The Big Ten Network is doing some redecorating...
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The Big Ten Network is doing some redecorating...
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The Big Ten unanimously accepted Nebraska's application into the Big Ten, and will officially become a member of the conference July 1, 2011. This season, the Big Ten Network will be airing Nebraska athletics.
I am SO fricken happy right now! I can't believe it starts in a year though! GO BIG RED!
Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will join the Pacific-10 Conference when a formal offer is made, a source told ESPN's Joe Schad on Friday.
Texas A&M, the Austin American Statesman reported, is torn between joining the Pac-10 or Southeastern Conference. The Aggies will have a 72-hour timetable to decide whether to accept the Pac-10's offer, the newspaper reported.
If the SEC were to expand to 16 teams, I would love to see A&M, FSU, Miami, VTech. LSU and A&M had a pretty good rivalry going on. UF, FSU, UM have their rivalries of course. And then VTech/Miami and FSU have a connection also. VTech and UT would have some recruiting rivalries going on close to home also. Though I haven't heard a word about FSU or Miami going anywhere near the SEC, it would nice if they would follow VTech if they were to leave.
I think the SEC should be pretty careful with who they invite. They already have two superpowers in Florida and Bama. Considering LSU has won two titles and a few other teams have the capability to win it all if you add teams like FSU, UM, VT, A & M, it will become virtually impossible to go undefeated in that conference. Heck a 1 loss season would be astonishing. It could hurt the conference's national championship hopes.
The PAC 10 was different. It was viewed as a down conference or a Plus 1 conference. The Big 10 has been that way the last few years with OSU. Those conferences adding legitimate teams in Texas, OU and Nebraska gives them more credibility and a greater chance to get to the title game. A one loss team from the PAC 16, Big 10+2 and SEC will be given preference to an undefeated Big East team and probably an undefeated ACC team as well. This could make things messier unless you end up with four super conferences which vote for a 4 team playoff between them and shut all the small schools out. It could also go the other way as the PAC 10 and Big 10 could just go back to having the Rose Bowl.
I'm curious as to why TCU would block Baylor from going to the Mountain West.
I don't know if it was specifically between Baylor and TCU, but I'm sure TCU felt like they were the better program.
Can't help but think that Houston, Rice and SMU might also be bitter from 15 years ago. And also can't help but think that TCU's Christian affiliation versus Baylor's Baptist origins could be playing a part, albeit not significantly.
Twitter: @3YardsandACloud
Back then Baylor was better than TCU, SMU, Houston and Rice. Some say politics got Baylor in the Big 12 though.
Have to retract my statement, because you're right. Looked back at the 1995 Season Preview I have, and Baylor was thought to be nearly on par with the Top 2 in the SWC (Texas & A&M), at least that year. That's a hell of a compliment. TCU was down at like #5. I knew Baylor was better than SMU, Houston and Rice, but wasn't sure about TCU.
But it was certainly politics that got them into the Big 12, from every indication I've ever read. Whether or not it was deserved appears to be a secondary consideration.
Twitter: @3YardsandACloud
Very true, Jeff.
Look back on other years and Baylor was better than TCU as well.
Doesn't look like politics will save Baylor this time.
I'm hoping MWC or Big East. Big East keeps them in great basketball conference and a better
chance to compete in football.
WOW .... good insight guys, I wasn't so heavily following college sports in my HS days when this all happened, so I was pretty oblivious to it. Just kinda went about my business accepting what was in front of me on the TV.
Here's a classic Big 10 highlight!
I'm definitely putting Nebraska in the Big 10 for NCAA 11. I may even use them if I put recruiting on AA or Heisman. I used Illinois here because I was thinking they would be a fun challenge in the Big 10 without Indiana (drop them for Nebraska).
The Big 12 is making one big push to keep the league together with 10 teams. I really hope it happens.
I can definitely see the advantages of keeping the Big 12 intact for schools like Kansas and Missouri, but at this point, I'd rather see an expanded Pac-10. If it happens, I think it will change how we think about conferences. In some ways, it'll be almost more like two 8 team conferences with regular, well-defined cross-scheduling. Plus, as a fan of the Pac-10, I'd be disappointed if we gave up our round-robin schedules in both football and basketball just to share revenue with Colorado...
Also, I posed this JBHuskers' Conference Realignment thread, but I think it makes sense here as well.
Anybody else seen this? It's an interesting way to contextualize many of the factors affecting expansion. Shows just how much Oklahoma and Texas would be bringing to the PAC-16.
Larger version
The Big 12 is trying to convince Texas and Oklahoma that the revenue would only drop 8 to 10% with the loss of Colorado and Nebraska which wouldn't affect the team's revenues since they would have two less teams to share it with. That's why the Big 12 probably wouldn't invite TCU (no extra TV viewers) or someone else. Plus Texas could still create their own TV network which wouldn't be allowed in the PAC 16. The Big 12 could drop to 10 and then take a little time to decide if they want to expand. One problem with that is I think the NCAA mandates that you can't have a conference championship game unless you have 12 members.
Honestly I don't see the big lure of the PAC 10. I think the move of those teams over there is more due to fear of the Big 12 failing than anything else. They would bring a bigger TV deal but have to share so much of that with everyone. I don't see what the rush is to join the PAC 10 either. Colorado joined, big deal. The Big 12 teams could easily wait another year before deciding. What's the PAC 10 going to do? Invite 5 other scrubs and dilute the money pool? No way. The PAC 10 would wait on the Big 12 South. They shouldn't rush into something they might regret.
Last edited by Rudy; 06-13-2010 at 06:31 PM.
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