nic

I love the 24 hour pivot from "The GOR locks schools down forever" to "all contracts are breakable." The same people reversed themselves based on a change in parties. For your buddy, if UT's Big house was on fire, they would certainly sign a contract with the fire department that would last until the house was rebuilt. It was not my buddy, it was quote from omaha.com. The author was Lee Barkfknecht. I guess it was his buddy. I thought it was funny. I doubt it was meant to be serious.

Read this comment with regard to how binding the GORs are.... As one buddy with a wicked sense of humor said, “Do you really think Texas would sign up for something it couldn’t get out of?”

Sounds like ND is number 15 (sort of), so they just need to pick up UConn and the ACC is done.

Cincinnati and BYU haven't signed a GOR yet Ha. I posted that before the GOR. Time will tell if the GOR means anything. Oh, and you forgot that ND and Missouri are stil out there as a last resort if it does. for better or for worse, we signed the GOR as well. In fact the ACC now is listing us as one of its members Really?! I had not heard that yet. How does that work with your new NBC contract?

I agree that 14 stinks. I would rather be 12 or 16.

Cincinnati and BYU haven't signed a GOR yet Ha. I posted that before the GOR. Time will tell if the GOR means anything. Oh, and you forgot that ND and Missouri are stil out there as a last resort if it does.

I suspect schedules will still be unbalanced a bit, since the B1G will want Big Red to play Mich, Ohio and PSU as much as possible for a couple years. We will be at 16 and the pod system by 2017, anyway.

This is against NCAA rules. For those conferences that follow the rules (read: every one but SEC) a CCG must match the winners of two divisions with at least 6 members each. Really. I didnt realize....So how does the pod system work out then? I must not understand the scheduling of a pod system, Below is what I used for one example in another post. I guess the problem with this is the CCG criteria? Or can you just rotate 'divisions' every year by matching different pods, and then still play everyone every two years? I guess I dont want to go to 18, and dilute the schedule. .............................. West: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota Central: Illinois, NW, Purdue, ND Great Lakes: Mich, Ohio, Indiana, Mich St. East: Penn St, Maryland, Rutgers, Virginia NU would play the three west pod teams every year (great for the fans and travel). For the other 6 conf. games NU would play the The entire central pod and 1/2 of the east pod. Year 2 you play the other half of the east and the great lakes pod. You keep this 2 year rotation, but alternate home and away. You get a home game with every big ten team every 4 years and play every team every two years. NU gets to go out east every year too. CCG is the best two teams. Not sure of the tie breakers. Year 1: Minn, Wis, Iowa, Illini, NW, Purdue, ND, PSU, Maryland Year 2: Minn, Wis, Iowa, OSU, Mich, MSU, Indiana, Rutgers, Virginia repeat...

I read something about A&M trying to block Texas from the SEC (similar to Florida with FSU, SC with Clemson) and then the Big10 would be next in line. Doubt it, but anything is possible I guess. Even though Texas and ND are the big prizes out there, not sure I want Texas in the Big10 (disclosure, Michigan fan). Seems like they would be a pain. ND can always put their non-football teams in the New Big East. Still a good hoops conference and lots of Catholic schools. I think Virginia and GT are a given unless Maryland has to pay the 52M. FSU is possbile especially if they get AAU status. Something has me doubting NC will come aboard. Wouldn't it be nice if OU was an AAU school, to get that rivalry going again.

