rams80

It's a shame Syracuse and Pitt had to leave the Big East.

They could have had Navy as a conference foe.

Navy is better in football than half the teams in the ACC. I'm sure 'Cuse and Pitt will enjoy playing against such football powerhouses as Duke, Wake Forest, and Boston College week after week.

BC was decent until they fired their coach for daring to schedule an interview with the Jets.

It's a shame Syracuse and Pitt had to leave the Big East.

They could have had Navy as a conference foe.

From the same person who kept me informed on Texas A&M situation.

Missouri is expected to go to the SEC West with Auburn moving to the east.

I'm sure Tennessee is going to LOVE losing 3rd Saturday in October.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Big 10 is going to get bit in the ass once the dust settles (how's that for cramming cliches?). Initially, reports were that the Big 10 were being proactive and really spear heading and leading the charge for expansion to super conferences, but it seems either the cockiness or the lack of planning is coming back to haunt the Big 10. Most of their targets seem to be going else where.

Or they're waiting for everything to fly apart in 5 years.

Option B is Jim Delaney is going to swoop in on Mizzou at the very last second in an attempt to actually get one up on the SEC for a change. It won't work but I can't rule it out.

Reading today's Daily Orange was unbearable. If I read one more quote about someone pissed that we're losing Villanova as a rival, which nobody gave a crap about before College Gameday showed up in 2010, I swear...

It's ok. Villanova applied to the ACC too.

I look for Colorado to block or vote against any Pac-12 expansion involving Texas and/or Oklahoma. They didn't want to be part of a conference that had divisions along east and west.

Which is probably why you're going to see a 4 team pod setup for scheduling.

How many schools in the B1G play lacrosse?

It's not like the ACC has enough members to qualify for an autobid either.

This isn't the first time you've done that. But I'm still laughing at you bringing up Marcus Jordan, Perry would sh1t all over him, and anyone else at UCF

As a whole university, or however else you want to look at it, Baylor>UCF

I've been to both universities and I think UCF has a little more eye candy. But, then again, when you have over 28,000 females at a school, there's bound to be some lookers.

Well with Baylor, *INSERT APPROPRIATE BAPTIST STEREOTYPES HERE*

That helps explain it as well.

The SEC's actions are about controlling the narrative (namely, we aren't evil raiders who blew everything up for fun and profit). And avoiding a decade in the courtroom with Ken Starr. The Gentleman's Agreement is fine for #13 and #14, but Silve can legitimately say all bets are off for #15 and #16 and what's best for the league trumps parochial concerns.

1. The SEC isn't knocking on their doors at this time. And it's a big possibility that UWV may be the 14th member.

2. If the Miami situation was that big of a scare, do you think Pitt and 'Cuse would really be that anxious to join? What happens to the U isn't necessarily going to affect the other schools.

1. Publicly no. 72 hours ago the ACC wasn't publicly knocking on Pitt and Syracuse's doors either, and yet here we are.

2. I think the general toxicity of the relationship between the football schools and the basketball schools in the Big East even outweighs considerations such as Miami's sanctions. Judging from what I've read online the football schools were pretty much fed up with being second class citizens in the league despite being the breadwinners.

I still say they go after Missouri, WVU, and Virginia Tech.

My reasoning for Virginia Tech is now with the additions to the ACC, basketball wise, V-Tech loses a lot in the conference. Atleast if they join the SEC, the competition isn't as tough.

The ACC buyout price prevents them from leaving. It's going to be UConn and UCF going to the ACC. UConn goes for obvious reasons. UCF goes because I think the SEC wakes up, and adds WVU, A&M, Louisville, and USF. They'll try to go after USF, but when the SEC offers, the jump. So they turn to the next best option. UCF is the largest university in Florida, and very rich. If they do join, they'll probably expand their stadium to around 60,000 (which I believe is already planned). If they join the ACC, they're competitive enough in the major sports to make the jump.

Didn't the Big XII up its buyout penalties after last offseason?

The ACC's buyout hike is a symbolic deterrent, not a prohibitive factor. If you want out, you'll find the money to get out.

