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Official realignment thread - SEC formally invites OU and Texas to join the conference in 2025

I’m struggling to understand why in the world the BIG would want CU?
Isn't it obvious? The B1G wants CU because: Flatirons.

Now that the bad joke is out of the way.

For me it is a big "if". There are other choices that seem to make more sense if the B1G wants to go 16.
Conservative and within current footprint: KU and ISU.
Hyper-aggressive: Some combo of UW/Oregon/SC/fUCLA ( I doubt this happens because the B1G and the P12 have a certain history of cooperation/Rose Bowl ties etc. This also makes CU somewhat of an outlier to the conversation.)
A reach to the East: grab an ACC school to pair with WVU (not likely as WVU is not on par academically)

I see the KU/ISU angle as making the most sense.

IF the B1G somehow was willing to step on the P12's toes and take CU, a CU/KU combo would make sense.

I still think the B1G is a great landing spot, but I kind of doubt it happens. Plus, the money and stability of the B1G are offset by the fact CU would get walloped regularly and have roadies to crummy destinations.

It all looks kind of bleak. I hope somebody BBQ's Bevo.
 
The P12 is in deep ****. Arguably the weakest of the P5, they just saw the other weak P5 just get blown up. OU/UT leaving guts the B12.

Now the madcap scramble ensues. If the B1G expands to 16, which I think they will, they could really take a bite out of the P12. Scooping KU and ISU make sense. If they do, the P12 has to take some combo of Okie Lite, KSU, TT, TCU, SMU, UH or bailer to get to 16. None of those move the needle. Sure, they add some big TV markets, but most eyes in those big markets are watching OU, UT, aTm and don't give a rip about SMU, TCU, TT etc.

Even if P12 grabs KU, which really, only adds MBB unless you want at least one team added CU could likely beat regularly in FB, you still aren't adding much. Bottom line, if it is everyone for themselves, the B1G, while a poor cultural fit and crappy roadies, is a better place for CU to land.

The question is, will the B1G want CU? If so, who else do they take with? KU? Maybe. MU? I doubt they leave the land of milk and honey. All the other options of TT, Okie Lite, UH, TCU, SMU, etc. are not going to be options for the B1G because they lack academic prowess, and in some instances, reading skills.

This is bad for the P12 and potentially catastrophic for CU.

If SC or Oregon bails on the P12, might as well get ready to join the Mtn. Weenie in a super conference of midgets.

Yes. I think CU's at or near the top of the list anyway you swing it for the Big 10-even if they want to do something really big and move into California. Denver/Boulder TV market. Great place to visit during football or basketball season if you're a fan of a B1G program. Adding CU and Iowa State gives the B1G two new rivalry games. Moving west would allow the B1G to put Purdue/Indiana in the same division.
 
Isn't it obvious? The B1G wants CU because: Flatirons.

Now that the bad joke is out of the way.

For me it is a big "if". There are other choices that seem to make more sense if the B1G wants to go 16.
Conservative and within current footprint: KU and ISU.
Hyper-aggressive: Some combo of UW/Oregon/SC/fUCLA ( I doubt this happens because the B1G and the P12 have a certain history of cooperation/Rose Bowl ties etc. This also makes CU somewhat of an outlier to the conversation.)
A reach to the East: grab an ACC school to pair with WVU (not likely as WVU is not on par academically)

I see the KU/ISU angle as making the most sense.

IF the B1G somehow was willing to step on the P12's toes and take CU, a CU/KU combo would make sense.

I still think the B1G is a great landing spot, but I kind of doubt it happens. Plus, the money and stability of the B1G are offset by the fact CU would get walloped regularly and have roadies to crummy destinations.

It all looks kind of bleak. I hope somebody BBQ's Bevo.
I would think the BIG’s dream would be ND, Iowa State, UVA, and one of Kansas, WVU, or Pittsburgh.

As a CU fan, I hope quality of roadies is low on the administration priority list. We’re in the best conference for roadies now and CU travels like s**t. CU fans travel when we’re winners, not when we go to nice places.
 
