It's that and some weird belief that their football team is touched by the divine.Originally Posted by triggercut
I have my doubts. Keep in mind that the "Big Ten" is really 11 separate universities with different agendas, goals, and desires. The idea that these universities agreed in unison (or at least a super majority) to let in 3 new programs ONLY as a package deal strikes me as pretty shaky.
Well, part of the issue really are the UT alums that are so puffed up over in their self valuation they're dying to get out of the "backwoods" and into the big leagues. ^^.
This is pretty much doomed to failure in the long run. You cannot cut out the entire Texas/Great Plains from having it's own conference, it's just basic geography. Maybe the logistics can be pulled off for football, but it's going to require the baseball/basketball other sports teams to become essentially semi-pro, taking classes on the road. The expense that marginal conference teams are going to incur flying 20+ players to this or that game might even offset the added revenue of football.
Basically the Big 12 dissolving comes down to this:
Missouri - We're really not Big 12 (fair enough).
Nebraska - We're a national program (lol) and the Big 12 is run by Texas now (fair enough).
Colorado - We're not really a Big 12 team either (fair, but they should've joined Mountain West).
UT - We're the gods of greatness, we're too awesome for Texas (ie, five years of success and look what happens to our ego)
A&M - Fuck UT (fair enough; but you're still Aggies, so you both lose).
Kansas - We're a nationally recognized basketball team, but all that counts is football? Fuck you.
Iowa State, Kansas St. - game over man, game over! /sob
Tech - dude, what?
Baylor - Deploy the BEAR CAVALRY (Baylor wins)
OU, OSU - We'll be fine.
So ready for another fun one?
On Thursday, Chip Brown had something about the Big Ten not wanting certain Big XII schools due to "academics".
The school in question they didn't want was Mizzou.
The "they" who didn't want Mizzou was one school, and one Big Ten school only. Jim Delany wants unanimous consensus before bringing in a new school, so that was a deal-killer.
The academics problem in question? Yeah, not *bad* academics. Someone in the Big Ten's a little jealous and a little pissy about it. Delany may end up having to overrule them. I'll let y'all figure that part out.
I'll know more tomorrow, and so will my source. But here's how things look from a Mizzou-centric point of view starting the new week off.
1. Notre Dame probably won't be a 13th or even 14th school to the Big Ten. Won't join any conference unless they feel boxed. They'll be the Big Ten's 16th if that comes to that.
2. A&M to the SEC actually helps Mizzou. SEC would have 13 teams, Pac would go to 16 teams. SEC would add at least a 14th.
3. ACC teams are probably un-poachable at this point, including Maryland. MD is a basketball school foremost, and they love their rivalries with Duke, UNC, and even UVA.
4. If PAC goes to 16 and SEC goes to 14, Delany will get aggressive. My source tells me: "Delany wants a legacy". Rutgers first, I imagine. Push-to-shove, he may tell _____ to take their Mizzou opposition and stuff it.
5. Mizzou could very well find themselves the center of a bidding war between the SEC and Big Ten. Right now, hard as it is to for guys like me, the best thing to do for Mizzou is just sit and wait.
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I have noticed OU is being very quiet in all of this, with just their name thrown into various mixes here and there.
--- Alan
OU is in a funky place. They've got tons of athletic department bonafides on their side....and some of the worst academics in the Big XII (which is saying something in a conference with Texas Tech.)
OU has freedom--they can go PAC with Texas, or they can go SEC if that's desirable to them. They're probably wedded to OSU, though, and if A&M is already headed to the SEC, there's probably no room for both Sooners and Cowboys too.
Is it just me, or won't the winner of a 14 team SEC play the winner of a 16 team PAC for the national championship basically every single year?
Depends on how they fare against the winner of a 16-team Big Ten or 16 team ACC, I suppose, but now you've hit the motive behind Conference-ageddon on the head.
There's your brackets, man. PAC-16 champs versus Big 16 and ACC versus SEC in the semis. No more worries about MWC or WAC upstarts. BCS paradise!
Here's what I'm wondering, will they rename the PAC-10 something other than PAC-16? Maybe, the Big West? Big PAC?
It's just you. I'd say the Big Ten is in a better position to send championship contenders than even a Pac-16 with Texas, especially now that USC took a bat to the kneecap. The SEC, on the otherhand, is riding pretty high right now and will probably continue to do send contendors at a high rate.
The "unnamed" school has to be either MSU or Iowa. The rest of the Big 10 have academic reputations that range from at least decent to quite stellar.
OU's academics are indeed funky. They used to have a few highly regarded programs (petroleum engineering, for example, and also architecture). Some of their other engineering programs were pretty good too, and oddly enough they had a pretty well regarded philosophy program. But I can't say I've kept up with them since I left the state back in 1987. I know they try to brag about the number of National Merit Scholars they recruit to the school, but other than that, and the fact that they've thrown a SHITLOAD of money at academics since Boren became the president of the school, I don't know how they do these days.
Them's fighting words. IF we're just talking undergraduate education, then I'm not sure why llinois, Purdue or Minnesota should be considered significantly superior than say MSU or Iowa.
In my opinion, there is one school that offers an undergrad experience above the others (Northwestern), with Michigan, Ohio State and maybe Penn State just a little bit behind. The rest of the Big 10 is a rung behind them, but I don't think they can be meaningfully differentiated from each other.
Here's the most recent APR for the Big 10 football teams. link
- Penn State 976
- Northwestern 973
- Ohio State 968
- Indiana 957
- Wisconsin 953
- Michigan 947
- Iowa 946
- Michigan State 931
- Illinois 930
- Purdue 926
- Minnesota 915
Oh Rimbo! Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimbooooooo!!!!