Not to $20M. And with the additions of Pitt and 'Cuse, it seems like the changes they're making will make the current members more inclined to stay put.

Nebraska negotiated theirs down to $10 million. Since we can all assume that TV deals are going to end up being renegotiated for $Texas dollars, what is another ten million if it means membership in the Big Ten or SEC. The current Big Ten tv deals paid out more than $20 million last season. Again, it sounds nice to the people, but it is not an impenetrable barrier by any means.

Wow. Ok, the current members of the ACC now seem to be fine with staying in the ACC. So why would they try to leave simply just to say they got around the buyout? Just because you think they can, doesn't mean they're going to when all signs are pointing to them NOT leaving. The ACC has now aligned itself up pretty well for the potential superconferences and appear to only be "buyers" not "sellers".

And I'm sure Florida State and Clemson are perfectly fine with sticking in the ACC. Right up until Mike Silve calls Tallahassee and Clemson. Just because the ACC looks to survive doesn't mean you cannot still improve your lot in life.

I still say they go after Missouri, WVU, and Virginia Tech.

My reasoning for Virginia Tech is now with the additions to the ACC, basketball wise, V-Tech loses a lot in the conference. Atleast if they join the SEC, the competition isn't as tough.

The ACC buyout price prevents them from leaving. It's going to be UConn and UCF going to the ACC. UConn goes for obvious reasons. UCF goes because I think the SEC wakes up, and adds WVU, A&M, Louisville, and USF. They'll try to go after USF, but when the SEC offers, the jump. So they turn to the next best option. UCF is the largest university in Florida, and very rich. If they do join, they'll probably expand their stadium to around 60,000 (which I believe is already planned). If they join the ACC, they're competitive enough in the major sports to make the jump.

Again, the buyout is simply a starting point for negotiations, not some devastating MAD-scale deterrent and is about as believable a deterrent as a buyout fee of ONE BILLION DOLLARS. You could make up much of the buyout simply by withholding revenue sharing a la Nebraska and Colorado.

And again, that doesn't mean the teams will try to get out when there's becoming fewer reasons for them to leave.

1. Can you seriously tell me that if you are Clemson or Florida State and the SEC comes by and says "Hey, you guys want in?", they wouldn't jump? They damn well would bail faster than Cracky the Tiger could go through crack cut with meth and they damn well could find the money to do so since we're talking about large state institutions (What's another thousand dollars in semester tuition? It's just loan money and the students expect the hikes at this point). The SEC is just more attractive to the ACC's more Southern, football-oriented members. (FWIW I suspect Tobacco Road et. al. would shed fewer tears about being rid of those football playing ruffians than some seem to think.)

2. Lost in this general brouhaha is another problem regarding the stability of the ACC's current membership-namely the fact that the NCAA is going to be napalming the out of Miami's athletic department at minimum. There's a good chance the NCAA may just drop Little Boy on Miami Gardens and consign the beast to the South Florida swamps from whence it came. How stable can you be if you're worried one of your ostensible football flagships is about to become a 21st Century SMU.

I still say they go after Missouri, WVU, and Virginia Tech.

My reasoning for Virginia Tech is now with the additions to the ACC, basketball wise, V-Tech loses a lot in the conference. Atleast if they join the SEC, the competition isn't as tough.

The ACC buyout price prevents them from leaving. It's going to be UConn and UCF going to the ACC. UConn goes for obvious reasons. UCF goes because I think the SEC wakes up, and adds WVU, A&M, Louisville, and USF. They'll try to go after USF, but when the SEC offers, the jump. So they turn to the next best option. UCF is the largest university in Florida, and very rich. If they do join, they'll probably expand their stadium to around 60,000 (which I believe is already planned). If they join the ACC, they're competitive enough in the major sports to make the jump.

Didn't the Big XII up its buyout penalties after last offseason?

The ACC's buyout hike is a symbolic deterrent, not a prohibitive factor. If you want out, you'll find the money to get out.

Not to $20M. And with the additions of Pitt and 'Cuse, it seems like the changes they're making will make the current members more inclined to stay put.