I mentioned that I disliked the idea of going to 18 teams when I posted the 16 team pod idea over on the 'New Divisions' topic. However I had an idea the other night I kind of liked. One which would allow a team to play every other Big Ten team every two years with 18 teams and a 10 game conference schedule. I am sure there might be issues with this, but wondered what you guys thought. My motivation is to play other Big ten teams more often, keep traditional rivalries, create marquee matchups every year and have some guaranteed regional games every year. The simple idea.....no divisions. Each team has 3 protected games on a schedule each year and plays 7 of the 14 remaining teams in year one. Then plays the other 7 of 14 unprotected teams in the second year. CCG participants are the best two teams given a certain criteria; conf record, overall record, head to head, etc. Example: Assume GT,NC,FSU (soon to be AAU) and Virginia join to make 18 teams (interesting that with these additions the Big Ten would be in contiguous states from Nebraska to Florida in a jerrymander sort of way). NUs protected teams: Iowa, Wisc. FSU (or keep PSU if you like). Iowa and Wisc make for good road trips and FSU is a marquee matchup every year. Year One Schedule: Iowa, Wisc,FSU,NW, Indy, MSU, Mich, Virginia, NC,Rutgers Year Two Schedule: Iowa, Wisc,FSU,Minn, Illini, Purdue, OSU, PSU, Maryland,GT (alternate home-away over 4 years and you hit every stadium in 4 years) Three protected games work well for keeping rivalries/tradition. For example, Michigan would always play OSU, MSU and Minn (Little Brown Jug). Wisconsin would have NU, Minn, and Iowa. PSU: OSU, Rutgers, Maryland(I guess they have a history). FSU: GT, NC, and NU. Maybe GT could play FSU, NC and Purdue (the Nerd Trophy), to try and integrate some of the new teams with older Big Ten teams. One flaw could be that selecting the two best teams might lead to some controversy, unless the selection criteria is well thought out and well known. But you'll notice I tried to balance out NUs SOS between the two years. That would have to happen for everyone. So, any thoughts?

Ocean, I would love 10 games and 2 good non-conference games, but I think the big boys (OSU,PSU,Mich and NU) are going to want 2 guaranteed home games out of the 3 non-conference games for revenue sake. I would be surprised if they went to 10 games. I see some potential cross-overs. Indiana-Purdue, Mich-Minn, and NU-PSU, but most of the rivalries are within the pods. Not sure how a rotation would work with 4 games every year against the same teams, and the 6 additional spread out over the remaining 11 teams. I do think a 10 game schedule works OK for 14 teams. 6 divisional, 1 crossover and 3 games to rotate across the remaining 6 teams. Unfortunately some crossovers feel a bit contrived, but maybe giving the western teams a chance to go out east every year would be desirable for recruiting? Indiana-Purdue Mich-Minn NU-PSU Illini-OSU MSU-NW Wis-Maryland Iowa-Rutgers I would rather have Wis-MSU play every year and send NW out east. BTW, I think the Commish is on to something...having Indiana, Rutgers and Maryland, plus a potentially injured PSU in the same division doesn't sound too strong. Michigan is not back yet, and I haven't bought into MSU remaining strong either. Not sure how I feel about Rutgers and Maryland joining anyway. Feels like the Big10 is playing chess against the ACC and SEC. If we dont go to 16 with 2 good additions, I will be disappointed and want to retreat back to 12 teams. 18 or 20 is too much dilution, unless its 4-6 great teams. Too bad OU isn't on the radar. It would be sweet to add them with ND.

Have been reading this thread and wanted to respond to concerns with the potential West division being like the Big 12 North. I am long time Big Ten fan, Michigan first, Penn State second. Love having Big Red aboard, and have enjoyed (and will miss) the short lived annual NU-Michigan game. I do not think the Big Ten will be at 14 teams for long, if at all. The Big Ten will go to 16 teams and adopt the 4x4 team pod format. I love this idea. You can play every Big Ten team in two years with a 9 game schedule. As an example, lets assume the Big Ten gets the team they really want, ND, and picks up Virginia. Very unlikely I know. Here are some example Pods. West: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota Central: Illinois, NW, Purdue, ND Great Lakes: Mich, Ohio, Indiana, Mich St. East: Penn St, Maryland, Rutgers, Virginia NU would play the three west pod teams every year (great for the fans and travel). For the other 6 conf. games NU would play the The entire central pod and 1/2 of the east pod. Year 2 you play the other half of the east and the great lakes pod. You keep this 2 year rotation, but alternate home and away. You get a home game with every big ten team every 4 years and play every team every two years. NU gets to go out east every year too. CCG is the best two teams. Not sure of the tie breakers. Year 1: Minn, Wis, Iowa, Illini, NW, Purdue, ND, PSU, Maryland Year 2: Minn, Wis, Iowa, OSU, Mich, MSU, Indiana, Rutgers, Virginia repeat... What do you think? You can mix and match the pods to your liking.