First of all, I am almost confident that the Big 12 is gone. Unless they want to rebuild with the likes of Rice, Houston and TCU, the bigger schools are going to have to find the best places for money and marketability. I also am going to predict the demise of Big East Football. I think basketball will remain with the likes of Georgetown, Seton Hall, Villanova, St Johns, etc. I just can’t see Syracuse, Pitt, UConn, and Rutgers wanting to see their football programs become obscure and obsolete.
So here are my new and improved Super Conferences. Feel free to question and poke holes into my speculations.
| ACC | ||
| Florida St | Current Member | |
| Miami | Current Member | |
| Clemson | Current Member | |
| GA Tech | Current Member | |
| Wake | Current Member | |
| N. Carolina | Current Member | |
| DuKE | Current Member | |
| Virgina | Current Member | |
| Maryland | Current Member | |
| Boston College | Current Member | |
| NC St | Current Member | |
| Syracuse | Highly Likely | |
| Uconn | Highly Likely | |
| Rutgers | Possible | |
| Louisville | Possible | |
| South Florida | Possible | |
| Big 10 | |
| iowa | Current Member |
| Michigan | Current Member |
| Nebraska | Current Member |
| OSU | Current Member |
| Mich St | Current Member |
| Illinois | Current Member |
| Indiana | Current Member |
| Minnesota | Current Member |
| Northwestern | Current Member |
| Penn St | Current Member |
| Purdue | Current Member |
| Wisconsin | Current Member |
| Pittsburgh | Highly Likely |
| Notre Dame | Highly Likely |
| Kansas | Possible |
| Missouri | Possible |
| SEC | |
| Auburn | Current Member |
| Alabama | Current Member |
| Arkansas | Current Member |
| LSU | Current Member |
| Miss St | Current Member |
| Ole Miss | Current Member |
| Vanderbilt | Current Member |
| Kentucky | Current Member |
| Florida | Current Member |
| Georgia | Current Member |
| Tennessee | Current Member |
| South Carolina | Current Member |
| Texas AM | Soon to be Member |
| Virginia Tech | Highly Likely |
| West Virginia | Possible |
| Texas Tech | Possible |
| PAC-16 | |
| Arizona | Current Member |
| Arizona St | Current Member |
| Colorado | Current Member |
| California | Current Member |
| Oregon | Current Member |
| Oregon St | Current Member |
| Stanford | Current Member |
| UCLA | Current Member |
| USC | Current Member |
| Utah | Current Member |
| Washington | Current Member |
| Washington St | Current Member |
| Oklahoma | Highly Likely |
| Oklahoma St | Highly Likely |
| Texas | Highly Likely |
| Boise St | Possible |
That means the following teams with be left out and forced to fend for themselves in one of the smaller conferences like the MAC , Conference USA, Mountain West or WAC: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas St, and TCU.
The Big Ten won’t accept Missouri for the same reason they didn’t accept them the last time around- they aren’t academically where the Big Ten sees itself. Even Nebraska was as stretch. Kansas doesn’t add the eyeballs that the Big Ten wants.
I have heard the Michigan Athletic Director remark that the conference is looking for three things: 1) more eyeballs in large media markets they don’t currently occupy, 2) academic prowess to match the institutions currently in the fold, and 3) some semblence of geographic sense (he poked fun at people who talked about adding Texas, Boise State, etc. for that reason).
If the Big Ten expands, it will go after Rutgers, Syracuse, and maybe even Boston College, not Kansas or Missouri. They might add Pitt to be a rival for Penn State, but it doesn’t add new viewers that they don’t already had, so they have that going against them.
The Big 10 won’t except an AAU memeber because their academics aren’t up to snuff? You do realize that Missouri ranks higher than most of the big 10, right?
Also, what kind of freakin argument is that to begin with? What exactly does academics have to do with an athletic conference? It’s not like the Center and the Nosegaurd are reviewing research and development on the field. They are participating in a sport. For academic allegiance to be part of the discussion, shouldn’t you be concerned with how the ACADEMIC ASSOCIATIONS are formed?
The AAU includes Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Florida. But do you think it would be wise for the Gators to play the rest of that lot?
I think academic standards will go out the window in order to survive in the upcoming era. Once the Pac 12 goes to 16 it only is a matter of time before the SEC and Big 10 follow suit.
Agreed- but when they do, the Big Ten will go east, they REALLY want those East Coast media markets.
Once again that’s why I think Nova would be a great fit in the Big Ten, but a lot would have to happen first.
Thoughts on Villanova to the BIG TEN, as long as they were able to play at Lincoln Financial. Just like to hear opinions on that.
i would love to see Villanova as a big player in the football world. i am just wondering if they are too late to the game. Wasn’t it just a few years ago that they couldn’t sell out their own playoff games? Just cause this team is going 1A, i think it’s going be a few years before they become relevant.
I agree with you 100% that it would take a couple of years to be relevant, as any program making the jump would be. But being from Villanova, their are so many people that want the jump to be made. If they were playing big time opponents here, they would definitely sell more tickets. The Big East is holding them back from making the move right now, they said yes after being invited. I also think if they have to play at PPL Park, which could hold about 35,000 by the time they made the jump, the ACC would be a perfect fit.
@What did he say?
Dave Brandon also happens to be a moron so I would take his words with a grain of salt. But it’s a open secret that the Big Ten didn’t think Missouri was academically up to snuff. Actually, the University of Missouri is ranked #90 according to US News, only the University of Nebraska ranks lower in the Big Ten (#101). The next lowest is University of Iowa (#71).
I think it’s about reputation for the Big Ten, they want to be known as the conference with great academics, don’t ask me why. I don’t call the shots, I just tell you what they say in Big Ten country.