Nebraska negotiated theirs down to $10 million. Since we can all assume that TV deals are going to end up being renegotiated for $Texas dollars, what is another ten million if it means membership in the Big Ten or SEC. The current Big Ten tv deals paid out more than $20 million last season. Again, it sounds nice to the people, but it is not an impenetrable barrier by any means.

I still say they go after Missouri, WVU, and Virginia Tech.

My reasoning for Virginia Tech is now with the additions to the ACC, basketball wise, V-Tech loses a lot in the conference. Atleast if they join the SEC, the competition isn't as tough.

The ACC buyout price prevents them from leaving. It's going to be UConn and UCF going to the ACC. UConn goes for obvious reasons. UCF goes because I think the SEC wakes up, and adds WVU, A&M, Louisville, and USF. They'll try to go after USF, but when the SEC offers, the jump. So they turn to the next best option. UCF is the largest university in Florida, and very rich. If they do join, they'll probably expand their stadium to around 60,000 (which I believe is already planned). If they join the ACC, they're competitive enough in the major sports to make the jump.

Again, the buyout is simply a starting point for negotiations, not some devastating MAD-scale deterrent and is about as believable a deterrent as a buyout fee of ONE BILLION DOLLARS. You could make up much of the buyout simply by withholding revenue sharing a la Nebraska and Colorado.

I still say they go after Missouri, WVU, and Virginia Tech.

My reasoning for Virginia Tech is now with the additions to the ACC, basketball wise, V-Tech loses a lot in the conference. Atleast if they join the SEC, the competition isn't as tough.

The ACC buyout price prevents them from leaving. It's going to be UConn and UCF going to the ACC. UConn goes for obvious reasons. UCF goes because I think the SEC wakes up, and adds WVU, A&M, Louisville, and USF. They'll try to go after USF, but when the SEC offers, the jump. So they turn to the next best option. UCF is the largest university in Florida, and very rich. If they do join, they'll probably expand their stadium to around 60,000 (which I believe is already planned). If they join the ACC, they're competitive enough in the major sports to make the jump.

Didn't the Big XII up its buyout penalties after last offseason?

The ACC's buyout hike is a symbolic deterrent, not a prohibitive factor. If you want out, you'll find the money to get out.

Let's ask ourselves again what has happened to the last two conferences Texas was in. Yeah, umm, that particular cuckoo bird isn't worth inviting into your nest.

You're saying that the University of Texas was the direct reason for the dissolution of the SWC and potential dissolution of the Big 12?

Not the only one, but Texas' insistence on wanting to pretty much dominate its conference in all things administratively and financially has not exactly been helpful to keeping conferences together. Please note how the most stable conferences are the ones in which even the big fish are willing to behave more or less as equals with the small ones.

Apparently West Virginia has applied to join SEC.

At this point, what options do the SEC have other than West Virginia? It seems like Virginia Tech, Clemson and Florida State are not options due to the increased buyout money the ACC wants to let a school leave, plus general lack of interest from those schools. Maybe Mizzou?

Of course, this assumes that the SEC won't fold on their position about the Longhorn Network to get Texas in the mix. Do they really think that a conference without Texas but with the precedent of disallowing school-specific TV networks is worth more than having Texas and working out the TV revenue piece so everyone wins?

Let's ask ourselves again what has happened to the last two conferences Texas was in. Yeah, umm, that particular cuckoo bird isn't worth inviting into your nest.

So, if the rumors of Notre Dame and Texas going to the Big 10 are true... what does that mean for Oklahoma and Oklahoma State? Would they still lean toward joining the Pac 12 or would then start to lean toward the SEC now?

1. Those rumors are not true.

2. Even if they were, the terms of admission in that post are not worth it.

But he who controls the Rutgers controls the universe.

