B1G Expansion and more Conference Realignment

[WoodyHayes1951]

If that's the case Muck, then I don't see UNC going to the SEC if the SEC only wants one school in the state(which we know they do)

They have to give in and take both schools if they want UNC.

UNC goes to the SEC, SEC says no to NCST, NCST boned and stuck in a crappy conference since the Big Ten won't take them.

UNC goes to the Big Ten, SEC settles for NCST, Both schools happy.

 

[Ratt Mhule]

Is it a forgone conclusion that in a 16 team conference, a pod system would be set up so that all teams would play each other on a fairly regular basis?

I would think so. IMO, you would have a setup like this: (assuming GaTech and UNC are the final 2 additions)

Division 1:

Nebraska

Iowa

Minnesota

Illinois

Division 2:

Wisconsin

Northwestern

Michigan

Michigan State

Division 3:

Purdue

Ohio State

Indiana

Penn State

Division 4:

Maryland

Rutgers

North Carolina

Georgia Tech

With this setup, each team would play the other 3 teams from their division and 2 teams from each of the other 3 divisions, making a 9-game regular season, while also rotating and being able to play every team in the conference regularly just as it is done now.

They would need to put OSU and UM in the same pod if that were to happen, in order for their yearly rivalry to continue.

 

[WoodyHayes1951]

Do most people want to play in a division with sexy matchups or familiar schools?

by familiar I mean geographically similar. I know I love to make roadtrips and I want to avoid the NFL feel like how San Diego, Kansas City, Oakland and Denver are in the same division thousands of miles apart.

 

[HuskerShark]

They would need to put OSU and UM in the same pod if that were to happen, in order for their yearly rivalry to continue.

I realized that after first posting it and changed it to look like this:

Division 1:

Nebraska

Iowa

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Division 2:

Illinois

Northwestern

Purdue

Indiana

Division 3:

Michigan

Ohio State

Michigan State

Penn State

Division 4:

Maryland

Rutgers

North Carolina

Georgia Tech

They could make pods 1 & 2 the West division and pods 3 & 4 the East and then have the CCG between the best teams from those two divisions.

 

[Ratt Mhule]

Do most people want to play in a division with sexy matchups or familiar schools?

by familiar I mean geographically similar. I know I love to make roadtrips and I want to avoid the NFL feel like how San Diego, Kansas City, Oakland and Denver are in the same division thousands of miles apart.

Sexy matchups for me. We've already been in a conference with familiar schools and people always complained about how the Big12 North sucked. I enjoyed playing Missouri and........well.....Missouri. Colorado sucked! KSU was always a blowout game. Iowa St. was usually an easy win. Kansas was a joke. I don't want this in the B1G. When we came here, I was excited to play OSU, UM, PSU and Wisconsin and thats it. MSU has NEVER won a game against us. Iowa sucks. The other teams in that division are a joke. NW may be okay, but when your stadium gets taken over by the opposing team, your program is a joke.

 

[VectorVictor]

They would need to put OSU and UM in the same pod if that were to happen, in order for their yearly rivalry to continue.

I realized that after first posting it and changed it to look like this:

Division 1:

Nebraska

Iowa

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Division 2:

Illinois

Northwestern

Purdue

Indiana

Division 3:

Michigan

Ohio State

Michigan State

Penn State

Division 4:

Maryland

Rutgers

North Carolina

Georgia Tech

They could make pods 1 & 2 the West division and pods 3 & 4 the East and then have the CCG between the best teams from those two divisions.

Division/Pod 3 is why with 16 teams, you can't do this yet with the B1G, at least if you're going to base it on geography. Too strong a division, not entirely fair to any of those schools.

---

And Po Belini, my daughter wanted me to tell you she likes your sig. No slam--ponies are cool, just wanted to pass on what she said.

 

[HuskerShark]

They would need to put OSU and UM in the same pod if that were to happen, in order for their yearly rivalry to continue.

I realized that after first posting it and changed it to look like this:

Division 1:

Nebraska

Iowa

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Division 2:

Illinois

Northwestern

Purdue

Indiana

Division 3:

Michigan

Ohio State

Michigan State

Penn State

Division 4:

Maryland

Rutgers

North Carolina

Georgia Tech

They could make pods 1 & 2 the West division and pods 3 & 4 the East and then have the CCG between the best teams from those two divisions.

Division/Pod 3 is why with 16 teams, you can't do this yet with the B1G, at least if you're going to base it on geography. Too strong a division, not entirely fair to any of those schools.