I still believe that the Pac-12, like the Big Ten, puts a premium on AAU membership.

64 of the top universities in the US.

Big Ten (13/14): Rutgers, OSU, Indiana, Penn State, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin & Purdue.

*Nebraska was a member when it joined the conference but was kicked out.

Pac-12 (9/12): Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Utah & Oregon.

ACC (5/14): Pitt, Duke, Virginia, Georgia Tech & North Carolina

Big 12 (3/10): Kansas, Iowa State & Texas

SEC (4/14): Texas A&M, Florida, Vanderbilt & Missouri

I think this is the list to watch. B1G will move rather than let the SEC gain on them. I'd expect them to go hard at the ACC. If both the B1G & SEC expand to 20, watch out for the ACC to get raided hard.

Could be that at the end of the day we see the AAC get broken apart as the ACC & B1G poach to get to 12-16 each, with the B12 maybe dipping into the MWC.

P12 could stand pat. Heck, maybe get creative and invite some Western Carnegie Tier 1 research institutions for everything but football (that list is Nevada, UNLV, New Mexico, Colorado State, Hawaii + the wildcards in the UC system who are also AAU, D1 in other sports and would probably never join for football: Davis, San Diego & Irvine.
 
CU has a better chance at getting into the Big Ten than ISU, and I don't even like our chances. Iowa is going to block that **** like Dikembe, plus ISU doesn't move the needle in any way.

I don't see how this is anything other a solidification of the Pac-12 though. College football just more regionalized, not less. On all seriousness, the only school with any chance of going to an Eastern P5 conference is us, and I don't think there's any way that's happening. The only conference that makes sense is the Big Ten, and it doesn't make sense to them. (IMO)

The one thing I see where this can be a good thing for the Pac-12 is that the Big 12, no matter what it does, just dropped to the weakest P5 conference, if not now a G6 conference. The Pac-12 needs to jump all over the Big 12's TV times.
 
If CU were to somehow land in the Big Ten, talk about crazy good luck.

Absolutely, if CU has the chance to get into the B1G they should make the move pronto!

Unfortunately it sounds like the most likely scenario is the B1G going after KU and ISU. Plus I've seen a few reports that the B1G wouldn't want to raid the Pac.
 
Personally I’d rather attend a cold as **** but rowdy Madison/Ann Arbor/Columbus/Lincoln than a pleasant but kinda apathetic Pasadena/Tempe/Tuscon. Further, outside of Lincoln those are actually really awesome towns. The game atmosphere is just totally not comparable. I can go to Scottsdale and enjoy 70 degree winter golf on my own accord.

A move to the B1G, though unlikely, would be even better from a roadie standpoint IMO. CU would be stupid to turn that down if it by some miracle became an option.
 
I think this is the list to watch. B1G will move rather than let the SEC gain on them. I'd expect them to go hard at the ACC. If both the B1G & SEC expand to 16, watch out for the ACC to get raided harder than the B12.

The SEC is already at 16, and the Big Ten is at 14. The ACC is at 14. I'm not sure how you mean the ACC is going to be substantially weakened. Clemson's not going to the Big Ten, Virginia, the most likely Big Ten target, already told them no, and of course there's the Notre Dame.

I don't think the ACC is in trouble at all unless the SEC and Big Ten go to 20 each, which I don't see happening soon.
 
I still believe that the Pac-12, like the Big Ten, puts a premium on AAU membership.

64 of the top universities in the US.

Big Ten (13/14): Rutgers, OSU, Indiana, Penn State, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin & Purdue.

*****braska was a member when it joined the conference but was kicked out.

Pac-12 (9/12): Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Utah & Oregon.

ACC (5/14): Pitt, Duke, Virginia, Georgia Tech & North Carolina

Big 12 (3/10): Kansas, Iowa State & Texas

SEC (4/14): Texas A&M, Florida, Vanderbilt & Missouri

I think this is the list to watch. B1G will move rather than let the SEC gain on them. I'd expect them to go hard at the ACC. If both the B1G & SEC expand to 20, watch out for the ACC to get raided hard.

