[College Football] Big Ten, Texas have initial talks

As these re-alignment rumors swirl, I've been hearing more and more about a new conference being discussed, and the SWC name is attached to it. Should be hearing more about it later this week.

The teams likely involved-

Baylor, Rice, Houston, TCU, N. Texas, Louisiana Lafayette and Taco Tech if they're unable to ride to the PAC 16 with Texas. Also mentioned were New Mexico, Tulsa and Louisiana Tech. Pretty much would be auto bid league in all but the BCS.

 

We're not joining any conference. At least not until our hand is forced. Why would we? The only advantage is money.. and frankly, we don't need it that bad. I love being independent and playing who we want.

Give up a night game vs. USC on Thanksgiving for a road game against Minnesota? No thanks.

 

Damn, this is crazy!

"The worst-case scenario for Nebraska would be to say no thanks to the Big 12, allow the Big 12 South schools to start negotiating with the Pac-10, only to see Notre Dame ultimately change its mind, land in the Big Ten, and leave Nebraska with the not-so-unthinkable scenario of joining Missouri, Colorado, Kansas and Kansas State in the Mountain West."

 

i dont think notre dame budges either. so that means texas goes to the pac 10 right? a&m as well right?

 

Texas should just go independent. TAMU can be a feeder school and compete within itself. Maroon vs white.

 

Every suggsestion I've seen has had A&M and UT packaged together, no matter where they go.

 

It's going to have to happen for them at some point, though. The continued mediocrity will lead NBC to eventually back away and they won't have that cushy deal. I predict they say "no" now to the Big 10 and end up begging to get in the Big East within a decade.

 

The issue is that their hand might be forced. They have pretty much publicly stated that if these 16-team superconferences start forming, they are not going to be left out.

Or give up games against Tulsa or Western Michigan for a night game vs. Ohio State or Penn State. Your schedule wouldn't change all that much - you still have 3-4 nonconference games that you can make as exciting or boring as you want.

 

I agree, but I don't think we'll be making the first move. There's just not many advantages for us to join, aside from being left out.

Those are throw away games anyways. Like I said, thanksgiving night game vs. USC is about as good as it gets. Additionally, it helps our recruiting to be able to play in California, etc. Add that to the fact that we play USC every year, it's just not something the alumni/school will be willing to let go of. I know history and tradition don't mean as much these days to a lot of people, but it still means a heck of a lot to ND still.

As fans of the school, we'd like to believe we will not continue to be mediocre -- I'm hoping BK can shed that label in the coming years. But even with our down years, it's not like NBC is losing money on the deal -- Notre Dame only has 8,000 students, but it's fan base is national and well worth it for NBC IMO*.

*IMO because I'm too lazy to search for any facts/stats showing the viewership.

 

Being in a conference doesn't seem to keep USC from playing those games. 2 different conferences didn't keep the UT-OU game from being played.

And being left out might be big enough motivation for Notre Dame, given the likelihood of the mega-conference system if they refuse.

 

Yeah - this is an interesting situation. ND rightfully is the B10's first choice, but they seem to be up first as far as making a decision goes. If they say no, the B10 adds NU and MU, the Pac10 expands, etc - that's the scenario they would want to join in. On the flipside, they say yes, and the B10 stops expanding, the B12 survives, etc - that's the scenario they don't want to join.

It seems their only real option is telling the B10 they want to expand, but only if the B10 expands to 16. But even in that scenario, they are the ones that are initiating the superconferences that they prefer doesn't exist.

That's true - but they can always continue that game as one of their non-conference games, similar to Florida-FSU. Part of it may also be affected by USC and how the Pac10->Pac16 move affects their scheduling.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/13030/podcast-rittenberg-on-conference-expansion

Adam Rittenberg dishes on possible conference expansions in college sports and discusses the pros and cons of creating super conferences.

Rittenberg covers the B10 for ESPN.com

 

wow didnt think about it like that. your a smart cookie.

 

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/colleg...have-seen-the-possible-big-12-invites-coming/

Pac-10 expansion: Should we have seen the (reported) Big 12 invites coming?


Posted by Jon Wilner on June 8th, 2010 at 6:09 am

With all the chatter/speculation/rumors/news reports/denials/non-denial denials/tacit affirmations of the Pac-10 pursuing six Big 12 schools and forming its own television network, here’s the date I keep coming back to:

Feb. 8.

That’s when the Pac-10 announced it had hired Kevin Weiberg as deputy commissioner and chief operating officer.

At the time, it seemed like a very shrewd move by commissioner Larry Scott — a rookie commish who was secure enough in his own shoes to hire a super-strong No. 2: Weiberg had been the Big 12 commissioner and was a key player in the Big Ten Network.

And looking back, it was indeed a very, very shrewd move — and perhaps much more.


Did Scott hire Weiberg knowing full well that he’d attempt to pluck half the Big 12, including Texas and Oklahoma?

Did he hire Weiberg because of that?

We’ll probably never know, but from this vantage point, the latest developments have Weiberg’s fingerprints all over it. Nobody in college athletics has a better grasp of the Pac-10’s colliding canvasses — the Big 12 schools and the operation of a conference TV network — than Weiberg.

Back on Feb. 8, I figured Weiberg’s expertise in those areas might prove helpful as the Pac-10 explored expansion options that could eventually include Big 12 entities (and there’s no doubt that Weiberg brings plenty of other strengths to the table).

But with hindsight, maybe the move should have been taken as a clear indication of Scott’s territorial plans … a sign that he was going to aim high and make a strong run at the Longhorns and Sooners with a TV network in mind.

(More Weiberg connections: He worked with Fox at the Big Ten Network, and Fox could end up partnering to form a Pac-16 Network, if the Big 12 raid proves successful.)

Maybe that wasn’t Scott’s plan — again: we’ll probably never know — but I sure wish I’d interpreted it that way.

 

Looking a little better for Baylor!

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/news/story?id=5256377

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/060710dnspoexpansion.793f801a.html

 

Sorry, but why would TCU leave the Mountain West (Utah, BYU and maybe Boise St) to play in that piece of dung? Every team mentioned outside of Tech is a total joke. Also, why would Tech go for that?

 

i think i just peed a little.

 

on the west coast road trips, i hope they start the games early. i hate falling asleep towards the end of the game

 

when has the usc/notre dame game been played on thanksgiving night?

 

baylor: "can i tag along?"

id rather see baylor and tech dropped for utah and colorado. that would bring in more tv sets.