I'm wondering how the rest of you guys feel about the constantly evolving/changing landscape of NCAA football and conference affiliations. About teams negotiating and bribing and haggling their way from one conference to the next, and about how that changes (or doesn't change) how you view NCAA football overall. I'm very interested to hear your replies, so please don't be brief in your answers. Personally, I'm pretty much fed up with it all because it used to be that college sports were different from pro sports - at least in perception - in that it wasn't all about the money, but about kids busting their arse for a cause greater than themselves, and about rivalries, and about fans going nuts for their schools and feeling pride. Maybe it never was as pure as I used to think it was...but it just feels tainted now. Just a brazen money-grab...it's not about anything more, or anything less. Just pure, straight greed. Unfortunately...it's not going to stop me from loving it Kinda like loving your country even though you can see through a lot of bullshit
i dont like it. were gonna end up with 2 maybe 3 super conferences and idt its good for college football. and its all about money for the teams....its not about winning. all the teams will wipe each other out in the super conferences and it will become near impossible to go undefeated. so its gonna make the the national title race even more fucked up and confusing IMO.
The only positive I see coming from this could be a playoff in football. Two divisions in each of the 4 super conferences (SEC, ACC, B1G, PAC 16). the winners of each division play in the conference championship (quarterfinals). Conference winners play to determine a national champion. Teams that didn't make the playoffs could still participate in bowl games. On the other hand, if the super conferences broke away from the NCAA it would suck for basketball. There would be no unheard of schools making runs to the final four anymore and that's a big part of why I love March Madness.
^Basketball conferences don't necessarily have to align with football conferences. But I really like the idea of inter-conference championship games. --- I want what's best for my team. As an FSU fan, I would love to see them join the SEC. Throw FSU in the SEC West with Texas A&M, then put Clemson and Virginia Tech in the SEC East (or maybe Miami.) That would be a great conference. I don't see why people are getting all butthurt about realignment in principle... I voted for the 'This is the way it's always been,...' option. The SEC didn't become what it is today until '92. The Big 12 was the Big 8 until '96. The ACC wasn't much of a conference until Georgia Tech joined, then FSU joined in '92. The Big 10 hasn't had ten teams since '90 when Penn State joined and with Nebraska joining, their name is meaningless. The Pac-12 wasn't even the Pac-10 until '80 when Arizona and ASU joined. None of these conferences has any tradition worth fighting to save. So, you might aswell hope whatever's best for your team happens.
sucks. I'm an Oklahoma State student/fan, and I grew up watching the big 12. I don't want to have to watch OSU play at 10pm or later every week and I don't give a shit about any pac-12 teams.
Yeah man, I'm a Kentucky fan (kinda pains me to say that with how bad we are this year.) and I definitely want wants best for UK. I'm just having trouble deciding if that means more money from TV deals that are the result of conference expansion, money that could hopefully (though unlikely) be invested into the football program to become respectable. Or if it's leaving conferences as they are and not having more un-winnable games each year. Seeing as UK's administration is unlikely to try to build our football program up any, I would have to choose leaving the conferences how they are. Since expansion is coming though the other teams I would like to see join the SEC would be OU and OSU as a package and then one of FSU or VT with Mizzou as a back up plan and WVU as a last resort. On a sidenote Syracuse and Pitt both applied for acceptance into the ACC today, so it looks like the 2 conferences to go are for sure the Big 12 and Big East, if there was still any doubt.
So the way I see it, NCAA football is going the way of NCAA hockey. In hockey, there's the WCHA, the CCHA, and Hockey East. And then everybody else. In football, it's going to be the Big 10 with 12-16 teams, the Pac-12+ with as many as 16-18 teams, and the SEC with 14-16 teams....and then everyone else. Is TCU going to renig on the Big East before they even play a game in the conference? Is the ACC going to survive by adding as many as they can from the wreckage of the Big East and the Big 12? This shit literally makes my head spin. And it's making me nauseous. For those of you familiar with Tolkien, you will understand me when I say that what we're witnessing is the Saruman Equation. That means: you can wheel and deal and betray and cover up as much as you want while still staying behind the scenes, but eventually you will be outed for the greedy, self-serving fraud you are and have always been...and when that happens, you will have already grown so powerful that you won't even have to give a shit. You'll just do what you want to do, because no one can stand up to you anymore. That's college football's major conferences. God damn, this shit is pathetic. Pay the players. It's literally as akin to slavery as South Park satirized it as being. So many tens of billions of dollars are earned by the corporate fat cats and university figureheads by the accomplishments of these players...if you really continue on with all this wrangling and wheeler-dealer bullshit, and don't pay them, you're literally no different than a slaveowner. It's not about the education or room-and-board they receive. It's all about the money. That's the only factor that carries any weight at all. Fucking disgusting.
The ACC should still be around. They accepted Syracuse and Pitt. My guess is they'll go after Uconn and Rutgers now. I think the Big 10 (or whatever they choose to call themselves) continues to push for ND and they may go after Mizzou and probably 2 other schools. SEC will try to get OU and OSU but will probably fail to do so. I think they end up taking WVU and try for 2 of FSU, VT, and Mizzou. Pac 12 will probably get UT, Texas Tech, OU, and OSU. Programs that I think could possibly fill in to make for 16 team conferences would be: USF, Kansas, Iowa st, Louisville, Cincy, Baylor, TCU, Kansas State, Boise St, and BYU. Some of those are extremely unlikely, but if one of the conferences is desperate to reach that magical 16 teams, it could possibly happen.
