Nebraska to Big Ten?

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EG#9 said:
I hate the idea of expansion, and really hate the idea of a "super conference". I don't get the appeal of Nebraska at all. It's a tiny state that offers zero in terms of TV and offers zero in terms of recruiting benefits for other schools in the conference. I'd rather have Pitt if we were to add a team.
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This. I would rather hold out for a better fit as well, particularily on the academic side. While other conferences like the ACC and Pac10 have fantastic schools at the top, they don't match up top to bottom with the BigTen schools academically. Nebraska brings NOTHING to the table other than its football team. I am as big a college football fan as anyone, but this is not a wise move by the BigTen IMO. If we have to add a team, I would prefer one with some sort of academic credentials/history. Bring in Nebraska and we now have our own Washington State, Okie State, NC State or (name any SEC school other than Vandy, Florida or Georgia here). Throw away football and a few excellent non-revenue programs and Nebraska = NDSU. Is that really who we want to be aligning ourselves with?
 

I still believe that the Nebraska offer was merely to crumble the Big 12. You can't get Texas if their league that they run is still operational. Its a huge risk because of how the Pac10 is operating.
 

I'm fine with this if it's part of a move to 16, but I don't see why you add Nebraska and stop given what the Pac 10is doing. I almost guarantee the SEC is going to follow suit. At worst, grab Syracuse and Pitt to get to 14 and see if you can get ND to blink.
 

This was a brilliant move by Delany to call the bluff of Texas and the Pac10. Do you really think Texas is going to join a conference that is headquartered in California and most of its members play in 2 timezones behind them? They don't want their basketball team tipping off at 9:30pm local time. Plus as others have noted, the Pac10's rules about unanimous consent makes any votes for expansion very difficult. Here's what's going to happen:
1) Nebraska joins the Big Ten
2) Everyone will talk about how the remaining 6 from the Big12 will bolt to the Pac10 but for the reasons I cited above it will not happen.
3) 2-3 weeks from now TCU will be introduced as the newest member of the Big12. OU will be moved to the North division for competitive purposes and the conference will switch it's rules to allow them to continue playing oSu each year. The Big12 will hate to break up the OU/Texas rivalry but it will have no choice and they have done it before when they split Nebraska/OU. Ironically, if they would have just allowed Nebraska/OU to play eachother every year the Huskers probably never would have left in the first place.
4) The college football world will remain at peace for at least 2-3 more years...right around the time that NBC contract expires for the Irish.
 

That is the next conference the Big Ten was trying to scare into crumbling by offering a Maryland, Syracuse, Rutgers etc scenario. Trying to force ND's AD's hand on what it is going to do with its other sports. The timing of the Big 12 was moved up b/c of the ultimatum on Nebraska. I think they are slow playing the Big East scenario still.
 


monk10 said:
That is the next conference the Big Ten was trying to scare into crumbling by offering a Maryland, Syracuse, Rutgers etc scenario. Trying to force ND's AD's hand on what it is going to do with its other sports. The timing of the Big 12 was moved up b/c of the ultimatum on Nebraska. I think they are slow playing the Big East scenario still.
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The problem is it's hard to get ND to blink by raiding the Big East. They can lose 4 schools and still be totally fine for the non-football sports. And ND doesn't care if the football conference crumbles.
 

If that scenario was thought out by the Pac10 officials it might be why they are offering colorado now. To keep the pressure on the crumbling Big12. If there is still hope out yet I think the Big Ten might pursue Missouri again. I think that is why they are slow playing their big east side. I think they have to figure out how many slots they need to fill up to get their two prizes ND and Texas.
 

EG#9 said:
I hate the idea of expansion, and really hate the idea of a "super conference". I don't get the appeal of Nebraska at all. It's a tiny state that offers zero in terms of TV and offers zero in terms of recruiting benefits for other schools in the conference. I'd rather have Pitt if we were to add a team.
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I agree about hating a super conference. I hope it just stays at 12 but that probably won't happen.

Disagree with your point about Nebraska. Yes the state is small but they have a huge following. Pretty much everyone who follows college football to any degree is a Cornhuskers fan.

I don't understand your point about "recruiting benefits". The recruiting side doesn't really change at all.
 

howeda7 said:
The problem is it's hard to get ND to blink by raiding the Big East. They can lose 4 schools and still be totally fine for the non-football sports. And ND doesn't care if the football conference crumbles.
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I think that is why the Big Ten had a long time table. They wanted the fear of it crumbling to build, instead of having to call the bluff. I think most people still believe that SEC will expand if the Big 10 goes to more then 12. I think the threat of the SEC taking Big East schools would be included. The advantage ND has is that they will probably get an invite from anyone left standing.
 



DarrenTheGreek said:
This was a brilliant move by Delany to call the bluff of Texas and the Pac10. Do you really think Texas is going to join a conference that is headquartered in California and most of its members play in 2 timezones behind them? They don't want their basketball team tipping off at 9:30pm local time. Plus as others have noted, the Pac10's rules about unanimous consent makes any votes for expansion very difficult. Here's what's going to happen:
1) Nebraska joins the Big Ten
2) Everyone will talk about how the remaining 6 from the Big12 will bolt to the Pac10 but for the reasons I cited above it will not happen.
3) 2-3 weeks from now TCU will be introduced as the newest member of the Big12. OU will be moved to the North division for competitive purposes and the conference will switch it's rules to allow them to continue playing oSu each year. The Big12 will hate to break up the OU/Texas rivalry but it will have no choice and they have done it before when they split Nebraska/OU. Ironically, if they would have just allowed Nebraska/OU to play eachother every year the Huskers probably never would have left in the first place.
4) The college football world will remain at peace for at least 2-3 more years...right around the time that NBC contract expires for the Irish.
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Well I see that Colorado is now set to join the Pac10 on Friday so forget anything I said. LOL
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
This was a brilliant move by Delany to call the bluff of Texas and the Pac10. Do you really think Texas is going to join a conference that is headquartered in California and most of its members play in 2 timezones behind them? They don't want their basketball team tipping off at 9:30pm local time. Plus as others have noted, the Pac10's rules about unanimous consent makes any votes for expansion very difficult. Here's what's going to happen:
1) Nebraska joins the Big Ten
2) Everyone will talk about how the remaining 6 from the Big12 will bolt to the Pac10 but for the reasons I cited above it will not happen.
3) 2-3 weeks from now TCU will be introduced as the newest member of the Big12. OU will be moved to the North division for competitive purposes and the conference will switch it's rules to allow them to continue playing oSu each year. The Big12 will hate to break up the OU/Texas rivalry but it will have no choice and they have done it before when they split Nebraska/OU. Ironically, if they would have just allowed Nebraska/OU to play eachother every year the Huskers probably never would have left in the first place.
4) The college football world will remain at peace for at least 2-3 more years...right around the time that NBC contract expires for the Irish.
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This is possible, but I don't think Texas to the PAC 10 is that far-fetched. They'd still be a division with 5 former Big 12 teams. Chances are, 10 of thier 18 basketball games and 5 of thier 9 football games will be agaist those teams. The issue of playing games in the Pacific time-zone would be limited to 2 road football games and 4 road basketball games. It would be minimized.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
This was a brilliant move by Delany to call the bluff of Texas and the Pac10. Do you really think Texas is going to join a conference that is headquartered in California and most of its members play in 2 timezones behind them? They don't want their basketball team tipping off at 9:30pm local time. Plus as others have noted, the Pac10's rules about unanimous consent makes any votes for expansion very difficult. Here's what's going to happen:
1) Nebraska joins the Big Ten
2) Everyone will talk about how the remaining 6 from the Big12 will bolt to the Pac10 but for the reasons I cited above it will not happen.
3) 2-3 weeks from now TCU will be introduced as the newest member of the Big12. OU will be moved to the North division for competitive purposes and the conference will switch it's rules to allow them to continue playing oSu each year. The Big12 will hate to break up the OU/Texas rivalry but it will have no choice and they have done it before when they split Nebraska/OU. Ironically, if they would have just allowed Nebraska/OU to play eachother every year the Huskers probably never would have left in the first place.
4) The college football world will remain at peace for at least 2-3 more years...right around the time that NBC contract expires for the Irish.
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Colorado is set to announce that it's joining the Pac 10. So who else does the Big 12 add to stay intact in your scenario? Rice? SMU? Houston?