Then switch out Penn State and Maryland.

That's the way that pod will have to look, and I don't see those teams having a problem with that because Michigan has to play tOSU every year, and also MSU. So those 3 are pretty much tied at the hip due to how strong those rivalries are.

 

[schlumper]

I prefer the pod system with protected rivalries. 2 pods form a division with the divisions changing every one or two years and each school having one protected rivalry with a team in every other pod.

West:

Nebraska

Iowa

Minnesota

Wisconsin

North:

Michigan

Michigan St

NW

Illinois

Central:

OSU

PSU

Purdue

Indiana

East:

Rutgers

Maryland

UNC

GT

Protected games: (best I could do to preserve rivalries, I think I got all the important ones)

Iowa-Michigan St-PSU-Maryland

Minnesota-Michigan-OSU-Rutgers

Wisconsin-Illinois-Purdue-UNC

Nebraska-NW-Indiana-GT

In this scenario, Nebraska would play Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern, Indiana, and Georgia Tech every year and the remaining three schools from the other pod in their division.

 

[huKSer]

Nice but you got the names wrong:

I prefer the pod system with protected rivalries. 2 pods form a division with the divisions changing every one or two years and each school having one protected rivalry with a team in every other pod.

West: Heros:

Nebraska

Iowa

Minnesota

Wisconsin

North: Legends

Michigan

Michigan St

NW

Illinois

Central: Leaders:

OSU

PSU

Purdue

Indiana

East: Architects:

Rutgers

Maryland

UNC

GT

Protected games: (best I could do to preserve rivalries, I think I got all the important ones)

Iowa-Michigan St-PSU-Maryland

Minnesota-Michigan-OSU-Rutgers

Wisconsin-Illinois-Purdue-UNC

Nebraska-NW-Indiana-GT

In this scenario, Nebraska would play Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern, Indiana, and Georgia Tech every year and the remaining three schools from the other pod in their division.

 

[Muck]

That would absolutely suck for Nebraska. I don't see one team on there that I would get excited about playing, other than maybe Wisconsin. It would be like playing in the Big12 North again, the only difference being in the Big12 North we still had either, OU or Texas on the schedule and also A&M every two years. In this sort of division, the only way we ever play OSU, UM or PSU is in the CCG game. Hope to god they don't do this!

I can't imagine that they would throw away the original plan to even split up the 'kings'. I am certain that Nebraska will always find themselves in a division with either Ohio State or the Wolverines.

If that's the case Muck, then I don't see UNC going to the SEC if the SEC only wants one school in the state(which we know they do)

They have to give in and take both schools if they want UNC.

UNC goes to the SEC, SEC says no to NCST, NCST boned and stuck in a crappy conference since the Big Ten won't take them.

UNC goes to the Big Ten, SEC settles for NCST, Both schools happy.

Well the conventional wisdom has been that whoever can give a home to UNC + 1 (NCST or Duke) will end up with them. A recent SI story claimed that the SEC has actually been heavily going after UNC & Duke over the past few years. So who knows how things will really shake out.

 

[VectorVictor]

Frank the Tank, if you've been playing along, has some very good insight as to the machinations of B1G expansion, and was the first blogger (or anyone, really...) to call Nebraska to the B1G.

Here's his latest piece regarding raiding the Big XII and ACC:

http://frankthetank.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/the-mayans-were-right-conference-realignment-armageddon-or-maybe-not-faq-part-i-big-ten-expansion/

Of note, Kansas and Texass are the most valuable pieces of the B1G they can go after for expansion, with the former being the more realistic if the two.

As for ACC schools, Frank points out that I may have been beating the wrong drum for expansion, to some degree--right state, mind you, but wrong school: Miami would be a more likely target than FSU for expansion.

Why Miami? Even though they're not AAU, they're one of the best academic and research schools in the nation, and they would be a top 4 institution if they joined the B1G. Plus, Miami has signifigant academic recruiting ties to NYC and the state of Illinois. And yes, Miami is on probation, but they're still a media draw, they'll get the FL markets, and this opens the B1G up to FL recruiting. All big wins for Delaney and the conference as a whole.

And folks, we know damn well that if they join, we want them as our yearly crossover games instead of Penn State. We could conceivably get Miami to play in Lincoln in November after all...

 

[Micheal]

Frank the Tank, if you've been playing along, has some very good insight as to the machinations of B1G expansion, and was the first blogger (or anyone, really...) to call Nebraska to the B1G.

