rams80

I took the ACC/Football-Big East/Basketball idea and decided to run with it. I wrote all the teams down (well, typed them in notepad) and then asked myself "is this more of a football school or a basketball school?"

Big East (Basketball)

Cincinnati

Rutgers

Syracuse

Connecticut

Louisville

UNC

Duke

BC

Georgia Tech

Villanova

Temple

ACC (Football)

West Virginia

South Fla.

Pitt

Miami

Clemson

Maryland

Virginia Tech

Florida St

NC State

Virginia

Wake Forest

It wound up breaking down pretty evenly. Although their footprints overlap more than before, the Big East is still primarily a northern conference and the ACC is mainly a southern conference. The only thing I'm not quite sold on is Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. I put Wake in the ACC so that NC State wouldn't be the only tobacco road school left, but looking at it now, I thinking of maybe swapping them around. I also added Temple back to the Big East since I never did like them in the MAC and with the Big East now being a non-BCS conference, they don't have to put on airs of having standards that are above a school like Temple (which apparently hasn't been THAT bad as of late).

Of course, this is all hypothetical since I'm pretty sure there's already too much bad blood between the conferences' administrators to actually work something like this out.

The football oriented conference would probably opt for a 12th team due to the whole NCAA "Championship Game Rule" idea.

It'll be interesting to see what team gets in. Army and Navy have to be considered dark horses. It's got nothing to do with success at this point, it's mostly about survival if they were raided again. But given they announced they'd only be adding two football members, it makes you think they're just going to pursue schools that'll only join the league for football even though it goes against most of the conventional wisdom of the day. That would rule out TCU, who'd probably bolt the league in the long-term anyway once a more geographically sound option revealed itself (hello Big 12)

In what universe does adding Army and Navy, even if only for football, seem like a good idea? Army and Navy aren't exactly in college sports for the money, but rather for the promotional value. Also, while Navy and Army are slightly more competitive as of late, both would simply be akin to a return to Temple for the Big East.

The Big XII ain't expanding. Texas is content to have a 10 team Conference with a well-established power structure of Texas > Everyone else and won't upset that.

The Big East meetings start on Tuesday

Will Villanova and/or TCU be extended invitations?

Villanova already has been:

http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/110210aac.html

1. Philly will actually have a solid FBS program (they'll have priority for the Linc, so where will Temple go?)

2. I hope they get to play Notre Dame and Boston College every season...the Catholic Cup deserves to remain!

Temple will stay at the Linc, and Villanova will play at the Philadelphia Union Stadium (for awhile anyway)

Just the cities would trade leagues. The players currently on the NHL team in Atlanta would play in Chicago's Allstate Arena, and the farm team would move to Atlanta. If the New York area can support 3 teams, and the L.A. area has 2, I think Chicago can support 2 as well.

You'd think that, but you are wrong. There's not enough " the Blackhawks" sentiment in the city to make a second team a truly viable option. At least at the NHL level.

Perhaps. Mostly I just want the Sun Belt NHL teams to disappear. Wisconsin could use an NHL team too.

Oh, you're one of those guys.

Just the cities would trade leagues. The players currently on the NHL team in Atlanta would play in Chicago's Allstate Arena, and the farm team would move to Atlanta. If the New York area can support 3 teams, and the L.A. area has 2, I think Chicago can support 2 as well.

You'd think that, but you are wrong. There's not enough " the Blackhawks" sentiment in the city to make a second team a truly viable option. At least at the NHL level.

The choice of the higher seed hosting the conference title game can work (Look at C-USA, who uses this model), but a Big 6 BCS conference using this model strikes me as odd. You're leaving a lot of money on the table if someone else could host the game.

It will only change the year Washington State gets the game. Granted that will never happen, so *shrugs*.

I don't think they will blow up so much as quietly disband and take up something more to their speed.

Shuffleboard looks promising.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/College-Football-2792/ncaa-div-1-qualifications.htm

Aha, found some info on the subject of becoming D-1A/FBS football. The minimum average attendance for all home games looks to be 15,000:

"20.9.6.3 Football-Attendance Requirements. The institution annually shall average at least 15,000 in actual attendance for all home football games.

Yea... I was gonna say, it's 15,000. Playing at Union Park (I don't know or care what the shill name is) is a smart move for Nova... especially if they can pack the place, which shouldn't be all that hard. Temple's probably kicking themselves as to why they didn't think of it sooner. In fact, why does Temple even still play football... has Bill Cosby threatened to stop funneling money to the school or something?

It's the best reminder the school exists post John Chaney and the football team actually hasn't been craptacular the last year and a half, winning 9 games last year.

