Muck

I like your teams, but how about this for divisions: B1G West Nebraska Kansas Missouri Iowa Minnesota Wisconsin B1G Central Michigan Michigan State Northwestern Illinois Purdue Indiana B1G East Ohio State Penn State Rutgers Maryland Virginia North Carolina Breaking those schools into pods would look something like: Western: Nebraska Kansas Iowa Minnesota Wisconsin North: Sparty Northwestern Illinois Missouri Central: Ohio State TSUN Purdue Indiana Atlantic: Penn State Rutgers Maryland Virginia North Carolina

Personally I don't think there's a cabal of schools foolish enough to risk the political fall out of splitting away from the NCAA.... or give up NCAA BB tournament money.

Oops....fixed. No one else brings more to the table than the Longhorns.

Texas - distance & 'cultural' issues aside, no one brings more to the table than the Longhorns Notre Dame - if for no other reason than to see their fans wearing sack cloth & self flagellating in protest North Carolina - outside of UT the most valuable long term addition, perfect fit academically & athletically Kansas - because I feel sorry for them

It's always been my understanding that part of the reason behind (what was at the time) the huge media deal with the SEC was to help prevent them from starting a rival network. If ESPN is going to make concessions to the SEC to help them get a network up & running then what is in it for ESPN? The only explanation that seems reasonable to me is that ESPN would only do so if they're getting something in return and the only thing I see that they could realistically get out of the deal would be to keep the SEC network under their own umbrella. An SEC branded channel should theoretically do very well in the south east US & there is profit to be made there, certainly more than with the LHN. I just don't see ESPN letting it slip entirely out of their grasp. It's really not that big of a leap IMO. BTN is 51% owned by Fox whereas the P12N is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Pac12. The SECN being an ESPN property with perhaps a small ownership stake by the SEC entails lower risk while leveraging the existing ESPN infrastructure in place provides faster startup & profitability sooner. Just a slightly different path to the same destination. 1. Conference semi-finals or other additional games would require a change in the NCAA bylaws. 2. In effect pushing Ohio State out of the B1G into the mini-ACC/East isn't going to fly.

LOL Except that the number of people in that group is roughly zero. Most OU students are Buckeye fans first.

To be honest I think the SEC 'network' will essentially be a branded ESPN channel. No doubt it will be profitable but I don't see it as being a conference owned entity in the same way the BTN or (especially the) P12N are.

I'm pretty sure knap was being facetious.

Iowa could stop fielding a team tomorrow and it wouldn't 'kill' Big Ten football.

I think it depends on what happens with the ACC. If it meant getting UNC I think they SEC would hold the door open for Missouri.

13 seniors on the roster. Even with the usual handful of transfers & injuries it's going to be a smaller class.

We're carpetbaggers who are going to use our devious big city ways to swindle them out of their cash & steal the virtue of their women folk.

For the most part? No. This is pretty representative of Buckeye fan opinions regarding That School Up North... 1 TSUN 903-315-36 4 Nebraska 856-353-40 5 Ohio State 837-316-53 Nebraska has 19 more wins all time but there is also those extra 37 pesky losses. 1 TSUN .7345 4 The Ohio State University .7160 7 Nebraska .7014 Cherry picking data is fun! (use stats for the modern era and you come up with two more completely different orders) Out of curiosity what recruiting tactics would those be? Sparty being Sparty.

Posted on Facebook yesterday...

So the evidence that there is a gentlemen's agreement between schools like UF, UGA, South Carolina & (presumably now) UK to keep competing in-state schools out is the SEC having never added FSU despite the fact that THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA WAS THE SCHOOL THAT REPEATEDLY ATTEMPTED TO GET FSU ADDED? If the University of Florida was part of a secret cabal to keep FSU out how does their continual championship of FSU in the SEC further said plan? The constant stream of wall bound fecal matter hurled by MHver & 'The Dude' does not constitute 'big pieces of information'. That is why I asked if there was some other source. Without one it's just another in a long line of BS rumors by those two.

This. 'VT' is actually a relatively new branding effort that really got pushed in the 70/80's. In fact when the University updated it's logo in the early 90's 'VT' was specifically left off because of concerns that people wouldn't connect it with the school.

It wasn't quite that simple. Maryland staying loyal required Lincoln sending Federal troops to occupy Maryland, suspending Habeas Corpus & arresting the Maryland legislature members that planned to vote for secession. From 'The Turbulent Days Between Fort Sumter and Bull Run" (David Detzer): It may not be a secret but there also doesn't seem to be any evidence to support it being real. SEC fans are pretty consistent in saying that the 'gentlemen's agreement' doesn't exist and UF spent decades working to get FSU into the SEC, not keep them out.

Is there any source of this outside of the WVU story tellers? BTW if the SEC won't take FSU due to duplication of markets why in the world would they take Clemson?

It used to just be 'the walk' before they brought in a sponsor.

Updated for NLOI day: I also added the other ACC teams that are rumored to be potential future members (well probably not NCSt). And using Scout's rankings: I didn't go back & and check individual classes from each service so I don't know exactly who was counted or not to take account of the slightly different total numbers. If we are still that way when we have 25-27 I will be tickled pink I believe you got your wish.

Congrats to Courtney!

Good for Northwestern!