BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

I'm sure ASU and Arizona would be thrilled to lose to everyone in their division except for Baylor every year.

 

OK, two weeks ago (and most people didn't start talking about this until Thursday, but congrats to Berry Tramel for being right on top of it). The point remains the same. All of this seems so out of the blue, but I guess at this point any of it is possible.

 

Latest from Berry Tramel:
http://newsok.com/berry-tramel-conference-realignment-could-mean-dilemma-for-mike-stoops/article/3466710

I give kudos to new Pac-10 commish Larry Scott for being aggressive and trying to make Pac-10 play with the big boys, in contrast to Hansen.
That said, I don't like the Pac-16 idea. But then again I don't like screwing with tradition for the sake of the almighty dollar. I was in Iowa when the Big Ten Network was launched, what a mess that was with some of the cable companies.

 

The Big Ten, which launched all of this madness, admitted in several outlets they might need to speed up the timetable.

The pace of change is such that the Big Ten could conceivably fuck themselves by opening this can of worms to begin with.

 

If Nebraska has an invite and bolts for the Big 10, and if the Pac-10 sends out invites to six Big 12 schools, I want the Texas Legislature to get its way and force Baylor into the deal over Colorado. That way, we could see a juiced up Mountain West that would help some of the Big 12's leftovers (plus Houston) be comfortable in a conference that stacks up in football, basketball, and with regard to TV contracts should it start up its own network ...

TV market, School
5. TCU
10. Houston
16. Colorado
16. Colorado State
28. San Diego State
31. Utah
31. BYU
32. Kansas
42. UNLV
44. New Mexico
69. Kansas State
92. Air Force
112. Boise State
196. Wyoming

... The MWC could do a lot worse than eight of the top 44 TV markets, including two in the top 10, spanning from the Central time zone with KC and Dallas-Fort Worth, to the Mountain time zone with Denver and SLC, to the Pacific time zone with Vegas and California. Add Houston -- ranked 10th in TV markets -- to add more muscle to the numbers in Texas.

It would be tailor-made for basketball doubleheaders on a conference network given the time difference. And in football, Boise State, Utah and KU combined have three more BCS wins than the entire ACC. And that's not to mention TCU and BYU being legit teams for a long, long time, and that Bill Snyder has K-State (0-1 BCS) on the way up again.

I know a lot of KU alums wouldn't want to hear this, but should this worst-case scenario happen, the Jayhawks wouldn't exactly be in a bad place with the MWC. Some might hope Lew Perkins could work his Big East connections and hope to join what's been a first-class basketball league, but if Marquette or Cincy or Memphis (if it's added) are the closest "rivals," or if the Big East wouldn't want K-State to come along as a package deal, the MWC certainly would make sense in several ways.

And no, I wouldn't have the slightest clue where Iowa State lands.

 

Haven't seen that report. I thought it's all been talks, and now that the Big 12 has made an ultimatum to these two schools, they have to decide if they're in or out. If they hold out for a Big 10 bid that never comes because Notre Dame accepts, that would be a colossal mistake.

 

I think a lot of people are having trouble with the concept of a Pac-16 because it is so out of character for the Pac-10, which was (is?) the most staid of any conference, especially under Tom Hansen. I think because the Pac-10 has not added any teams in 32 years and now might be adding six or more and none from the "Pacific" has caught many people offguard. I don't think Jim Delany in his wildest dreams thought the Pac-10 would do something like this. But once he said the Big Ten was looking at expanding, the Pac-10 for once, decided to be proactive.

Commissioner Larry Scott seems to be the breath of fresh air the Pac-10 has needed for the last two decades.

It's kind of like Charlize Theron in Monster or Tim Duncan suddenly transforming into Dennis Rodman, so different than what you normally expect it almost seems surreal.

I enjoy the tradition of college football as well but I don't think the Pac-10, Big 12 and Big Ten could afford to sit idly by as the SEC continues to become a growing ameoba. Those leagues have to act now to try to get some share of the huge TV pie. Whether they are looking at this with an eye toward a possible college football playoff is anybody's guess.

 

Not sure if you were referencing my post, but if so, what I meant was that the Big Ten could be left holding the bag on expansion candidates as a process it supposedly wanted to so carefully manage morphs beyond their control.

Candidates that would have either been primary targets or secondary ones might have already cleared their affairs before the Big Ten can leap at them.

So yeah, Mizzou and Nebraska might very well join. Or they might not and the Big Ten's options become more limited.

 

Any post referencing Theron in Monster is gold. Anyhoo, Texas would seem to be the linchpin for the whole thing. And I suspect that a lot of old-school Pac-10 fans still think of it as the Pac-8. But the league becomes majorly better, bigger. As of now, Southern Cal is about the only sure thing year to year in football, and basketball (tho the proposed expansion wouldn't help a ton) has been in the dumper.

 

It would be great for the MWC, but I'm guessing it would not be good for Colorado, KU or K-State.

 

I hate losing a good 10-team, evenly scheduled conference, but merging the Midwest with the West Coast will knock off the SEC from being the top football conference and the Big East and ACC from being the top basketball conferences.

Also, ESPN cannot like having so many big time college basketball games and football games potentially play so late in the evening or day.

My poor Sun Devils are so going to get lost in the shuffle. Their only hope is baseball in the major men's sports.