Lastest rumor: The Big East Seriously Looking at TCU

I know the Big East is desperate for attention in Football, but I suggest you guys should just stick with trying to bring Villanova up, OK?

Where would a DI FBS 'nova play at? Are they going to share Lincoln Financial Field with Temple?

I think they were punting around using the Philadelphia Union Stadium, at least in the interim.

So then what do you call the winners for the World Champs for IIHF and FIBA? What about the World Baseball Classic winners or the Rugby World Cup winners or the FIFA World Cup winners? My point is that these are the HIGHEST level of competition for their respective sports and hence why they should be called "World Champions" not the champions of domestic leagues. The title of "World Champions" should be reserved for countries and/or clubs who are competing in international competitions where there is more then one country involved. An example would be the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League A for hockey. They won the Swiss league, the Champions Hockey League and then beat the Chicago Blackhawks for the Victoria Cup. In essence they are a club that competed in a international club championship and won it all and would deserve the title of "World Champions".

Club Sports Teams are different from National All Star Teams. Both have their own competition restrictions in general, and therefore can be World Champions. The NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL are the highest level of club sports competition in the world for their sports.

Why do they call themselves "World Champions"? I've never understood that when it comes to the NFL, NBA and MLB. For one, it's not an international championship. I know for the NBA, there are other countries in the world besides the US that have domestic leagues and I'm pretty sure they don't put "World Champions" when they win their respective domestic competitions. I might just be picky here but I think the title of "World Champions" should be reserved for international competitions such as the FIBA World Champs (currently going on in Turkey right now), FIFA World Cup and Club World Cup, IIHF World Champs, IRB Rugby World Cup, and World Baseball Classic. I know there are many others for various sports, just too many to list. My point is that the title "World Champions" should not be given to domestic competition winners. What's wrong with "Super Bowl Champions"?

Please identify the club baseball and basketball teams that could take a 7 game series from the MLB and NBA champions, or the club American football team that could win a game against the Super Bowl champions.

You can't, can you?

/Just think of them as the World Club champions in their respective sports.

Mburmy:

Pretty good, I agree with Portland and Charlotte if there have to be two more teams, but why the insistence on eight divisions of four? It's not nice. I'd rather have four clunky divisions of eight than eight divisions of four.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Expansion Circuit

Los Angeles, Portland, Oakland, Seattle, Texas, Toronto, Charlotte, Tampa Bay

Charter Circuit

Baltimore, Boston, New York, , Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Minnesota, Kansas City

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Expansion Circuit

Colorado, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Houston, Arizona, Washington, Miami

Charter Circuit

Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh

Wouldn't Oakland be part of the Charter Circuit as they started as the Philadelphia A's

I think the admiral's making some nods to geography and rivalries. The Giants and Dodgers are also in the Expansion Circuit.

When the NCAA moratorium on teams moving up I think a group of them should go up together as a pack:

• James Madison
  
• Delaware
  
• UMASS
  
• ODU
  
• Georgia State
  
• Jacksonville State
  
• Villanova
  
• Georgia Southern
  

And the Appalachian rules I-AA as God Emperor, correct?

As for those who are possibly fearing the end of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry...

...You can get off that ledge now.

As part of the division alignment announcement comes the 2011-2012 Big Ten Schedule. It works like this:

-5 Division Games

-1 Protected Rivalry Game (Matchups are as follows: Michigan-Ohio State, Nebraska-Penn State, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Michigan State-Indiana, Iowa-Purdue and Northwestern-Illinois)

-2 Crossover Games

Also of note: Michigan-Ohio State will be played on the final day of the regular season in both years, like it has been for many years.

Viva the most one-sided trophy rivalry in the Conference!!!

As a Wisconsin Fan I am disappointed.

Some thoughts

* We are separated from our three nearest geographic opponents.

* While competitive balance is not too bad, I'd say we're i the slightly tougher division at the top with PSU/OSU, but putting Northwestern/Iowa/Michigan with Nebraska evens it somewhat.

* It's totally random. Obviously the straight E/W split would have been unfair to the East, so I cannot really complain that it did not shake that way, but it's such a mess.

* Minnesota/Wisconsin is the oldest Bowl Subdivision rivalry. I really hope they protect that game. They should, but unlike Mich/OSU, there is not much money to be made from it and we know that tradition that does not raise the money is meaningless. But I'd guess this is one of the protected rivalries.

* Wisconsin is among the best in the nation in terms of fans traveling to road games. I wonder whether the Iowas/Northwesterns did not want us for that reason.

Not really. Outside of Nebraska vs Wisconsin it's a straight North/South split. East/West really is only a necessity if you have a league playing in 3 or 4 time zones, not 1 or 2.

For your second point, you should see the Michigan fans complain. They are convinced they are in the harder division. Of course if we went straight East/West like they seem to be pining for.

