Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[Muck]

Really weird timing....perhaps the powers that be in the ACC burned some bridges bringing in half of the Big East and Ntre Ame...?

If Maryland (and/or FSU) had any intentions of moving the ridiculous exit fee voted in by the ACC this summer would force their hand to do it sooner rather than later.

Waaaaait for it.... Waaaaaaaaaaaaaait for iiiit...........

So it's all about timeshares on Hatteras?

Not meant directed toward you, but i've been saying this for over a year..

people need to forget about getting football powerhouses, there is no one out there that we could reasonably get (unless you include the long shots of Texas and or OU) Va Tech is the closest and I'm willing to bet they'll hold out on a SEC invite

Out of the 4 schools the SEC has added over the past 20 years only one could have been labeled as a powerhouse (Arkansas). Over that same time period Ohio State has picked up two football powerhouses Nebraska & Penn State (stop laughing). I don't think a move purely for demographic reasons would be such a bad thing.

Regarding VPI, they were pretty adamant about saying 'not interested' when the SEC was sniffing around them last year.

Can we get a vbet on whether this is announced by a certain date?

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Out of the 4 schools the SEC has added over the past 20 years only one could have been labeled as a powerhouse (Arkansas). Over that same time period Ohio State has picked up two football powerhouses Nebraska & Penn State

And out of the three, who would have ever guessed that it would be Penn State that was brought down by a boy-buggering scandal?

 

[Abenaki]

Not meant directed toward you, but i've been saying this for over a year..

people need to forget about getting football powerhouses, there is no one out there that we could reasonably get (unless you include the long shots of Texas and or OU) Va Tech is the closest and I'm willing to bet they'll hold out on a SEC invite

I agree. There's only so much room at the top anyway. If, one day down the line after the Pedsters sanctions the Big Ten has Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Nebraska firing on all cylinders at or near the same time...that as strong a top 4 as you can get. Sparty and Wisky can be Sparty and Wisky and be good-but-not-quite-great teams, plus Illinois and Iowa jumping up at least once or twice a decade to have pretty good teams. Maryland with Under Armor and Big Ten money would have some potential, UNC would be solid and UVa and Rutgers would open up those populations more. Could be solid.

Personally I'd rather stick at 12, but it could be a lot worse. Pitt and Syracuse aren't involved.

 

[BUCKYLE]

It would be hilarious to raid the ACC right after ND joins.

 

[RugbyBuck]

It would be hilarious to raid the ACC right after ND joins.

MD, UVA, GT, UNC. Suck it, ND.

 

[Steve19]

It would be hilarious to raid the ACC right after ND joins.

My first thought. If you are Delaney, this would be a face saving move of note!

 

[Buckeye86]

It would be hilarious to raid the ACC right after ND joins.

Throw in that Penn State cultists want to go to the ACC to escape the "grand Big Ten conspiracy to hold them down" and it becomes even funnier.

 

[DaveyBoy]

Demographics simply won't allow that many BigTen teams to be great at the same time. There literally aren't enough 5 star, 4 star, and even 3 star players in the region.

Now if the NCAA decided to hammer half the SEC power schools at one time, I suppose this could happen.

But I could see a day when 2 of the4 are elite and 2 others very good at the same time. Unfortunately, Nebraska is good but not a shell of its classic self......Penn State too.

I agree. There's only so much room at the top anyway. If, one day down the line after the Pedsters sanctions the Big Ten has Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Nebraska firing on all cylinders at or near the same time...that as strong a top 4 as you can get. Sparty and Wisky can be Sparty and Wisky and be good-but-not-quite-great teams, plus Illinois and Iowa jumping up at least once or twice a decade to have pretty good teams. Maryland with Under Armor and Big Ten money would have some potential, UNC would be solid and UVa and Rutgers would open up those populations more. Could be solid.

Personally I'd rather stick at 12, but it could be a lot worse. Pitt and Syracuse aren't involved.

 

[Muck]

Demographics simply won't allow that many BigTen teams to be great at the same time. There literally aren't enough 5 star, 4 star, and even 3 star players in the region.

And what led you to that conclusion?

 

[BUCKYLE]

My first thought. If you are Delaney, this would be a face saving move of note!

Maybe Delaney planned all along to offer ND, wait for their reaction, then punish them if they make the wrong choice.

 

[jwinslow]

MD, UVA, GT, UNC. Suck it, ND.

And trade Pitt for the Martyrs.

 

[DaveyBoy]

Pure statistical reality

The big region is losing ground rapidly

And what led you to that conclusion?

 

[Muck]

Pure statistical reality

The big region is losing ground rapidly

Oh well if it's 'pure statistical reality' who could possibly argue.

Wait, that'd be me. Run the actual numbers then come back to me ... and don't forget to show your work.

I know I'm being harsh but I think if you really look into the number of NFL caliber kids who come out of the Big Ten footprint (without counting NY/NJ/MD, states where TSUN, Ohio State & especially PSU have done extremely well) you'll find that there is plenty of talent to feed the powers in the region and that is before adding in how heavily Florida (Ohio State), Cali (TSUN) & Texas (UNL) are recruited.

 

[Abenaki]

Demographics simply won't allow that many BigTen teams to be great at the same time. There literally aren't enough 5 star, 4 star, and even 3 star players in the region.

Now if the NCAA decided to hammer half the SEC power schools at one time, I suppose this could happen.

But I could see a day when 2 of the4 are elite and 2 others very good at the same time. Unfortunately, Nebraska is good but not a shell of its classic self......Penn State too.

I disagree. Now, will it happen? Who knows...I don't know if Nebraska will ever be back and I don't know how Penn State will weather the sanctions. Will all four make the right hires at the same time? A lot of variables...but I don't doubt the potential is there.

 

[Muck]

As the Conferences Turn: Maryland, Big Ten rumors back in vogue

.../snip/...

Sources telling Phil Grosz that Maryland will be joining the Big Ten in 2014. Announcement coming next week! Listen for details tonight!
- Jerry Fisher (@JerryFisherPSU) November 16, 2012​

IMS news ... Big update this evening on the potential #Terps-Big 10 developments: maryland.247sports.com/Board/67/-Conf?
- Jeff Ermann (@insidemdsports) November 16, 2012​

That first tweet is from Jerry Fisher, the host of a radio show in central Pennsylvania, relaying information from Phil Grosz, the Penn State editor for Rivals.com (who has a sketchy history with this kind of stuff). Had Grosz and only Grosz talked about it, I'd say it's probably a 95% shot at being bunk.

But then there's that second tweet, from Jeff Ermann at IMS, linking to a paywall'd story (please, if you have access, don't share in the comments) that implies the rumors are "more than just rumors."

And all of that is supported by 106.7 in Baltimore talking about a potential move all week long. And now an absurd number of maybe-right-maybe-complete-fabrication rumors we're hearing that are flying around under the radar.

So there's nothing particularly concrete from a particularly reputable, out-in-the-open source. But combine all of this with some of the whispers going around, and there's definitely smoke. A lot of smoke. It's all coming from strange places you wouldn't be expecting to see smoke to come from, but it's there. It is, at the very least, worthy of your attention.

.../cont/...

So at least it looks like we've triangulated the original source. Phil Grosz.

This guy: