Conference Realignment
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:45 am
My take:
Pac 12....it looks like the Pac 12 will stay at 12 for the time being.
Big 12....with no home for Oklahoma or Okie State or Mizzou, the Big 12 partners will play nice and reaffirm their love for the conference and maybe rebuild to 12. Oklahoma has no bluff card left to force Texas to be more forthcoming. The SEC won't take Oklahoma AND Okie State and those teams are bound together. Unless the conference makes reforms, it still will not be a happy neighnorhood.
ACC....Happy at 14 with a footprint up the east coast from Florida to Massachusetts....Pitt and Syracuse filled in that lonely stretch between Maryland and Boston. The basketball guys that run the ACC are all high fiving while Clemson, FSU, Miami, and GT are giving disappointed shrugs. The geography makes sense..the eastern seaboard. I see no changes unless there is a miraculous conversion and Penn State or Notre Dame decide they want to go east. But the Big East staying viable means that Notre Dame is good as an independent for years to come and Penn State, although they view themselves as an eastern school, won't leave the Big Ten.
Big East....If the SEC does not take WVU, the Big East will rebuild as it did in 2003 by adding non BCS teams to their mix. If WVU leaves, the Big East will be hurt badly but newcomers like ECU, UCF, Navy and the like would fill in. The Big East will continue to be vulnerable to the ACC who's strategy appears to become the big dog in the east.
SEC....13 is such an awkward number. Probably eventually go to 14. Slive is probably amazed that his choices appear to be getting limited. WVU would fit nicely with the footprint and culture but there remains some push back from SEC presidents. Of the ACC possibilities, Clemson would be the one. VT and FSU aren't going, the North Carolina schools can't break loose from their cartel. Maybe Mizzou still wants away from Texas and that dysfunctional family in the Big 12.
Big 10ish...Could be very happy at 12. No need to rush to 14. Limited good choices that meet the footprint and wanted football and academic reputations.
Pac 12....it looks like the Pac 12 will stay at 12 for the time being.
Big 12....with no home for Oklahoma or Okie State or Mizzou, the Big 12 partners will play nice and reaffirm their love for the conference and maybe rebuild to 12. Oklahoma has no bluff card left to force Texas to be more forthcoming. The SEC won't take Oklahoma AND Okie State and those teams are bound together. Unless the conference makes reforms, it still will not be a happy neighnorhood.
ACC....Happy at 14 with a footprint up the east coast from Florida to Massachusetts....Pitt and Syracuse filled in that lonely stretch between Maryland and Boston. The basketball guys that run the ACC are all high fiving while Clemson, FSU, Miami, and GT are giving disappointed shrugs. The geography makes sense..the eastern seaboard. I see no changes unless there is a miraculous conversion and Penn State or Notre Dame decide they want to go east. But the Big East staying viable means that Notre Dame is good as an independent for years to come and Penn State, although they view themselves as an eastern school, won't leave the Big Ten.
Big East....If the SEC does not take WVU, the Big East will rebuild as it did in 2003 by adding non BCS teams to their mix. If WVU leaves, the Big East will be hurt badly but newcomers like ECU, UCF, Navy and the like would fill in. The Big East will continue to be vulnerable to the ACC who's strategy appears to become the big dog in the east.
SEC....13 is such an awkward number. Probably eventually go to 14. Slive is probably amazed that his choices appear to be getting limited. WVU would fit nicely with the footprint and culture but there remains some push back from SEC presidents. Of the ACC possibilities, Clemson would be the one. VT and FSU aren't going, the North Carolina schools can't break loose from their cartel. Maybe Mizzou still wants away from Texas and that dysfunctional family in the Big 12.
Big 10ish...Could be very happy at 12. No need to rush to 14. Limited good choices that meet the footprint and wanted football and academic reputations.