For point 4, rumor has it that will be the protected rivalry, but I wouldn't be surprised if the "price" for getting a protected rivalry with Nebraska was being in a separate division from Iowa and Minnesota.

For Point 5, for all we know, Indiana asked to be in a division with Wisconsin for the same reason.

Dear god, these leaked Big Ten divisions are horrible.

This was supposed to be simple: East and West, right down the Indiana/Illinois line. But no. Instead it's this giant cluster:censored: and the conference's biggest money maker, Michigan-Ohio State, is history. How do they expect them to remain massive rivals through the years when the teams aren't even in the same division? The Big-Tween really dropped the ball on this one.

I dunno. Tennessee and Alabama, Georgia and Auburn, Miami and Florida State, North Carolina and NC State, and Maryland and Virginia seem to hate each other as much as always and they aren't in the same division. So long as the game is played annually, the rivalry should remain.

/Why are protected rivalry games such a hard concept to grasp?

Why not at this point? Ohio State-Michigan is already one of the greatest rivalries out there. Why not give it a primetime slot and let the world watch Michigan... stink it up again against Jim Tressel and the Bucks.

1. Logistics-both play at 100,000 plus capacity stadia with fanbases that travel well. It works a lot better to have the game on a weekend rather than a weekday.

2. Your TV numbers are going to be down because, guess what, folks have to work the next day and therefore can't stay up to watch a football game.

3. The "world" watches the game in its Saturday time slot anyway.

4. People (reading Michigan and OSU fans) have been pissed off about screwing with tradition by first the thought of splitting OSU and Michigan up, then possibly moving the game to October. I can only assume the response to moving the OSU-Michigan game to the ACC/Big East "Hey we're still relevant GUYZ!" time slot will be volcanic.

The OSU/Michigan game will be moved to Thursday night...

Oh that's just going to piss people the off right there, and throw a monkey wrench into any hope for productivity in Ohio or Michigan that week.

Current Rumored Big Ten Divisions. Division names mine.

Big Ten North-ish

Michigan

Michigan State

Minnesota

Northwestern

Iowa

Nebraska

Big Ten South-ish

Illinois

Indiana

Purdue

Ohio State

Penn State

Wisconsin

EDIT I suspect the annual rivalry games in this setup would be

Ohio State-Michigan

Wisconsin-Nebraska (Wisky traded Minny and Iowa for this, presumably)

Illinoia-Northwestern

Penn State-Michigan State

Purdue-Iowa

Indiana-Minnesota

Okay, so now the word is BYU is gonna go to the WCC for basketball/non-revenue and go independent for football.

I think that's a good move considering the WCC consistently has 2 or 3 tournament teams in hoops whereas the WAC hasn't had as good of a track record IIRC

Except the Mountain West has done even better bid-wise historically.

Wisconsin and Iowa will be placed in separate divisions beginning in the 2011 Season.

Which one gets Minnesota?

I've also heard they are thinking about putting Michigan and Ohio State in seperate divisions for the payoff of the Big Ten Championship

Which makes me think they may be going with a North South Alignment

I think splitting up Iowa and Wisconsin is more indicative that they're going for the ACC draw teams out of a hat alignment.

Wisconsin and Iowa will be placed in separate divisions beginning in the 2011 Season.

Which one gets Minnesota?

One thing that you are missing about BYU going independent, is the fact that BYU will control it's fate and who it schedules. Instead of leaning on just beating one or two schools and the rest of your schedule is just a bunch of patsies. Now going independent, they can continue to schedule tough like they do, but if they run the schedule of tougher opponents then they put themselves in a better position to go to a BCS game than they do if they run the Mountain Least schedule. BYU has never been afraid to play the big boys in the big boys stadium and that is something that a lot of the big boys can't even say, I'm talking to you Florida and Nebraska. People sit there and talk about how BYU isn't Notre Dame, that's correct. At least BYU has done something over the past few years, what exactly has Notre Dame done? Oh yeah, that's right, they are still living off the legend of the Gipper.

In the last decade, Nebraska has played non-Conference series with Virginia Tech, USC, Pitt, Penn State, and Notre Dame. This year, they begin a home and home with Washington, as have future home and homes with UCLA, Miami, and Tennessee.

Also, it's kind of hard to schedule tough when it is reported that the independence deal includes 4-6 games against WAC teams.

But then, college football has never been one of your strong suits.

I think the thought process (if they did sign) is that you can't pay $5 million to something that doesn't exist anymore.

And I'm just going off the official Mountain West Twitter feed on invites. (Unless that was a tongue in cheek reference to CSU's twitter feed getting hacked by a Utah fan yesterday.)