Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[rams80]

The way I see it, Notre Dame is the key to this arguement.

What I think might happen is Notre Dame saying no to the Big Ten (again) and actually jumping on board to be in the Big East. They're already members of the Big East in other sports, so to join the Big East for football makes logical sense.

One good thing out of this is the easier road towards a BCS bid for the Irish. Being in the Big Ten means playing and fighting off Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State, etc. I think that ND fans would rather beat up on Louisville, USF, and so forth and reach the BCS and the big bucks that way.

If Notre Dame says no the Big East, then they may have to force themselves into doing something that might not be good for the conference, like adding Army and Navy as football only members or even asking Villanova and Georgetown to move up to FBS level play.

Notre Dame considers joining any Conference to be beneath them, let alone joining up with the twice-gutted Big East football Conference. The Big East's AQ status is tenuous at best, and that could go away with the next batch of BCS contract negotiations.

Interestingly, the Big East football coaches have suggested the Big East offering Notre Dame a "join for football or you are completely gone" ultimatum, but the general thought process behind that move was that if Notre Dame's non-football sports are left homeless and feeling the fiscal pinch, Notre Dame would be more willing to join the Big Ten. This, in turn, theoretically slakes the Big Ten's hunger and they don't rip away a couple of Big East teams.

Also, assuming the Big East attempts to soldier on with football, it's likely they will rip more teams away from C-USA. Prime targets would be Memphis (Louisville is told to get bent), Central Florida (Likewise South Florida), and East Carolina. Telling Villanova and Georgetown to haul their football programs to I-A strikes me as a worst case scenario.

[Ben5]

Well... Vandy, GT, and MD have all been mentioned by someone close to the situation, according to ESPN. They literally described it as "Think outside the box." Vandy could work. It's in Big Ten Country, and would be one of the lesser teams like NW and Illinois. It also brings them into the basketball discussion, which is why I think the Big Ten would rather have Syracuse before Rutgers.

West Virginia AND Virginia Tech both could work, and I think, would be ideal if they can't get Notre Dame. Geographically they work well, making a East and West conference, with a Division of Penn State, NY area team, VT, WV. East conference being the aforementioned teams + Ohio State, Michigan State, Indianan, and Illinois (Indy and Illi because it would break up Indy with Purdue and Illi from Northwestern).

As for OSU/Michigan. They will NOT be in the same division/conference. You would be crazy to think so. If they are smart, they will separate them so they have the possibility of OSU/Michigan for the Big Ten title and have National Title implications. It would NOT be smart to put them in the same division/conference. Since this is mainly a money-driven move, I don't think the Big Ten officials would be that naive to make that mistake.

There is no way the rivalry would be cheapened. Having a 2 game playoff, meeting in the regular season and then in the Big Ten Title game, extracting revenge or enforcing dominance. That is the Big Ten's dream.

Vanderbilt is NOT in Big Ten Country. Vanderbilt is in Nashville, Tennessee. Tennessee is NOT IN BIG TEN COUNTRY. Plus, I've been to a Wandy football game, and I seriously doubt the Big Ten will pull that team in to play Ohio State or Iowa every season. This realignment is all about football, and Vandy brings nothing to the table.

Ohio State and Michigan will be in the same division. I'm willing to bet a large amount of money on it. Look at the SEC's top rivalries: the Iron Bowl, the World's Largest Cocktail Party, Battle for the Golden Boot, etc. They all are intra-division.

[rams80]

Well... Vandy, GT, and MD have all been mentioned by someone close to the situation, according to ESPN. They literally described it as "Think outside the box." Vandy could work. It's in Big Ten Country, and would be one of the lesser teams like NW and Illinois. It also brings them into the basketball discussion, which is why I think the Big Ten would rather have Syracuse before Rutgers.

West Virginia AND Virginia Tech both could work, and I think, would be ideal if they can't get Notre Dame. Geographically they work well, making a East and West conference, with a Division of Penn State, NY area team, VT, WV. East conference being the aforementioned teams + Ohio State, Michigan State, Indianan, and Illinois (Indy and Illi because it would break up Indy with Purdue and Illi from Northwestern).

As for OSU/Michigan. They will NOT be in the same division/conference. You would be crazy to think so. If they are smart, they will separate them so they have the possibility of OSU/Michigan for the Big Ten title and have National Title implications. It would NOT be smart to put them in the same division/conference. Since this is mainly a money-driven move, I don't think the Big Ten officials would be that naive to make that mistake.

There is no way the rivalry would be cheapened. Having a 2 game playoff, meeting in the regular season and then in the Big Ten Title game, extracting revenge or enforcing dominance. That is the Big Ten's dream.

