Around the SB Nation: Big Ten expansion news expands

by Joel on Dec 16, 2009 12:00 PM EST in Rocky Top Talking Points Comment 13 comments

Several blogs are weighing in on the potential expansion of the Big Ten: The Rivalry, Esq. proposes the "Chadnudj Plan," Black Shoe Diaries makes the case for adding Notre Dame, Black Heart Gold Pants identifies four key issues that have to be addressed to make it happen, and Track Em Tigers provides the SEC perspective.
Bonus coverage of Big Ten expansion chatter: BCS Evolution takes a look at how Big 10 expansion would affect the rest of the college landscape. More realignment chatter: Big 12 Hoops takes a look at the new potential landscapes. Excellent stuff from Rock M Nation, who asks: What if Mizzou had joined the Big 10 in 1996? Card Chronicle wonders whether Louisville is a viable Big 10 expansion candidate. Troy Nunes offers five reasons Syracuse will be the prince's bride. The Smoking Musket is resigned to West Virginia being an afterthought in any Big 10 expansion derby.
Team Speed Kills kicks off an SEC Decade in Review series with a look at former Alabama coach Mike Price's meeting with Destiny in Pensacola.

A Sea of Blue analyzes the projections that KenPom has just released.

Dawg Sports asks (and answers) the question of whether Mack Brown's new $5M salary is inappropriate.

Conquest Chronicles decides to have some fun Comparing Dynasties: USC vs The U.

The wheels are in motion to make happen an Oregon State-TCU season opener in 2010. Building The Dam breaks down the details.

Bruins Nation pleads with UCLA to start Kevin Craft at QB in the Eagle Bank Bowl.

University of Texas faculty criticized the Athletics Department's decision to raise Mack Brown's salary to $5.1m per year.

Mountain West Connection continues its 2009 Playoff Simulation.

Gonzaga blog The Slipper Still Fits takes a look at Mark Few's motion offense.

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Comments

I don't know why any Big East team would want to join the Big 10

The competition is so weak that any decent team has a cakewalk to a BCS bowl. And would Syracuse or Pitt really expect to consistently challenge for a Big 10 championship??? The only other consideration would be basketball. The Big East is bursting at the seams with good basketball teams

Here is my conference carousel:
Missouri to the Big 10
TCU to the Big 12
Boise State to the Mountain West
UTEP to the WAC
From there I would disband and consolidate some conferences including Hawaii and Nevada into the Pac 10

by golfballs03 on Dec 16, 2009 2:19 PM EST reply actions

I don't see the Pac-10 changing.

They’re really happy with their round-robin approach and no championship game; the Big 10 has the worst of both worlds right now, so from a football standpoint it really makes sense for them to add a 12th team. I’ve been thinking Pitt makes more sense than the rest of the lot (remember that allows for Pitt and Penn State to renew their rivalry).

The Big East would be fine with losing Pitt (they’re loaded in basketball) and they’re used to getting no respect and poaching from the mid-majors for football anyway. They’d pull a Central Michigan, Akron, etc. type. Memphis would probably start crying about not getting invited to the big-time again; it’ll be fun all around, really.

Simulated Gameday Experience - just like the real thing, only we have smoke machines.

by Graysnail on Dec 16, 2009 5:48 PM EST up reply actions

no

sorry, i meant that i what i want, not that i think will really happen

by golfballs03 on Dec 16, 2009 6:14 PM EST up reply actions

Interesting point:

Suppose that the Big 10 does expand and take Missouri. Suppose that the general prediction is right and Arkansas then jumps to the Big 12.