Two other points which aren't being discussed:

• Bringing over Pitt right now breaks up the conference rivalry between Pitt and West Virginia. Regardless of academics (and really, with the exception of perhaps the Big Ten, who's paying attention to academics in the formation of athletics conferences these days?), West Virginia would seem to be the best fit for the ACC in terms of natural ties. Bringing them over would keep their rivalry with Pitt, plus you'd have regional tie-ins with Virginia, Virginia Tech and Maryland.
  
• The addition of Syracuse and Pitt means that there will be an odd number of teams for both baseball and men's lacrosse (Syracuse does not have a baseball team and Pitt does not have a men's lacrosse team). For lacrosse, it's probably not a big deal to have 5 schools involved, but 15 schools in baseball presents some scheduling issues. Perhaps this is another indication that the ACC isn't done expanding yet (ie, accept one more baseball school and one more non-baseball school, and ideally the same thing with men's lacrosse). Or perhaps they'd encourage Syracuse to take up baseball again and for Pitt to start men's lacrosse - the ACC has traditionally wanted all its members to field teams in its core sports.
  

Just have nonconference games or series during that time. That's how other leagues handle this.

I can't see WV playing Marshall, Pitt AND Maryland every year out of conference. One of those three will probably get axed, and it's probably not going to be Marshall (the governor of West Virginia pretty much strong-armed WV into keeping that series alive).

Maryland isn't really a rival, so that would go if need be. I know the Huntington crowd and the state government would like to keep the "coal bowl" alive, but I don't think it's an untouchable rivalry.

I was about to say, there seems to be a whole lot of gnashing of teeth over a game that I didn't realize had all this bad blood. I was under the impression Maryland only cared about Virginia, and not some Appalachian hilljacks. And yeah, my general read is that West Virginia would love to be rid of Marshall as an annual opponent.

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FWIW I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the College Football Premiership were to push for a 4 non conference, 9 conference 13 game schedule.

Anyway, I thought about it, and I can't see "super-conferences" working for more than a year or two. Syracuse abandoned its two biggest rivals in basketball (Nova, Georgetown), and Pitt abandoned its biggest rival in football (WVU). Remember a couple years ago when the Big XII had the Texas-TTech-Oklahoma three way tie atop the division? Remember all the controversy that went along with that? How do you think that's going to work out with eight teams per division?

There are these things called "Non-Conference Games". Perhaps you have heard of them.

Completely out of left field though.

Syracuse, yes. Pitt, not so much.

Pitt has been "showing itself" to the other conferences, trying to get out of the BEast for a while. Strangely enough, their chancellor is head of the Big East Committee. The irony is kind of laughable.

Anyway, I hate to see Syracuse/Georgetown turn into a once-a-year affair. That's one of the better rivalries in college basketball, even if it doesn't get the ESPN "omfg classic stuff here!" treatment that Duke/UNC receives.

Syracuse was thisclose to bailing in 2003 and would have if not for some meddling Virginia legislators. So them jumping to the ACC isn't exactly shocking either.

There's a few schools I'm really wondering about:

1. Villanova & Georgetown: These two Big East basketball schools are in FCS in football. Will they jump to FBS, or will they move conferences?

They'll stick around for the basketball. Villanova may move up, Georgetown....*laughter*

2. All the non-football schools in the Big East: will they join other leagues, create their own non-football league, or do the unthinkable and maybe create a football team?

They will stick together for basketball and revel in 80s nostalgia.

3. The WAC newcomers Seattle, Denver and UT-Arlington: even though the WAC isn't the BCS conference, their football membership is a little short. Will one, two or possibly all create football teams to shore up this league?

No.

4. UALR: With Denver moving to the WAC, Arkansas-Little Rock is the odd team out in the Sun Belt Conference. Could they join the Sunbelt Conference?

You mean field a football team?

AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahaha....ha...ha...ha.... No.

Also, there is the rumor which has not been confirmed after a week. It was that both Texas and Notre Dame went to Chicago to meet with B1G officials to jointly propose their case to join the league and how to split their revenues starting in 2014.

I am certain of one thing in terms of realignment. Little, if nothing is certain.

It's not going to be comfirmed because its from a guy who spent all of last year making crap up.

West Virginia is not going to the Big Ten. Bank on it.