Here's his latest piece regarding raiding the Big XII and ACC:

http://frankthetank....-ten-expansion/

Of note, Kansas and Texass are the most valuable pieces of the B1G they can go after for expansion, with the former being the more realistic if the two.

As for ACC schools, Frank points out that I may have been beating the wrong drum for expansion, to some degree--right state, mind you, but wrong school: Miami would be a more likely target than FSU for expansion.

Why Miami? Even though they're not AAU, they're one of the best academic and research schools in the nation, and they would be a top 4 institution if they joined the B1G. Plus, Miami has significant academic recruiting ties to NYC and the state of Illinois. And yes, Miami is on probation, but they're still a media draw, they'll get the FL markets, and this opens the B1G up to FL recruiting. All big wins for Delaney and the conference as a whole.

And folks, we know damn well that if they join, we want them as our yearly crossover games instead of Penn State. We could conceivably get Miami to play in Lincoln in November after all...

how bout Miami's baggage? the whole booster dealio

 

[VectorVictor]

Frank the Tank, if you've been playing along, has some very good insight as to the machinations of B1G expansion, and was the first blogger (or anyone, really...) to call Nebraska to the B1G.

Here's his latest piece regarding raiding the Big XII and ACC:

http://frankthetank....-ten-expansion/

Of note, Kansas and Texass are the most valuable pieces of the B1G they can go after for expansion, with the former being the more realistic if the two.

As for ACC schools, Frank points out that I may have been beating the wrong drum for expansion, to some degree--right state, mind you, but wrong school: Miami would be a more likely target than FSU for expansion.

Why Miami? Even though they're not AAU, they're one of the best academic and research schools in the nation, and they would be a top 4 institution if they joined the B1G. Plus, Miami has significant academic recruiting ties to NYC and the state of Illinois. And yes, Miami is on probation, but they're still a media draw, they'll get the FL markets, and this opens the B1G up to FL recruiting. All big wins for Delaney and the conference as a whole.

And folks, we know damn well that if they join, we want them as our yearly crossover games instead of Penn State. We could conceivably get Miami to play in Lincoln in November after all...

how bout Miami's baggage? the whole booster dealio

That may be what has kept the B1G from closing on them and why we're now in a holding pattern.

IIRC, the NCAA was supposed to weigh in already with their final report of the whole Ponzi Scheme Booster "imbroglio", if you will, but it appears that there may be a delay due to the NCAA's attempts to corroborate the evidence they've received from Shapiro. Miami's recent 2012 "self ban" from a few weeks ago was an attempt to get ahead what they think may be significant repercussions in that final report.

However, Miami does make more sense, if you remember Delaney's mission to focus on both academics and athletics in expansion. Miami, warts and all, would better fulfill this mission than FSU, even if they're under the banhammer. The only thing that could change this, I think, is if FSU gets AAU membership, which they are working on, but probably won't happen for a while yet.

If the NCAA doesn't put a severe, Penn State-style banhammer down, then perhaps we'll see some swift action in the B1G picking up a few ACC schools...

 

[HuskerShark]

Yeah, Miami! What better to add to the B1G than another team under NCAA penalty for violating rules...

In all seriousness, that is how it will be viewed nationally in the short term if the B1G ends up getting them, but in the long term, if Miami can get their sh#t together on the football field, it would be a great addition.

 

[VectorVictor]

Yeah, Miami! What better to add to the B1G than another team under NCAA penalty for violating rules...

In all seriousness, that is how it will be viewed nationally in the short term if the B1G ends up getting them, but in the long term, if Miami can get their sh#t together on the football field, it would be a great addition.

You're spot on HuskerShark--the B1G would sure catch holy hell for that, but the long-term dividends would help the conference immensely.

I ask, though, how much should the B1G listen to criticism that comes from the likes of ESPN, who are nothing more than paid mouthpieces for the SEC?

I'd propose that if Fox Sports ramps up their game and the BTN gets a bigger market share, then the B1G may be able to control some of their own message, which will help mitigate some of the damage done by picking up a school like Miami that's on the skids. CBS dumping more money and exposure into their College Sports Network, and potential competing networks from NBC/Comcrap may help diffuse some of the negativity coming from ESPN.

But there will be a certain level of spin by the B1G offices required to make this happen, no doubt about that. But hey--isn't Northwestern one of the best schools for journalism in the nation? This should be a cakewalk for them to help the B1G with! :thumbs