Should we bolt for the Big 10?

[BeachBuffs]

Notre Dame is the only really viable choice for the Big 10. Sure, they can bandy about names like Missouri, Rutgers, Nebraska or whomever, but not one of those teams would make a splash like the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame is a natural fit. They play similar styles of offense and defense to much of the conference, they already play 1/3 of the conference anyway, and they're geographically located in about the ideal spot for another school. Their fan base would assimilate very well and there's already an affinity on both sides (call it love/hate).

Yes, Notre Dame has that contract with NBC hanging over their heads, but despite the extension through 2015, I don't think either party would be too busted up about dissolving that contract. Ratings for Notre Dame's games have been dropping steadily over the last few years (with a spike this year, most likely prompted by news of Weis' imminent departure). Or, it also seems likely that an arrangement could be made where the NBC contract is allowed to play out, then drops off after 2015.

Notre Dame's status has declined steadily since their last MNC in 1988. They are having a difficult time competing with schools with lower academic qualifications, and they have been largely irrelevant in the past several years. Until last year they hadn't won a bowl game in nine straight tries, an NCAA record.

Bottom line is, the team that needs the Big 10 the most is Notre Dame. If they can't come to an agreement or simply have no interest, and the Big 10 expands, Notre Dame's decline will continue indefinitely. There's no way the boosters and army of fans want that.

I agree that Notre Dame is the best fit but I would be stunned if Note Dame pulled the trigger. Mizzou isn't a bad option because of their strength in basketball and if they can sustain some moderate success in football then it is a solid choice because of St. Louis and Kansas City markets.

In my ideal world if Mizzou left would be to shuffle OU and OSU to the North, CU to the MWC if they got BCS status, and add TCU and Arkansas to the South.

 

[knapplc]

I agree that Notre Dame is the best fit but I would be stunned if Note Dame pulled the trigger. Mizzou isn't a bad option because of their strength in basketball and if they can sustain some moderate success in football then it is a solid choice because of St. Louis and Kansas City markets.

I agree about Missouri, but Notre Dame needs to decide soon what they're going to be in football. If they're content to rest on their laurels and remember the glory days of yore, then by all means stay independent. But the bottom line is, if they want to stay relevant long-term, they're going to have to join a conference sooner rather than later. The Big 10 is the most prestigious conference they could join, they're a natural fit, and IMVHO they're fools if they don't. Because if they keep their academic standards where they're at, they're going to hamstring themselves long-term when too many other schools are taking those marginal-academic athletes, and you see the result. This decline didn't start with Charlie Weis, it started when the SEC began allowing previously unqualified athletes into their schools by lowering their AQs to the NCAA minimum. A lot of other schools followed suit, and when you combine that with the 85 schollie limit that went into full effect in the late 90s, they just can't keep up.

Missouri would bring a lot more eyeballs to the Big 10 Network, which is what I think a lot of this is about, and they're geographically situated to suit the conference. They're good in a lot of sports and possibly on the verge of very good in Football and Basketball, the two biggest money-makers. They'd fit in really well... just not as good as Notre Dame.

In my ideal world if Mizzou left would be to shuffle OU and OSU to the North, CU to the MWC if they got BCS status, and add TCU and Arkansas to the South.

I wouldn't mind that, not one bit. Arkansas would be a lot of fun to play every year, and it'd be interesting to see what TCU could do in a bigger conference. Colorado would be no loss - they've been scuffling in all sports for years. Also, adding Arkansas would mean having Dave Van Horn come up to Lincoln with his ball team once a year, and the crowd would love to see that.