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DCDuck

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Everything posted by DCDuck

  1. It all comes down to money. TCU would be drawing whatever they could while Texas and OU were suffocating the rest of the conference if the revenue sharing wasn't in place.
  2. 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. The Big East provided both schools with traditional rivalries and the opportunity to get to a BCS bowl in football without actually having a good football team (see Connecticut, 2010). The ACC provides a slight upgrade in football (in any given year West Virginia is as good as any team the ACC has to offer, Va Tech included) and a bump at the top of the basketball league (after Duke and UNC the ACC is mediocre in hoops, compared with the likes of Georgetown, Marquette, Louisville, Villanova etc. in the Big East), but little else. Pitt-Maryland would be somewhat of a forced rivalry. Maryland's "rivalry" with Virginia went cold after Virginia's football program started to stumble. Syracuse-BC? Syracuse-who? Honestly, who is Cuse's rival in football? Cuse makes sense in lacrosse, but everyone knows that lacrosse is irrelevant in the scheme of realignment (just like academics are irrelevant).
  3. Even if it means they might actually sell out the stadium? Unfortunately they can't play against Penn State every week. With the way Randy Edsall is "guiding" the program it'll be a wonder if any fans show up to the games at all. It's bad enough that Maryland is a basketball and lacrosse school situated smack in the middle of pro football country (between two passionate fanbases in the Redskins and the Ravens). Add in a coach who clashes with players, an Athletic Director who has lost the favor of many boosters and alumni, and a budget shortfall thanks to having to pay Ralph Friedgen's buyout, and you have an unmitigated disaster known as "Maryland Football". I joked about Tulane joining the B1G a while ago, but Tulane would actually make more sense for the B1G than Maryland at this point in time (i.e. the next five years or so). Maryland football is in that deep of a hole right now.
  4. It speaks volumes when a program wins two National Championships in basketball in 12 years (now three) and still has trouble getting fans to show up to the games. UConn athletics is the Tampa Bay Rays of the college sports world. And then there's UConn football...
  5. As to the point about FSU to the SEC, I think they'd get the same treatment Mizzou got when it comes to support. Georgia and Florida would block the move, South Carolina too (fearing the next logical step would be to bring in Clemson and NC State). FSU doesn't expand the geographic footprint either. And don't even start with the "Virginia Tech to the SEC" talk. There are powerful forces at work in the Commonwealth of Virginia holding VT and UVA together. They're practically joined at the hip. Virginia doesn't add anything that VT couldn't (nobody gives a snot rocket about baseball and lacrosse) aside from AAU Member Institution status... and nobody gives a snot rocket about that either.
  6. This means UConn to the ACC is a fait accompli. The Big East is dead. Why would the ACC want UConn? UConn has no fanbase. That fact was shown to be painfully obvious at the Final Four this past March. CBS had to pay students from nearby Rice to dress up in UConn gear and root for the Huskies because there were huge chunks of empty seats in the UConn student section. Consider this: Butler has an enrollment of around 4,000 and yet they still managed to get fans from Indy to Houston to root for the team during the Final Four.
  7. I don't see Maryland leaving the ACC for the B1G. Abandoning Duke in basketball wouldn't be worth the tradeoff for Penn State in football.
  8. Texas Christian to Big XII. http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/32537029 Hopefully this ends the Big East's westward consolation raid. It's bad enough that DePaul and Marquette play in the "Big East", but seriously, Houston, Kansas and Air Force would have just been a logistical travesty.
  9. That's how I look at it. I almost wish the SEC doesn't accept them now. Evidently your wish has been granted.
  10. You have to throw in your picturesque stadium in the deal.
  11. "Settling" for the premier football conference in the country? Mizzou might be one of those schools that still has the far-fetched notion that college athletics has the slightest thing to do with academics.
  12. How do you think Oregon got with Nike? By giving the world Phil Knight, just like Maryland got with UA by giving the world Kevin Plank.
