Posted on 04/19/2010 9:08:21 AM PDT by bobjam
The Big Ten expansion process will accelerate this week in Washington, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.
Sources tell the Tribune top Big Ten officials will discuss expansion Sunday in Washington, the site of the Association of American Universities meetings.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
Not a bad idea. ‘Cuse would get them into NY state which might be better than Rutgers for them.
Really if they are going to continue to call themselves the Big Ten with 12 members, they need to try to end up in 10 states. Right now they are in 1. PA, PSU 2. Oh, OSU 3. IN, IU/PU 4. MI, MSU/UM 5. IL, NWU/UIl 6. IA, UIa, 7. MN, UMn. So could they add three states? Rutgers, ‘Cuse and say Missouri?
Lets add Notre Dame so there’s a new doormat for the football teams to beat up on...
I think it is stupid to have a league larger than the ability for each team to play all of the others in a season. Ten is about the maximum for a football season, eliminates non-league games. So really eight makes more sense.
Texas Longhorns.
I suspect that the Big Ten would love to add Notre Dame or Texas. Any addition other than those two would be somewhat disappointing. The other schools mentioned are solid programs but not the gold-standard of Texas or Notre Dame.
With 12 members they will call themselves the Big Eleven.
Just stay out of my Pac 10.
Rutgers is a good fit, but suffers due to geography--volleyball, softball, etc still have to travel there. Nebraska is a good fit, except I can't imagine they want a newcomer that is going to strongly challenge for football titles right away. Syracuse doesn't bring quite as many eyeballs, but might not be bad, but suffers on geography as well.
Missouri to me is the best fit, except I don't know if they are quite at the academic level that the Big 10 wants. Cincinnati, Louisville, and West Virginia definitely trail on the academic side.
Florida, Alabama, or LSU so they have a chance in the big game?
Interesting in that it might set off a chain reaction. I’ve heard some scuttlebutt that the Big East teams that have a basketball only membership are giving some thought to forming their own conference, and this might give a little bit of a push to that idea.
A new conference consisting of Villanova, Marquette, DePaul, Georgetown, Notre Dame (obviously basketball only), Seton Hall, plus maybe Xavier, Dayton, Temple, and Butler would be an interesting idea.
Pitt or WVU would fit.
Ping
They are looking to add 3 to 5 teams, so that would work!
I really don’t see the Longhorns in the Big 10.
You are correct, of course, but we are talking big-time college sports, money, and greed here. Common sense goes out the window when those college presidents see dollar signs in their eyes. Adding a team and then splitting the conference into two divisions means an extra championship game will now be played that will bring in huge revenue.
The Longhorns would be stupid to join the Big 10. It’s not a fit geographically or any other way. Even the Big 12 is not a great fit but it’s infineitly better than the Big 10.
Besides, top to bottom, the Big 12 is stronger than the Big 10.
Also, the Texas Legislature has made it clear that Texas and Texas A&M are both going to have to remain in the same Conference and A&M is not going anywhere. They wanted to join the SEC when the old SWC folded but UT wanted to form the Big 12 so they reluctantly went along.
Unfortuneatly, they haven’t been worth a damn since.
Word on the street in Pittsburgh is that Pitt would have a hard time turning this down. They are deathly afraid of getting stranded in the Big East if there were a repeat of the BC-VaTech ship-jumping of a few years back. Plus Pitt football fans would absolutely LOVE having the Big 10 cram a home-and-home series with the Nittany Lions up JoePa’s arse. Most of the pro-Big East argument is around the basketball program.
1. Rutgers
2. Nebraska
3. Missouri
I can assure you, it will NOT be Notre Dame.
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