EDIT: Posted while Darren was posting his follow-up.
 

monk10 said:
If that scenario was thought out by the Pac10 officials it might be why they are offering colorado now. To keep the pressure on the crumbling Big12. If there is still hope out yet I think the Big Ten might pursue Missouri again. I think that is why they are slow playing their big east side. I think they have to figure out how many slots they need to fill up to get their two prizes ND and Texas.
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That's possible, and from Colorado's perspective, the faster they jump off this sinking ship, the better off they will be. If they hung around and waited to see if the Big 12 survived, they might wind up in the WAC.

The Big 12 could save itself right now by making offers to Utah and Boise State, if they really wanted to.
 



howeda7 said:
The problem is it's hard to get ND to blink by raiding the Big East. They can lose 4 schools and still be totally fine for the non-football sports. And ND doesn't care if the football conference crumbles.
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If the Big East football conference crumbles, Notre Dame still would be forced to join the big ten. Here's how.

Say we take Syracuse and Rutgers. Big East football is no more. Those other football schools will be joining ACC, maybe SEC, maybe C-USA. And they bring basketball and their other sports with them. Big East hoops is pretty weak after losing Conn, Syr, Rut, Pitt, WV, Cin, Lou, and USF. All of a sudden the Big East is quite slim across the board. Notre Dame will bail if that happens.
 

monk10 said:
I think that is why the Big Ten had a long time table. They wanted the fear of it crumbling to build, instead of having to call the bluff. I think most people still believe that SEC will expand if the Big 10 goes to more then 12. I think the threat of the SEC taking Big East schools would be included. The advantage ND has is that they will probably get an invite from anyone left standing.
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I think the threat to ND is less Big East specific and more about the possiblity of 4 major 'Super-Conferences' all playing 9 conference games leaving them no one to play in football. They hardly want to be left with a schedule where UConn and Michigan State are the only ones still willing make room on thier NC schedule and the rest is Service Academies and UCF.
 

MrGopher said:
If the Big East football conference crumbles, Notre Dame still would be forced to join the big ten. Here's how.

Say we take Syracuse and Rutgers. Big East football is no more. Those other football schools will be joining ACC, maybe SEC, maybe C-USA. And they bring basketball and their other sports with them. All of a sudden the Big East is quite slim across the board. Notre Dame will bail if that happens.
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Maybe. But a basketball conference of Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Villanova, ND, St. John's, Seton Hall and DePaul is not horrible and could probably pick off some teams like Memphis to get back to 12. I don't know how it would be for the other sports though.
 

The prize for the Big Ten is still Notre Dame. As they have shown, ND will go kicking and screaming. In order for the Big Ten to "convince" ND to join it will have to:
1) Kill the Big East
2) Kill the BCS

By picking off the Big12 bit by bit and forcing that conference to collapse, the Big Ten can then turn its sights on the Big East. If the BCS folds then the conferences can re-write an agreement that makes it difficult/impossible for ND to participate. Check-mate.
 

It now occurred to me that one motive to have superconferences is that in the days of conference championship games, a conference with only 12 teams is highly vulnerable, dropping to 11 forces a conference to add teams, forgo a conference championship game or disband. If a conference has more than 12 teams, it can afford to lose some teams. I suppose the reason that I didn't give it much thought before was that the Big Ten doesn't have a championship game, so such pressures don't exist (yet).
 

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