rams80

That splits Vanderbilt from Tennessee and Florida. I don't see Vandy approving of that at all. Vandy can go suck eggs as far as the rest of the SEC is concerned. /They'll just become Tennessee's designated rival.

No.

I honestly don't know why Cuse and Pitt felt the need to leave. Maybe they just got jumpy watching all the posturing and chest-puffing in the Big XII. Because the Big East basketball schools attempted to sell the football schools down the river during the last TV contract negotiation vis a vis potential money in the name of getting more dollars for glorious Big East basketball. Because the Big East just lets Notre Dame dictate everything and bitch out any football school for the audacity of looking out for themselves. And there was the "why don't you pay Villanova's way into Division I-A" thing. So yeah, I could see why they wanted to leave.

Even if it means they might actually sell out the stadium?

There's a famous cover of The New Yorker that depicts "The New Yorker's Concept of Geography" or something, which consists of Manhattan in painstaking detail, followed by an abstract "Jersey" and the rest of America being inconsequential. We need to come up with The Rays Fan's Concept Of Geography, wherein St. Petersburg is separated from the rest of greater Tampa by a vast ocean marked "Here There Be Monsters," because apparently this is THE ONLY FREAKING PLACE IN AMERICA where it's moderately difficult to get to a sporting event. Why can't professional sports franchises be like Walgreens'?

Can't link anything? That's a stretch then... especially with everything we have heard about the ACC upping their buyout fee. Everything that is showing up on Google results is from August of 2011... some as early as November of 2010. I wouldn't say this is a done deal. It looks like more hear-say. If this is true, I'm assuming they are taking Mizzou as the 16th member if Florida State is done and West Virginia is likely? Remember. The ACC buyout hike was cut from $34 million to $20 million at the insistence of Florida State (and Maryland)

For 6 years. Then Texas and Oklahoma pull the rug out from under the conference during everybody's tv deal renegotiation.

Mizzou Board of Curators called a meeting for tomorrow to discuss. Seems at the moment they're kin of split. And that sharing only kicks in if all schools committ for 6 years. Doesn't really change much, just more of a last ditch effort to save the conference. How convenient. A lot of contracts are up in 6 years.

I suspect Seattle has some bare bonesing going on in the design.

I'd like to think that I'm young enough for their winning a national title during my lifetime to count as recent.

8 trips to the dance in the past 9 years is more than any team in the SEC not named Kentucky can say. Doesn't everyone from the Big East get in the tourney anyway Beating everybody to the punch about 9 out of 11 teams not making it out of the first weekend IT'S DOC GERBIL'S WORLD.... IT'S DOC GERBIL'S WORLD Why haven't I used that picture at all regarding conference realignment? In retrospect I totally should've used that multiple times in this thread, especially once the Cuse/Pitt to ACC news started coming in Because you need to photoshop John Marinatto's face onto ol' Courage for it to work.

I guarantee that if the Big East proposes the current football schools subsidize both Villanova and UMass' elevation to BCS AQ competitiveness, especially at the expense of Temple or some other slightly more established program, there will be a breakaway. The idea of subsidizing Villanova alone was a major bone of contention from Syracuse and Pitt.

I don't really see how that is ineptitude. I believe the Big 10's expansion follow the same guidelines because of the way the Big 10 Network and other TV deals have worked out. Just because a school is in the same state, doesn't mean they need to be in the same conference. I guess there is the idea of natural rivalry and what not, but if they had a rivalry BEFORE the merging of conferences, I'm sure they will have a rivalry AFTER the merging of conferences. If they didn't have a rivalry before then really its going to become something that is just forced. Its not like Cincinnati joining the Big 10 would make a huge marquee match up/future legendary rivalry just because they are in the same conference. The problem is that if the Big East wants to retain AQ status past 2014, they're already kind of hurting for programs to add. All this does is cut them off from some of the better geographically coherent teams. It might also piss off some of your remaining football schools enough that they pull the plug on staying in.

But they're going to invite the other two service academies!

From http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2011/03/brandon-davies-girlfriend-byu-jim-mcmahon-/1 No, the meme is go to Vegas with a Coke and a $20 and break neither. Granted the Bowls themselves don't really care since they are getting theirs with ticket guarantees anyway.

What's wrong with BYU? Now if BYU told the Big XII "Piss off Laddie", then there'd be trouble.

Florida State and Maryland also talked the ACC's raised buyout fee from $34 million down to $20 million. Make of that what you will.

They did. Oklahoma then went and joined the ACC.

But what about Texas football? I thought it was special Baylor.

No they wouldn't.

Welp, a prophet am I.

It's not like Michigan's coaching staff knows SDSU's every tendency from personal exper-OH WAIT THEY DO! That kind of throws a monkey wrench into any upset attempt.

Because one team defines a conference. C-USA is a fairly solid mid major league even if they haven't been able to haul out the one elite team. Yes, The middle to bottom of both conferences are very comparable. the Top part of it is where they are worlds apart. So, who is C-USA's great white hope this season for a non-BCS birth buster?? Or is that dream dead already?..HaaHaha Very top. For this year the Mountain West has Boise and TCU. And they're losing TCU. Now please go back to ESPN before I start making Mormon jokes.

Because one team defines a conference. C-USA is a fairly solid mid major league even if they haven't been able to haul out the one elite team.

Good point. Maybe TCU would stay in the new Big USA, but I suspect they'd jump to the Big XII and either Memphis or Southern Miss would stay in B*USA. No idea how you could set up divisions that would make sense that way, though. Big XII would take TCU over SMU or Southern Miss. Not necessarily. Baylor would love to lord being an AQ team over TCU and there are indications Texas would rather not add a strong Texas-based program to the Big XII