It, uh, looks as if UT will commit to a 10-team Big XII as soon as today. Tremendous pressure on aTm to stay.
Still don't know if a 10-team Big XII happens or not, but don't dismiss it out of hand as far-fetched.
Jim Delany is going to be *pissed* if it happens. So is Colorado.
Just curious why Delany should be pissed?
Delany is NOT happy with a 12-team Big Ten, despite whatever he may say in public. He wanted a big, big fish--Texas or Notre Dame. He probably needed to break up the Big XII to get that, and probably needed a 16 team Pac, or a 14-team SEC to do that.
One more team *was* poised to leave the Big XII, and that probably would've been that, because that team carried two big media markets with it. One Big Ten school voted "No" on that Big Ten school because they're pissy that the Big XII school has a higher rating and accreditation for one particular field of study than the Big Ten school has. The Big Ten schools know who voted "no", and know they're stopping at 12 now for a while, and they aren't excited by Rutgers or anything like it. Look for a league whipping boy in athletics to get whipped a lot more in coming years.
.. but it really is the only solution that makes sense. Although they could add back TCU/UoH and noone would mind.
Another, rather significant issue, is that much of the current football revenue comes from regional rivalries. Sure, you'll get significant turnouts for the hypothetical Penn State, OSU, or USC game... but is Oregon State really that much more of a draw than Texas Tech or OSU? And isn't it shooting yourself in the foot losing Oklahoma, OSU, & A&M, just to get on the coast? That's the action of a growing program moving to the big leagues, not a nationally recognized program at the top of it's game. If the ultimate issue is tv revenue, time will fix that as well. After all this is the region that has a billion dollar football mecca in Arlington; i'm sure they can figure out how to maximize their broadcast revenue contracts eventually.
ND seems like their feet are planted in cement. There just doesn't seem to be any budge in them (especially as long as they have NBC).
I'm not sure how a Pac-16 or expanded SEC shakes UT loose but I definitely agree that Delany would have done anything for one or both of those schools.
.. honestly, they should ditch Missouri and add in TCU, Houston, and SMU (just for old times' sake). St. Louis, although it does have some southern roots, is very much at the crossroads between the Plains, the South, and the Chicago/Illinois region. It very much isn't a Texas or Bible Belt city in culture or outlook; it's a city that looks east and north, not south and west.
Notre Dame leaving their situation to join a conference is insane Perez Hilton style rambling. It's pure rumor mongering devoid of common sense. ND will never, ever join a conference barring flying pigs or Cuban paratroopers.
We've talked about this before, but Rimbo comes across as a total dork about his alma mater, rather than a big asshole about it. I can't really throw stones, but sometimes unabashed geekfests get under my skin. NEERRRDDDSSS!!
Now this gets interesting. TAMU has the pressure on them. Does the TX legislature force them to stay? Is this a PR move by UT to say they tried to keep the conference together, and The Ags are the ones to blame?
A&M seperating from UT horseshit too, imo. A&M won't leave if UT stays; they might have some rationale if the conference breaks up, but packing up and leaving their 100 year old rival just to prove that they're their own man would be the pettiest of petties.
Also, unlike other Texas teams, there is a significant legislative component that A&M won't be able to get past. The University Lands System provides the vast bulk of A&M's research dollars and is the only thing seperating A&M from "academically accredited" to "just another state school" like Tech. And all the legislature has to do is threaten to flip a switch and send those dollars elsewhere, and A&M will beg to get back into line.
Last edited by Enidigm; 06-14-2010 at 07:47 AM.
Espn says the move is imminent.
The departure of Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to the Pac-10 is imminent, four sources within the Big 12 said Monday.
One source said Dan Beebe's last-minute plan to save the conference has "zero" chance to succeed. Another source said it is "very unlikely" to succeed.
Texas' interests in being aligned with the research opportunities and academic missions of Pac-10 schools is driving the decision, along with money.
Beebe's last-ditch plan included an emotional plea about preserving rivalries and maintaining the best welfare of the student-athlete, one source said.
Texas A&M is now most likely to join the SEC, a source within the Big 12 said. This move, in the wake of Colorado and Nebraska's departure, would further diminish the chance of Beebe's plan succeeding, one source said.
Texas' decision is expected to come no later than Tuesday. One source familiar with Texas' plans suggested a hearing on Wednesday at the Texas House of Representatives is "a nonfactor."
And USA Today says otherwise:
http://content.usatoday.com/communit...g-conference/1
In other words, no one really knows at this point.The rumors of the death of the Big 12 may have been greatly exaggerated. Texas will commit to staying in the conference, according to Orangebloods.com.
Just taking a guess, but Northwestern due to J-school? Both Mizzou and Northwestern have stellar reputations for J-school, but I believe Mizzou gets the edge generally.
And if that's the case, I have to wonder why even bother with the current job prospects in journalism?
Academia being what it is, there will be universities competing on the prestige of their journalism programs at least three hundred years after the very last journalist is dead and buried.
OB has softened their wording.
The headline has been changed to "Texas might be willing to commit to new Big 12." But I agree that nobody knows for sure yet. Suspense!In a bombshell development that could bring a halt to seismic changes in college realignment, sources tell Orangebloods.com Texas is willing to come to the table with the 10 remaining Big 12 schools to see if there's consensus for a plan put forth by commissioner Dan Beebe to hold the conference together.
UT officials were expected to reach out to the other schools around the league on Monday to see if the Big 12 can be saved with 10 teams.
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