BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

Just for the record, Chip Brown made his bones long before this. He covered Texas and the Big 12 -- and even the Cowboys for awhile -- for the Dallas Morning News. He's not some blogger trying to make a name for himself. He's already a legit big-timer.

That doesn't mean someone isn't playing him, but it does mean it's far more likely Chip is simply reporting the shit out of this story.

 

Notre Dame is in perfect position to bargain with Big Ten for as much as it can and tell Nebraska, Missouri, Syracuse and anybody else to get bent. It can become the 12th Big Eleven member and shut the door. Just depends on how much Delany and his Big Ten cronies want to kiss the Irish's ass and what they are willing to pony up.

Notre Dame wants to be fiercely independent but a mighty Pac-16 just might make it change its mind about that or if it suddenly becomes Big Eleven member No. 14 or 15 or....

 

That's gonna look real nice sewed onto KU's basketball uniforms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_West_Conference

Add KU, Kansas State and Iowa State (Colorado wouldn't choose the MWC over the Pac-10, sorry) to that Murderer's Row of San Diego State, Utah, BYU, UNLV, etc.? Oh yeah . . . that's a BCS conference if ever there was one.

 

The Big Ten has been led back to the peep-show booths and jerked off enough times by Notre Dame, now that they have all the leverage (the massive revenue stream from the BTN), they are NOT, repeat NOT, going to agree to any conditions set by ND which would roadblock any future options regarding membership, alignment, etc etc.

Say ND joins and 6 months later Texas calls up and wants in. The Big Ten is going to tell Texas to go fish because Notre Dame says so?

Ridiculous.

There's a very sizable contingent in the Big Ten power structures which believes the conference (the sports league and the CIC) could continue to get along just swimmingly without Notre Dame. The CIC people are especially un-thrilled about some of ND's attitudes toward topics such as stem-cell research, where they would become an obstruction rather than an addition.

 

When you add in Boise State, too, it would be a much better football conference than the Big East or ACC, and certainly better than what KU saw in the Big 12 North. And it would hold its own in basketball with top-10 programs in KU and K-State in addition to the four MWC tournament teams from this past spring.

Mind you, I'm not saying the Mountain West is an ideal situation. Far from it. But if all hell breaks lose, it would still be a BCS conference when they rearrange the system.

 

Even with Boise State, it would still lack a traditional, historic football power. BYU's day is past, and Utah and Boise have really been very goods for the last decade.

As for basketball, Kansas is a top program. Kansas State had a nice year, but it is not a "top-10 program" in men's college basketball.

If all hell does break loose, I suspect the BCS would rather keep its current arrangements, even if the Big XII dies. Why look to add another conference and further split the pie? Especially when that (proposed) conference would just be another mediocre football group?

 

Starman I think if Notre Dame wants in the Big Ten the Irish are in no question. They might not prevent Big Eleven expansion but they seem to be in position to bargain some.

Texas is not going to come back six months later and ask to be in unless it can take its Big 12 bitches (read the South Division) with it. So you would have at least the Big 17.

 

Just to spin this to the other side of the country for a minute:

If the whole thing goes blooey and the ACC gets raided by the SEC, would North Carolina cling to Duke, Wake and State no matter what, or could they be tempted to swallow their pride and throw in with the dreaded Bubba conference?

 

Why stop at 17? How about the Big 38? Combine Bigs East, 10 and 12? Don't we see how ridiculous this is getting? This is the housing bubble brought to sports.

 

If the SEC expands, I think Clemson, Florida State and Georgia Tech will be the first three they call. After that, it could get interesting for that fourth spot. North Carolina would probably be the first choice, followed by Virginia Tech and Miami.

 

Pac-16 is not any more ridiculous than the Big Ten denying it has had 11 members for 20 years. Again the Pac-16 makes more sense than any other "Pac" scenario because never before has Texas, the dissolution of the Big 12 and TV money converged like this for the Pac-10.

And because the Pac-8 stays intact in a West or Pacific or whatever division.