ACC is making some desperate moves to stay relevent but they're not going after anyone good. whogivesaPitt isn't going to help them at all.
True they won't be as powerful as the other conferences will be and won't get as much money, but I don't really see them going away either. Unless the SEC and Big 10 decide to pillage their members worth pillaging and they replace them with schools like USF. As an OSU fan, where would you like OSU to end up, PAC 10, SEC, Big 10, or one last attempt at saving the Big 12 by uniting with some Big East Schools?
It just depends on the direction this all goes. I'd like to see the big 12 stick together, and if we don't see the whole super conference thing happen, I think the big 12 is strong enough to pick up a couple of admittedly lower quality teams (BYU, Houston, SMU, TCU, air force, whatever the case may be) and still be relevent. OU, OSU, and UT will keep the conference afloat. If the big east and ACC are able to keep AQ status, the big 12 has nothing to worry about. Iowa State is the big 12's 2nd or 3rd worst team and just beat the 2nd best team in the big east. we're fine. But if that's not possible, I guess of the options I've seen so far, the Pac-16 or whatever would be the best option. OSU is just not a fit for the SEC. Not academically, culturally, or athletically. I've lived in arkansas, I've been around SEC culture, and OSU is just so, so different. much less southern. And I just don't see the big 10 as a good option geographically, but I guess it's not really any worse than the pac 12.
On a positive note, at least you will get a spot in one of the major conferences and not one of the schools on the outside looking in. I'm just glad my team is already in one of the future super conferences. Good luck to OSU this year, man.
Yeah, I'm glad this is happening now and not 3 years ago. OSU might have gotten left out in the cold with baylor.
At first I was all for it,... but now I'm not too sure. I mean come on, teams west of the Mississippi playing in the Big East just seems ignorant. I think we'll start to miss out on some of the rivalries we all love. I'm all for a playoff, but I know there's a better way. The Big Ten already fucked up by putting Michigan and Ohio State in different divisions. BTW you can go ahead and blame Texas for the implosion of the Big 12, with their ludicrous TV deal. Now everyones in panic mode trying to find a conference to call home. Even if it doesn't make any geographical sense what so ever. Then there's Notre Dame. Get off your fucking high horse and join the Big Ten already! And what about Navy and Army? Great traditions, who once ruled college football. Those kids deserve a shot at any title in my opinion. I hate to see the Big 12 go, I wish they would just keep as many teams as possible and add some of the up and coming programs like TCU, SMU, Tulsa, Boise State, Houston, maybe BYU, Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force. I know they're no Texas Oklahoma, but you gotta start somewhere. After its all said and done, college football will move on and we'll all forget about what it once was. It'll still be the greatest game ever and younger folks will be none the wiser. I just pray the don't royally fuck it up in the process.
No. Way too many benefits from being independent. ALL bowl money goes to the university, no conference cut, they money doesn't get split up between the other teams. NBC contract, national TV every game. Scheduling, they can schedule who they want, when they want, which also opens things up recruiting-wise, where as if they were in a conference and held to certain geographical restraints, they won't get as many recruits. Don't hate because they're smarter than everyone else
This shit gets crazier every time I flip on ESPN. I guess I'm becoming less idealistic and more resigned to the inevitable each day Sure hope the Big 10 snaps up Mizzou and West Virginia before the SEC/ACC make their push. Those are two schools that are very strong and consistent in hoops and football each year, and would make great additions. Maybe not A level additions like Texas/Oklahoma, but solid B's. I'm thinking the ACC won't stand to not get hold of UConn, just because they clearly want to be the unchallenged king of NCAA hoops. Maybe that gives us our chance to sneak in and nab WVa and/or Cincy...what the fuck is the Big East going to do now, anyway? They wanted to be king in hoops, but now because of their lack of football prowess, they're turning into carrion for all the other predators to take turns picking from Fucking craziness, man Hell, TCU might even be a windfall for the Big 10 after the Big East falls apart yeah, that makes sense actually - one Texas team for each of the 4 'super'conferences...
I don't think Mizzou would want to go to the SEC. One of the reasons they wanted to leave the big 12 last year was that they apparently think they're above the rest of the conference academically. The SEC is a step down from the big 12 in academics. They don't want to move in the wrong direction. And mizzou doesn't have the southern culture to fit in with the SEC. It's not a good fit at all.
holy anti-climactic...the Pac-12 will stay the Pac-12 Pac-12 will not expand in conference realignment - CBSSports.com So now where does this leave us? Just today we've heard that the SEC is on the verge of adding Mizzou, and that the SEC and ACC rejected West Virginia...so...what next? I sort of see the SEC now looking to make the big moves that the Pac-12 didn't/couldn't/decided against. Like when a rival gang fails to come thru on some big heist...and a competitor moves in and tries to gobble up a huge slice of the pie. That's what I've always thought of the SEC as being, anyway - the big bully who cares nothing for integrity, rules, or loyalties, but only about prestige, money, and homage paid. Strange to me that the Big 10 has been so quiet, only adding Nebraska, and nary a rumour has been circulated that they're attempting anything else with any other school. Maybe Jim Delaney finally is content with what he has...or maybe he's an even more sly son of a bitch than we already know he is, and he's cooking up something truly extraordinary behind the scenes. I still don't see how the Big East or Big 12 stay together after all the drama and intrigue the last few weeks. Things seem too toxic to ever go back to the way things were...everyone's already shown most, if not all, of the hand they're holding.
I think everyone's just waiting to see what Texas and Oklahoma do, after that the chaos will really begin. imo