Vanderbilt is NOT in Big Ten Country. Vanderbilt is in Nashville, Tennessee. Tennessee is NOT IN BIG TEN COUNTRY. Plus, I've been to a Wandy football game, and I seriously doubt the Big Ten will pull that team in to play Ohio State or Iowa every season. This realignment is all about football, and Vandy brings nothing to the table.

Ohio State and Michigan will be in the same division. I'm willing to bet a large amount of money on it. Look at the SEC's top rivalries: the Iron Bowl, the World's Largest Cocktail Party, Battle for the Golden Boot, etc. They all are intra-division.

It could easily be argued that Tennessee-Alabama and Georgia-Auburn are just as big. If you have a guaranteed out of division rival, additional rivalries can be preserved.

[ESTONES6]

Big Ten country is going to expand. So, Tennessee can be included in it, if they choose to expand that far.

As for OSU/Michigan. They will NOT be in the same division/conference. There is too much money to be made if they meet in the Big Ten/Big North/Big whatever they are going to call it, Title Game.

[crashcarson15]

Big Ten country is going to expand. So, Tennessee can be included in it, if they choose to expand that far.

As for OSU/Michigan. They will NOT be in the same division/conference. There is too much money to be made if they meet in the Big Ten/Big North/Big whatever they are going to call it, Title Game.

I think you're forgetting one thing... more than half the years in this new conference, those are probably not going to be the two best teams. Michigan has to get their act together sooner rather than later for that to be an even halfway compelling match-up. tOSU and Michigan would theoretically win their divisions say, 2 out of 3 years with Wisconsin and Penn State winning in the third year, leaving us with theoretically only one Big Ten Championship every 3 years between tOSU and Michigan.

The game would have much greater implications in the last week of the regular season, deciding who goes to the Championship Game. The Big Ten is stupid if they'd split tOSU and Michigan.

[Sport]

As for OSU/Michigan. They will NOT be in the same division/conference. There is too much money to be made if they meet in the Big Ten/Big North/Big whatever they are going to call it, Title Game.

Bet you they won't be if they follow the model of other conferences. We've been over this before, if they're in separate divisions with the game being played on the last day of the regular season then it would set up a whole slew of problems. One, if they both have their divisions clinched then we're going to see a bad game in the regular season with the possibility of tanking. Two, it would mean that they would play in consecutive weeks. Three, some have suggested that the Michigan game be moved to earlier in the season so they don't play in back to back weeks. That can't happen because the date of the game just can't be moved. For the sake of the rivalry, they have to be placed into the same division.

[The_Admiral]

Vanderbilt is NOT in Big Ten Country. Vanderbilt is in Nashville, Tennessee. Tennessee is NOT IN BIG TEN COUNTRY.

PASSIONATE TRIBALISM

[jkrdevil]

Also, assuming the Big East attempts to soldier on with football, it's likely they will rip more teams away from C-USA. Prime targets would be Memphis (Louisville is told to get bent), Central Florida (Likewise South Florida), and East Carolina. Telling Villanova and Georgetown to haul their football programs to I-A strikes me as a worst case scenario.

It depends on if the Super Conference scenario happens or not. If say just Notre Dame joins the Big ten the Big East will probably stand pat. However, if the Big Ten goes to 16 and the SEC responds by raiding the southern part of the ACC, I wouldn't be surprised if the Big East and ACC end up basically merging for another super conference.

Of course off all of that happens the government probably gets involved on antitrust basis and we end up back with a bunch of small 8 team conferences.

[dfwabel]

Regardless, the city of Lincoln is on a spending spree.

[ESTONES6]

As for OSU/Michigan. They will NOT be in the same division/conference. There is too much money to be made if they meet in the Big Ten/Big North/Big whatever they are going to call it, Title Game.

Bet you they won't be if they follow the model of other conferences. We've been over this before, if they're in separate divisions with the game being played on the last day of the regular season then it would set up a whole slew of problems. One, if they both have their divisions clinched then we're going to see a bad game in the regular season with the possibility of tanking. Two, it would mean that they would play in consecutive weeks. Three, some have suggested that the Michigan game be moved to earlier in the season so they don't play in back to back weeks. That can't happen because the date of the game just can't be moved. For the sake of the rivalry, they have to be placed into the same division.

Well... Like its been stated... the Big Ten is looking to do 2 leagues, with 4, 4 team divisions. After the regular season, there would be a 1 week lay off... then the division champs in each league would play each other, with the Conference championship game between the last 2 teams.

