connection is there)

... except nobody here gives two farts about the Big Ten except for Big Ten alumni (but then you could say that about any conference). The Big Ten is a decidedly Midwestern conference, whereas DC is a decidedly Mid-Atlantic (some would say Southern despite its strong progressive bearings) city. DC doesn't care about college football. That's part of the reason Maryland football has struggled to fill Byrd Stadium even during the early Fridge years when they were ranked in the top-10. And if what you claim is true about the Big Ten not needing Maryland or Rutgers to expand influence to the Eastern Seaboard, then why would the Big Ten even consider expansion at all? Barring a doomsday scenario in which certain other conferences go to 16, they wouldn't. And even then it would be grudgingly.

First off, I never said Maryland was Penn State's biggest rival, I said Penn State was Maryland's biggest rival. There's a difference. Second, who do people in the DMV care about if not Maryland? Virginia? Two hours away from DC. Georgetown? They play football in the Patriot League. Virginia Tech? Nobody around here even knows where Blacksburg is, let alone drives down there for games. This isn't the same Virginia that was ranked year-in and year-out during the 90s and early 2000s. This Virginia has trouble generating enough interest for even regional TV coverage (living in Richmond for three years, I can recall exactly three times that Virginia had a football game on TV that wasn't broadcast on ESPN). Maryland controls the DMV in terms of college sports. Georgetown comes in second. Virginia isn't even on the radar here. I'm not sure I'd use "control" there. "Steadily diminishing plurality" seems to be a better description. But here's the secret: the Big Ten doesn't need Maryland to get into DC. Just like they don't need Rutgers to get into New York. The current Big Ten schools have such large expatriate communities in those two cities that they have pre-existing footholds in the college sports consciences of those cities. With regards to Virginia falling off a little in the 2000s, Al Groh does have a way with programs. But so does Mike London

Ok, now let's pretend we aren't a Maryland booster for five seconds. The school is worse than Virginia in the national rankings; despite selling its soul to UnderArmor for cash$money as mentioned, the athletic department collectively is several degrees worse than broke and about to axe 8 different programs, the facilities suck, the Athletic Director is an idiot, football is a smoking crater, and basketball has been slowly drifting in a similarly wrong direction ever since Gary Williams broke through a decade ago. Also nobody in Baltiwash gives a about Maryland unless they're any good and welp, they ain't good right now. Oh, and Virginia (the state) is getting progressively less "Southern" every year. Yankee migrants seem to keep pushing south from Washington. You're going to get your people who care about the Big Ten, and thanks to Mike London you're going to get people to care about playing good football over there. If the Big Ten were to drag in Maryland, it would only be as Virginia's partner, not based on any merit for Maryland. PS. It's cute that Maryland thinks its Penn State's biggest rival in football. Is this kind of like how Illinois views Michigan?

Why would the Big Ten want Virginia when they could have Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Pittsburgh instead? Virginia is far, far down the list of possible expansion candidates. Nobody wants a school where the two biggest sports on campus are baseball and lacrosse, even if the academics are top-tier. Why do you think Rice has been left out in the cold by both the Big XII and the Big East? Because Virginia is likely a better get than most of those schools you just named. Virginia is a major state school in a large-ish and growing state, which means it commands a sizable resource base the Big Ten would like to get. Additionally, while football and basketball is not convincingly the best-supported program there, there is better growth potential for the football and basketball teams than you would see at a place like Rutgers or Maryland.

They aren't handcuffed. The only thing is that Virginia (the state government) wants both schools to have a home in the event the ACC collapses. Those political forces would be satisfied by a hypothetical Virginia Tech to the SEC, Virginia to the Big Ten scenario.

So? As stated earlier. FSU would have been better off trying to talk Notre Dame into joining with them. Or BYU. Notre Dame, yes. BYU? Stop it. The Cougars are pretty much Clemson with a TV network and market (so...better). They have the added bonus of being available without needing to dynamite a conference.

So? As stated earlier. FSU would have been better off trying to talk Notre Dame into joining with them. Or BYU.

West Virginia is "southeast".

Assuming they surface. If FSU goes, Clemson goes. FSU is going. Besides, this wouldn't go this far if there weren't chats going on. This is 2012. "Meetings" dont have to happen for people to get things in order. "Meetings" are where the formalities are done. They are in. Both were just waiting and see what kind of deal Swofford was going to hatch. The deal was bogus so now they bolt. They have been talking with the Big 12 intensely since January. You may not see the writing, but I do. The writing is "what does Clemson bring to the table for any other conference?" Crazy fanbase? They have those. Football team in semi-rural or small market state that is divided in loyalties? Got that. Delusions of grandeur? Check. Inexplicable losses that vex all associated with them? Crap, the Big XII just got rid of Aggie, why get one back? All Clemson does is get you to 12 teams and well shoot, there are a lot of other schools that can do that. If Florida State was smart and serious about this, they'd be working on pressuring Notre Dame to partner with them, not Clemson. I still think enough other parties in college football don't want to see this fall apart so that it's not going to go the way you think it will go. And of course, I doubt this is going to work out long term on the field for FSU. Yeah, they may have secured a theoretical shot at the college football playoff, but its theoretical in the same way Valencia could theoretically win La Liga. And that's what Florida State would be...the Valencia to Texas and Oklahoma's Real Madrid and Barca. Especially since you just gave an entire conference a new Floridian recruiting foothold.