  13. 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 Syracuse missed twice in 06-07 and 07-08. Georgetown missed on 05-06 and 08-09. UConn missed in 06-07 and 09-10. Villanova missed the first three years of Jay Wright's tenure, from 01-04. Marquette missed in 03-04 and 04-05. Notre Dame missed in 05-06 and 08-09. Cincinnati made the dance last season, but before that they hadn't made the trip since 2005 under Bob Huggins as a memeber of Conference USA. St. John's hadn't made it since 2002 under Mike Jarvis. Pitt is the only other Big East team that can claim 8 trips in 9 years. Louisville went to the Final Four in 2005, and the Elite Eight in 2008 and 09. So I simply can't agree with your argument about them not winning anything in years.
  14. 8 trips to the dance in the past 9 years is more than any team in the SEC not named Kentucky can say.
  15. South Carolina would balk. It wouldn't just be a minor inconvenience, it would be a huge issue for the Gamecocks. And the way the SEC operates, dissention of any sort in any capacity is strictly frowned upon. Everything has to be unanimous, even if the bylaws say there only needs to be a 9/12 majority. And $20 mil is chump change compared to whatever slice of the pie the (other OTHER) Tigers would get from that big deal the SEC has with ESPN and CBS.
  16. Eastern Michigan is looking more and more attractive by the minute!
  17. Another reason why BYU doesn't get BCS-conference consideration: From http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2011/03/brandon-davies-girlfriend-byu-jim-mcmahon-/1
  18. "Maybe"? 5 bowl wins the past six seasons (including a Rose Bowl win), and five 11-win seasons in the past six. You know who can't say the latter? Everyone in FBS not named Boise State. There's no "maybe" about it. TCU has played at an elite level for the past half-decade. Their one "down" season was an 8-5 campaign where they still won a bowl game.
  19. A few steps? That would be the WAC. That's like saying the Central Hockey League is significantly lower than the ECHL. There's a dropoff but it's only slight. Define "meaningful". Last season: ECU beat NC State SMU beat Washington State Southern Miss beat Kansas Tulane beat Rutgers Tulsa beat Hawaii UCF beat UGA UTEP beat New Mexico This season: Houston beat UCLA Rice beat Purdue UCF beat BC Those lists include wins against AQ schools and current (or future) MWC schools. For reference, UTEP was the only C-USA team that played a MWC school (New Mexico). There's already 3 on the list for 2011 and we're just entering week 4. And since you're a fan of analyzing a current team's success, or lack there of, and what it means for a league they're no longer in, BYU is currently losing to UCF. Citing a team beating New Mexico as reason that one league is near or at another's level is like saying the ACC is better than the SEC because Wake Forest beat Vandy last season. If you're going to make comparisons, compare the top of one conference to the top of another conference. Anyone can beat New Mexico. Not everyone can beat Boise, TCU or Air Force.
  20. UCF has never made the NCAA Tournament in men's basketball as a member of Conference USA, nor have they ever gotten out of the first round the four times they have made it to the dance. Southern Miss is even worse in that regard; they've only been to the NCAA Tournament twice in school history, the last time happening in 1991. I dunno about other sports, but both programs are pretty bad when it comes to men's basketball.
  21. Why have I heard nothing about Memphis to the Big East? ... oh yeah, because college basketball is irrelevant. Carry on.