Could be that at the end of the day we see the AAC get broken apart as the ACC & B1G poach to get to 12-16 each, with the B12 maybe dipping into the MWC.

P12 could stand pat. Heck, maybe get creative and invite some Western Carnegie Tier 1 research institutions for everything but football (that list is Nevada, UNLV, New Mexico, Colorado State, Hawaii + the wildcards in the UC system who are also AAU, D1 in other sports and would probably never join for football: Davis, San Diego & Irvine.

Hahaha. My GPA was 2.5 in high school and I could have gotten an academic scholarship to Nebraska.
 
The SEC is already at 16, and the Big Ten is at 14. The ACC is at 14. I'm not sure how you mean the ACC is going to be substantially weakened. Clemson's not going to the Big Ten, Virginia, the most likely Big Ten target, already told them no, and of course there's the Notre Dame.

I don't think the ACC is in trouble at all unless the SEC and Big Ten go to 20 each, which I don't see happening soon.
SEC is at 14 unless you're already counting OU & UT.

As to the rest, I think you were posting while I was editing.🙂
 
CU has a better chance at getting into the Big Ten than ISU, and I don't even like our chances. Iowa is going to block that **** like Dikembe, plus ISU doesn't move the needle in any way.

I don't see how this is anything other a solidification of the Pac-12 though. College football just more regionalized, not less. On all seriousness, the only school with any chance of going to an Eastern P5 conference is us, and I don't think there's any way that's happening. The only conference that makes sense is the Big Ten, and it doesn't make sense to them. (IMO)

The one thing I see where this can be a good thing for the Pac-12 is that the Big 12, no matter what it does, just dropped to the weakest P5 conference, if not now a G6 conference. The Pac-12 needs to jump all over the Big 12's TV times.

This is why you move on at least Texas Tech and Oklahoma State in my view.
 
Yes. I think CU's at or near the top of the list anyway you swing it for the Big 10-even if they want to do something really big and move into California. Denver/Boulder TV market. Great place to visit during football or basketball season if you're a fan of a B1G program. Adding CU and Iowa State gives the B1G two new rivalry games. Moving west would allow the B1G to put Purdue/Indiana in the same division.
The B1G also has an associated research consortium that drives a lot of money for the schools. There is a reason AAU status is important to them. CU still ranks high there even if our US News and World Report ranking is dropping like a rock.
 
As expected:

Simplest way this rolls is:

SEC to 16 thru OU & UT
B1G to 16 thru ISU & KU
ACC to 15/16 thru WVU & sorta ND a member

That leaves the B12 with BU, TTU, TCU, OSU and KSU.

That also leaves the most valuable non-Power Conference schools as UCF, Houston, BYU, USF, SMU, Temple, USF, Cincinnati, San Diego State, Memphis and Boise State. Drops off from there with service academies, lack of national profile/market, lack of facilities, lack of size/resources and/or big schools too late to the party.

I'm not sure what the Pac-12 should do.

But if it does anything, I'd be shocked if it allowed any university that isn't currently D1A in football, isn't at least Carnegie Tier 1 on research intensity or any university East of the I-35 corridor states.

Here's the list of remaining Big 12 and non-Power Conference schools that would fit that profile if things break the simple way I started this post with for the SEC, B1G and ACC:

Colorado State
Hawaii
Houston
Kansas State
Nevada - Las Vegas
Nevada - Reno
New Mexico
North Texas
Oklahoma State
Rice
Texas - El Paso
Texas Tech

If you had to pick from the above 12 schools, which 4 would you take?
 
I see all this as just the first step in shrinking what is currently the P5 level of schools.

Conferences are positioning themselves to have the most valuable programs at the top of their conferences. Next step is to see the pruning of the hangers on, the programs that take significant shares of media money without adding significant value.

In the B12 there are a number of programs that are going to be looking but not finding a P5 home. Each of the other conferences has at least a couple programs that are members because they have been historically but that the rest of the conference wouldn't mind seeing go. In the PAC Oregon State and Washington State would be the first to come to mind.