The SEC now has 11 teams. How do we fix that? The most likely choice for addition is listed by BCS evolution to be Miami, but whoever it is, it seems that there are more possibilities in the East (Miami, VT, as a couple examples) than in the West (does anyone really want Southern Miss? Or Memphis?). With that in mind, one team from the East would have to jump to the West. Given traditional rivalries, it would make sense for that team to be Tennessee. We’d get back the Auburn and Ole Miss rivalries, keep Bama, and add what should immediately be a great one in LSU. We’d lose Florida and Georgia, but those just came about in the last 15 years, so who cares? And we’d probably lose Vandy (for real this time, who cares?) and keep Kentucky as the yearly protected rivalry game. Honestly, I can’t say that that’d be too bad a solution.

East:
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Miami
South Carolina
Vanderbilt

West:
Alabama
Auburn
LSU
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Tennessee

Protected rivalries:
UF/LSU
Auburn/Georgia
UT/Kentucky
Ole Miss/Vanderbilt
Alabama/Miami
USC/MSU

I could live with that.

by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 16, 2009 2:53 PM EST reply actions

i'm not sure those are real rivalries

we have a bigger rivalry with Florida than LSU does. Even more so for Vanderbilt. South Carolina/Miss State doesn’t even register.

plus, why would Vanderbilt, a team situated to our west, remain in the east?

Regardless, I think TCU is much more likely to join the Big 12 than Arkansas is. An AD would have to be psychotic to leave the SEC

But If it did happen, why do you think it would most likely be Miami?

by golfballs03 on Dec 16, 2009 4:43 PM EST reply actions

But compare our rivalries with Auburn/Ole Miss to those with Florida/Georgia

Florida and Georgia have been much more heated recently, but we have much more tradition with Auburn and Ole Miss. Maybe I’m just a traditionalist. I have no doubt that Auburn would become significantly more heated than Georgia currently is if we moved to the West. Maybe not as much so with Florida because of the Spurrier factor, but it would be a return to our traditional rivalries.

And Vandy would stay in the East despite being west of us for the same reason that Kentucky would: rivalries. We have more rivalries with West teams than either of them do. Also note that Vanderbilt is west of Auburn and yet is still in the East. Same reason.

by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 16, 2009 6:05 PM EST up reply actions

i think if you were to poll fans

or even players themselves, our biggest rivals are probably alabama, florida, and georgia.

as for those protected rivalries, those teams don’t play every year as it is, so why are they protected?

by golfballs03 on Dec 16, 2009 6:18 PM EST up reply actions

Like I said, I'm a traditionalist

If you poll folks who were fans twenty years ago, they wouldn’t care at all about Florida and Georgia and would rank Auburn as our #2 rivalry behind Alabama. Even now there’s some Auburn hatred left in the older set. Of course the players wouldn’t agree—they weren’t around back then. But I prefer old rivalries to new ones as a general rule, and I think we’ve seen with Florida and Georgia that rivalries can become heated rather quickly. I have no doubt that that would happen with UT/Auburn, especially given the historical punch. UT/Ole Miss maybe not. I dunno.

On the subject of protected rivalries: each team has to have one. LSU/Florida, Auburn/Georgia, and Vanderbilt/Ole Miss are currently protected rivalries. Under such a re-alignment, I think UT/Kentucky would become a protected rivalry. That leaves only two teams left on each side: Alabama and MSU and Miami and USC. Because of tradition, I would match Alabama with Miami and MSU with USC. If we got Georgia Tech or Florida State instead, I’d do the same thing: match them with Alabama and MSU with USC.

by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 16, 2009 6:52 PM EST up reply actions

i see

by golfballs03 on Dec 16, 2009 7:26 PM EST up reply actions

As for TCU/Arky and Miami

Arkansas and TCU were both in the Southwest, and I feel like Arkansas would open up a broader market (TCU is such a small school) for the Big 12. Also, I think Arkansas feels more at home in the Big 12 than the SEC, renewing rivalries with Texas and such.

Miami is just the name that is most commonly thrown out for SEC expansion. They fit geographically, they don’t have historical ties to their current conference, they’re a strong program. I can’t think of any other school that fits that description other than Virginia Tech. Can you?

by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 16, 2009 6:10 PM EST up reply actions