  22. Yes! Yes! Think of the prestige that comes from losing a million dollars playing in front of 10,000 shivering people in the MagicJack Who Gives A Bowl in Random Southern Crumbling Stadiumsburg, USA. Playing in the FCS National Championship game is much better? FBS is always better than FCS, even if you have to deal with playing in the Champs Sports Bowl or whatever for a decade or more. What I mean by national profile is this: Virtually no one outside of the east coast knows what or where ODU is currently. Playing at the FBS level could put the school on national TV, giving the school a chance to make a name of itself through advertising both its athletics and academics. It'd let people all across the country know who they are. This is the reason why some FCS schools are hot to trot to make it to the FBS level (ie, Charlotte, Georgia State, UTSA, etc.). Most people don't really differentiate between random Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt team and certainly cannot specifically identify them as such. As for Bowls, seriously, those things cost schools serious jack. Shoot, Connecticut lost a couple of million dollars for playing IN A BCS BOWL. Is this really worth it? No, it's not. That's part of the reason why Montana hasn't been in a rush to join FBS (along with the fact that it would probably be joining the WAC if it did make the jump). ODU realizes that success in basketball is easier for them to attain than success in football in terms of becoming a national presence, as they only really need to look across the CAA to rivals VCU and George Mason. Winning all one's games at the FBS level doesn't guarantee you anything when you play in the MAC (just ask Ball State) or Conference USA (just ask Tulane). And that's probably where ODU would end up if they made the leap. There's also the travel cost aspect. Flying to El Paso to play a Thursday night game on ESPN U is a headache for everyone.
  23. Good luck with that. They just built Robins Stadium two years ago. Very true. I think JMU or ODU would be more likely to move up to the FBS level, in all honesty. Both have facilities that would qualify. The question is whether there is the will at either school to compete at that level. ODU's football team has no prestige as it was just started two years ago. JMU probably won't go either, largely because Harrisonburg, VA is located somewhere between nowhere and purgatory. Both are pretty tied into their regional rivalries in the CAA. If anything, I think all of the Virginia CAA football schools will probably go as a bundle (ODU, JMU, W&M, UR). Considering that I'm pretty sure ODU's plan is to eventually be FBS, they might go... I could be wrong, though. I think ODU would need more seating capacity, if I'm not mistaken. Correct me if I'm wrong. I believe ODU made their football team with the intent to play in the CAA for the foreseeable future. ODU has big rivalries in-state with JMU and W&M which would be lost with a unilateral move to FBS. Also the non-AQ FBS options aren't particularly attractive to ODU right now. C-USA would be a lateral move in basketball and the travel costs would be a huge drawback. UNC-Charlotte, on the other hand, has made it clear they are going all-in with their bid to get into FBS. I think they're aiming to join C-USA to give East Carolina a travel partner and a conference rivalry the Pirates currently lack.
  24. Good luck with that. They just built Robins Stadium two years ago. Very true. I think JMU or ODU would be more likely to move up to the FBS level, in all honesty. Both have facilities that would qualify. The question is whether there is the will at either school to compete at that level. ODU's football team has no prestige as it was just started two years ago. JMU probably won't go either, largely because Harrisonburg, VA is located somewhere between nowhere and purgatory. Both are pretty tied into their regional rivalries in the CAA. If anything, I think all of the Virginia CAA football schools will probably go as a bundle (ODU, JMU, W&M, UR).
  25. Can the Spiders actually upgrade Robins Stadium to FCS standards, or is there a bigger facility off campus? There isn't a bigger facility worth using. Richmond City Stadium is a dump - it makes Memphis's digs look top-of-the-line - and is a big reason why VCU hasn't been actively pursuing a football team. Along with the old president said as long as he was in charge, VCU would never have a football team... I can still wish though. Although, I think if U of R ends up going to the Big East, it may get the wheels turning. There was also reports of VCU buying City Stadium but its only a pipe dream at this moment. Prez. Rao said he'd take a "serious look" at the viability of adding football, but the simple truth is that VCU's donor support is almost nonexistent. Especially for a school with 32,000 students. The Final Four run pretty much solidified VCU's position as a basketball school and I don't know if anyone is really clamoring for a football team now. ODU fans can wave their football team at us all they want, but most of the cost for that came from donors and boosters. VCU had to raise student fees to come up with the additiona $700k per year to cover Shaka Smart's raise and the raises for his staff.
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