One potential result could be an entirely new conference made up of traditionally B1G and PAC schools (maybe adding a couple others like Missouri and/or Oklahoma State) but trimming of enough schools to create two 10 team divisions, a western and an eastern roughly reflecting the B1G and the PAC.
 
SEC is at 14 unless you're already counting OU & UT.

As to the rest, I think you were posting while I was editing.🙂

Gotcha, and yeah, I'm counting OU and UT as out.

Honestly, UT couldn't be bigger pricks, you know? They ****ed the Big 12 initially by making it all about them, then they ****ed the Big 12 after they ran 1/3 of the charter members and didn't change their behavior one iota, now they're essentially casting all the schools that they already ****ed over twice completely adrift. **** them.

And JFC OU, have some goddamn dignity. They act all high and mighty, but taking a larger view since 1996, is there a time where they haven't been just cupping UT's balls?
 
As expected:

Simplest way this rolls is:

SEC to 16 thru OU & UT
B1G to 16 thru ISU & KU
ACC to 15/16 thru WVU & sorta ND a member

That leaves the B12 with BU, TTU, TCU, OSU and KSU.

That also leaves the most valuable non-Power Conference schools as UCF, Houston, BYU, USF, SMU, Temple, USF, Cincinnati, San Diego State, Memphis and Boise State. Drops off from there with service academies, lack of national profile/market, lack of facilities, lack of size/resources and/or big schools too late to the party.

I'm not sure what the Pac-12 should do.

But if it does anything, I'd be shocked if it allowed any university that isn't currently D1A in football, isn't at least Carnegie Tier 1 on research intensity or any university East of the I-35 corridor states.

Here's the list of remaining Big 12 and non-Power Conference schools that would fit that profile if things break the simple way I started this post with for the SEC, B1G and ACC:

Colorado State
Hawaii
Houston
Kansas State
Nevada - Las Vegas
Nevada - Reno
New Mexico
North Texas
Oklahoma State
Rice
Texas - El Paso
Texas Tech

If you had to pick from the above 12 schools, which 4 would you take?

Honestly, nobody.
 
Yeah, I guess I am not understanding the "****ty road trip" argument for the Big 10. Many actually seem pretty good.
Anyone who thinks the B1G has ****ty destinations must not be a fan of college football. Madison, Ann Arbor, Iowa City, Happy Valley, Columbus, East Lansing. Are you kidding me? @Kuratz said it perfectly above
Seems that people are forgetting that some of the members of this board were regular visitors to B12 towns like Manhattan (the one surrounded by crops,) Waco, Lubbock, etc. etc.
 
Honestly, nobody.
That's kind of where I'm at. I could maybe go with the NV schools as a roll of the dice on state population & school growth if paid a smaller share. If I had to pick 4 from that list, it gets hard. I think agricultural schools are a challenge in terms of conference fit. Maybe UNM & TTU? At least that gives us regionally paired rivalries.
 
As expected:

Simplest way this rolls is:

SEC to 16 thru OU & UT
B1G to 16 thru ISU & KU
ACC to 15/16 thru WVU & sorta ND a member

That leaves the B12 with BU, TTU, TCU, OSU and KSU.

That also leaves the most valuable non-Power Conference schools as UCF, Houston, BYU, USF, SMU, Temple, USF, Cincinnati, San Diego State, Memphis and Boise State. Drops off from there with service academies, lack of national profile/market, lack of facilities, lack of size/resources and/or big schools too late to the party.

I'm not sure what the Pac-12 should do.

But if it does anything, I'd be shocked if it allowed any university that isn't currently D1A in football, isn't at least Carnegie Tier 1 on research intensity or any university East of the I-35 corridor states.

Here's the list of remaining Big 12 and non-Power Conference schools that would fit that profile if things break the simple way I started this post with for the SEC, B1G and ACC:

Colorado State
Hawaii
Houston
Kansas State
Nevada - Las Vegas
Nevada - Reno
New Mexico
North Texas
Oklahoma State
Rice
Texas - El Paso
Texas Tech

If you had to pick from the above 12 schools, which 4 would you take?
Hawaii
Houston
UNLV

And

What the hell is keeping Tulane off that list?
 
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