Assuming they surface.

Eh... A 2015 commitment should be treated as no commitment. They, Air Force, and Navy could still easily renege if everything explodes.

And just like in football no one will take them seriously. And that's why FSU has lost 4 of their last 6 games with Wake. It happens. But don't be clueless for the sake of trolling. Grow up and stick to the topic. I have been an adult, why cant you? Ehh...Florida State and Clemson are slightly miffed at the new TV contract. So logically based on things I saw on the internet 4 16 team super-conferences are imminent-despite half of those conferences not being willing to go that far and a 3rd Conference not being thrilled at that prospect. I'm not quite sure how much adult reasoning went into that thought process. Besides, FSU fans are going to need to grow thicker skins if they join the Big XII. What with being the local third or even fourth banana and all that...well I hope you like frequent road trips to San Diego and San Antonio in January.

And just like in football no one will take them seriously. And that's why FSU has lost 4 of their last 6 games with Wake.

Actually I think Wake Forest's response would be to call Florida State cowards for running away from them.

She has a link to her website on her twitter page. It's hilarious. Here's one thing that caught my attention.

Anyone with a degree from a fully accredited institution of higher learning.

I hope they like Ro-Tel down in SEC-Land

Really? Haha, that's funny to me. To me, a world champion would be a team or group that beat the best in the world. Like the World Cup in soccer. Not winning a Super Bowl or NBA Title. Just because the NFL and NBA are the most popular sports. There is not a club team in the world that could take a 7 game series from the respective league champions there. And a CFL-NFL game (assuming they could agree on the rules) would not be pretty to watch if you were a Canadian.

Yeah, but research dollars can be just as plentiful, if not more so, than anything the athletic department brings in. And who would those schools be for the PAC 12 to look at? That is the point. As long as Boise St football can bring in money and ratings they will be considered. Now do they meet the money and ratings requirements? I don't know but you all are vastly overrating academics in all of this. As I mentioned last night, short of the Big XII trading a chunk of its membership over to the Pac-12 in exchange for a larger slice of the East Coast, the teams just aren't there. And no, ability to generate research dollars is going to be a serious consideration if you're going to get schools like Cal and Stanford to sign off on this. Washington too; if you're adding schools that will bitchslap the local 11 across the field, the least they can do is help get more money for research purposes. Now in regards to Boise specifically, the Broncos probably don't move the dial enough. Boise in particular and Idaho in general is not a prime "get" for TV dollars, while Boise State's national following is derived more from their "plucky underdog from crap conference" status; something that goes away if they join one of the Big Boy conferences.

Yeah, but research dollars can be just as plentiful, if not more so, than anything the athletic department brings in.

No. Which is why I'm skeptical. Unless there is a pre-arranged deal that sees much of "Murderer's Row" (Kansases, Iowa State, Baylor and/or the Mormons) join the Pac-12, I'm not seeing this working. Right now it just doesn't work. The Northeast is left with no shot at a title and the Pac-12 is cut off from expansion. This is a long-term problem.

That's the problem I see in all of this. If you look at TV market size, I guess they could add Boise St., New Mexico, UNLV, and UTEP, but I don't think the Pac-12 would want any of those schools. Maybe they'd add Hawaii as a recruiting perk. Again, like the Big 10, they may be forced to do something. Boise State: Glorified community college with a very good football team AND NOTHING ELSE New Mexico: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHFOOTBAWHAHAHAHFOOTBAWHAHAHAHAHA......No. (For further research on the current state of Lobo football please consult Nagasaki circa August 1945) UNLV: The less broke Nevada athletic department. Only less broke is not the same as financially healthy. Also, football is bad, albeit not New Mexico bad. UTEP: Memo to all; don't cross the the river on road trips. Also the market isn't that great and the athletic department hasn't done a whole lot since 1966. Hawaii: Why do you need a bleeping island vacation as a recruiting perk? You have the entire state of California and that's a lot closer than Hawaii and a lot less overrun by organized crime (allegedly this is a small problem for the Warriors)

Conspiracy theory: All of this (ACC exploding, 4 super conferences forming) is one giant internet-fueled bluff in order to drive Notre Dame to join the Big Ten. Think about it. Pac-12 isn't going to grab a school in Indiana, and they want to maintain good ties with the Big Ten so they won't go poaching in the Big Ten's "turf". Despite what Texas wants, the rest of the Big XII won't sign off on a Big East style parking arrangement. South Bend would burn down if the school went SEC. No...the popular option floated over the last year was that if Notre Dame surrendered its independence, it would be to join the ACC before joining the Big Ten. And if the ACC escape route might die while independence ceases to be viable, well then what have we here. Furthermore, this could be a bit of a quid pro quo arrangement the Big Ten set up. In exchange for not having on campus national semis, the rest of the big boys work to finally land the Big Ten the school they always wanted. ----------------------------- That said, there's a problem with this round of "SuperConferences are happening!" that leads me to be skeptical. Who will be Pac-12 teams 13-16? Every school not in one of the 4 that is west of the Mississippi River is seriously unattractive for one reason or another.