I can't guess the endgame. Right now, the traditional major conferences still coast on the vestiges of ancient rivalries, honed over four or five generations of play stretching back to the early years of the last century. As older alumni die off, however, these traditional associations will die with them. Why young people going off to college today should buy into the now erzatz "traditions" is beyond me.
Penn State, for example, is probably an ok addition to the Big Ten, as it is a big, academically respectable state university next door to Ohio and far enough west to be midwestern in flavor. But Rutgers and Maryland? No disrespect to those schools, but why not UCLA or Texas or Florida while we're at it. The notion of a conference has become a joke.
>> A “conference” should be an association of similar schools, sharing a common (usually geographical) identity, that choose a football and basketball champion the old fashioned way: <<
I absolutely agree. That’s why I was elated when the “Big East Seven” ditched the football teams. And why I’d love to see the ACC split back into the traditional ACC and the clubs they raided from the Big East. And why I’d enjoy seeing the AAC pare itself back down.
>> Penn State, for example, is probably an ok addition.... But Rutgers and Maryland? <<
Fun fact: Rutgers used to be Ivy League, but they bailed because they didn’t like the Ivy League’s focus on football over academics. Seriously.
Maryland is a better school than Penn State these days. And Penn State is way closer to Rutgers and Maryland than to any other Big 10 school.
If I totally had my druthers, I’d like to see Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers, West Virginia, Temple, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Virginia form a conference. Natural rivalries, lots in common, parity. I like 8 or 9 team conferences more than 15-team conferences.
Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Cincinnati?
Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas St, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Nebraska?
Do Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Houston go with Baylor, SMU, TCU, and Tulsa? Or with Arkansas, LSU, Tulane, Memphis, and UTEP?
Can we separate the real southern colleges from the frat houses and football schools? I propose that Duke, NC State, Georgia Tech, Auburn, Clemson, Louisville, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt wouldn’t be nearly as inferior to UNC, Miami, Alabama, Miss, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida State, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee as people think.
Exactly right. Why not put BYU in the Big East or ACC? Seriously however, I will never get used to the new alignments. Missouri in SEC? Nebraska in Big 10? Why isn’t Notre Dame in the Big 10? It makes sense since most of their rivals are in that conference (Michigan, Mich St., Purdue). Also, it makes more geographical sense. It will never be the same without the yearly Nebraska-Oklahoma or Texas vs Texas A&M games.