So it would be a 4 team play off over a 3 week period. The Big Ten would be set up as 4 division, A1, A2, B1, B2. The cycle of games would be considered Team 1 in A1 plays the other 3 teams in its division (3 games), then it would have a 3 year cycle, played A2, B2, then B3 (bringing the total to 7 games). Then there would be 5 at-large games. 2 or 3 "tune-up" games... like your Akron, Toledo, Youngstown, etc. etc. bringing the total to 9 or 10. The final 2 or 3 games being out of conference/"big ticket games" i.e. OSU/Michigan, OSU/USC, OSU/Miami(FL). It would set up quite perfectly. Which is precisely why OSU and Michigan will NOT be in the same league/division; so they can play during the regular season, and then have the potential to meet in the Conference Title game.

[rams80]

Regardless, the city of Lincoln is on a spending spree.

Pershing was a dump when my Dad went to grad school there back in the 1970s. This building is needed.

[pianoknight]

Regardless, the city of Lincoln is on a spending spree.

Pershing was a dump when my Dad went to grad school there back in the 1970s. This building is needed.

Agreed. As a Omaha native for 23 years, I conclude that Lincoln always plays second fiddle to Omaha in terms of entertainment, national appeal, etc. The success of the city is linked to the success of the university, so I think it's a great idea for the new arena.

Coming back to the "Big-Whatever-Conference-They'll-Call-It," they would need to split up Ohio State and Michigan. If the Huskers join, I could see Michigan and NU as the two "anchor" schools in a West Division with OSU and Penn St anchoring in the East. Part of the problem is geography though- if you look at the following link, you'll notice that there is a sharp north-south line where Nebraska, Kansas, KState, etc. all stop and then there's a vast wasteland until you get to the West Coast. The only small pocket of teams lies around the Colorado and Utah schools.

If the Pac-10, ACC and SEC follow this expansion trend, there will be a number of schools left out to dry. I can seriously see teams like Iowa State or even TCU getting the short end of the stick here.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101637729041165649981.0004792447fe1db80b1c0&ll=44.087585,-93.427734&spn=42.711005,112.148437&z=4

[The_Admiral]

you'll notice that there is a sharp north-south line where Nebraska, Kansas, KState, etc. all stop and then there's a vast wasteland until you get to the West Coast.

Everything west of Minneapolis and St. Louis is a vast wasteland.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

you'll notice that there is a sharp north-south line where Nebraska, Kansas, KState, etc. all stop and then there's a vast wasteland until you get to the West Coast.

Everything west of Minneapolis and St. Louis is a vast wasteland.

Dem's ignant fightin' words.

[pianoknight]

Everything west of Minneapolis and St. Louis is a vast wasteland.

I'm sure the millions of people living in Kansas City, Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake, Austin, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and others would disagree with you on that. My point is that there is a "frontier" of schools around the Missouri River and then a small pocket of Utah-Colorado until you hit Washington-Oregon-California.

[dfwabel]

Everything west of Minneapolis and St. Louis is a vast wasteland.

I'm sure the millions of people living in Kansas City, Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake, Austin, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and others would disagree with you on that. My point is that there is a "frontier" of schools around the Missouri River and then a small pocket of Utah-Colorado until you hit Washington-Oregon-California.

Texas is different as they used to say in their tourism ads since they have their own power grid. Plus most think Texans are too arrogant in the first place.

People on the coasts still consider the Big XII as "flyover country". The Big Ten wants the east coast because of the audience which their alumni base is at and where their incoming classes come from. They get lots of kids from NY, NJ, MD, and VA.

[rams80]

Everything west of Minneapolis and St. Louis is a vast wasteland.

I'm sure the millions of people living in Kansas City, Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake, Austin, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and others would disagree with you on that. My point is that there is a "frontier" of schools around the Missouri River and then a small pocket of Utah-Colorado until you hit Washington-Oregon-California.

Millions of people live in Afghanistan too.

[The_Admiral]

Welp, now I've done it; I've pissed off Omaha.

[Seadragon76]

Welp, now I've done it; I've pissed off Omaha.

If you did... No one will care because they're too busy swooning over the UFL's Nighthawks.

[pianoknight]

Welp, now I've done it; I've pissed off Omaha.

If you did... No one will care because they're too busy swooning over the UFL's Nighthawks.

I don't think there's going to be too much swooning over the Nighthawks, at least long term. As a Nebraska native, I can attest that they're shiny and new, but unless they find success soon, they'll vanish into distant memory. Look at the Omaha Beef. Or the Knights hockey team. Nebraska will ALWAYS be a Husker-first state. I don't care if the damn Yankees, Packers, Cowboys, Lakers and Red Wings all moved to Omaha, people would still put the Big Red first.