Rutgers playing IU and Kentucky in basketball? That's two completely different play styles. I hate the expansion… abolish conferences, play teams you know you can match up with. IU shouldn't be playing Bryant.

Kentucky is in the SEC...

Why would Maryland leave the ACC, they are a primarily basketball school and the ACC is the dominant basketball conference.

Because the ACC constantly gives them the shaft and they are sick of playing second fiddle to the NC schools.

Yeah, Santa, my bad.. just forget I said that >_>

I'm assuming Maryland also doesn't want anypart of a Basketball conference that adds Pittsburgh and Syracuse. With so many quality basketball programs, how many conference Championships can you expect to win. Big Ten ups the profile of their football team and gives their bball program a chance to remain a conference power

But they are second fiddle Maryland sucks.

Their football team is complete garbage right now, 2-6 in the ACC or something like that. I can't even remember them being good.

10 teams is a good max size for conferences, allowing round robin or near-round robin scheduling. It lets everyone play, it makes geographic sense, and it avoids silly match-ups. Nebraska and Rutgers and Maryland in one conference isn't really a conference anymore, except in the sense of the AFC or the United Methodist Conference. It worked out well for the SEC, but nowadays I kind of wish it hadn't.

The NC schools are beating up their golden goose, but whatever. They make enough money and only care about basketball, so they will happy when the ACC looks like it did in the 1980s. The A-10 or Big East will be their models. Although, Miami and Notre Dame (which are both unique in CFB, for completely different reasons) are strong enough to be the football anchors of an otherwise basketball-centric conference.

The NFLization of college football continues unabated. I am a little surprised that no conference has yet accepted a naming rights deal: "Tonight's SEC Championship Game features Florida out of the Dr. Pepper Division versus LSU, winner of the Yella Fella Division."

Um...I'm not too familiar with college football--for the dual reasons of my not being able to really get invested in players that are only there a couple years and not being able to get invested as I don't go to a school WITH Division IA football and the 49ers are enough, for now--so...

Is that a good "PLEASE," as in "Yes, please let this happen!" or a bad please, the kind a valley girl might issue forth that's more deserving of hyphenation a la "PUH-LEASE!"

(All I know about college football right now is UCLA just kicked USC in a down year and my UCLA friends couldn't be happier about it...and neither can I, over-privileged prats...well, both schools are made up of a lot of over-privileged prats, but I'll take a UCLA student over a USC party punk any day, and besides, USC is located in a SHIT area of LA, UCLA's in a far better, classier area, so Go Blue and Gold...tonight, anyway!)

;)

Florida State, Norte dame, Miami, Clemson, Virginia tech will be all that will matter consistently in football, well Miami could be worthless if sanctions are bad enough...

"Nebraska and Rutgers and Maryland in one conference isn't really a conference anymore, except in the sense of the AFC or the United Methodist Conference."

I disagree completely. I think Rutgers and Maryland, both are large, quality, Flagship state universities and fit right into the Big Ten.

I want it to happen, as a Rutgers alum and a Maryland Alum.

If the B1G expands, the SEC will have to. Will the "gentlemen's agreement," in which SC/Fla/GA/KY(and TAMU?) agree to all vote against any expansion in their respective state be able to hold up against the need to keep up with the biggest rival conference, plus the pull of cold hard cash? I can't believe so. If the B1G expands, the SEC expands, and some combination of FSU, Clemson, the VA teams will be the targets. That is the end of the ACC as a meaningful football conference.

... except for Miami. Barring the death penalty, I can't see Miami ever being truly down. I mean, you can cover enough territory on a scooter around Miami to field a decent two-deep. I remember a few years ago Miami signed something like six or eight players from just one of the local Miami high schools.

""I disagree completely. I think Rutgers and Maryland, both are large, quality, Flagship state universities and fit right into the Big Ten."""

Don't get me wrong, they are fine schools and programs. They just don't make any sense in a midwestern football conference.

I would love to see the ACC die as a Football conference for all it has pulled. They are the ones that launched this realignment frenzy.

Sorry big east will die first.

Don't get me wrong, they are fine schools and programs. They just don't make any sense in a midwestern football conference.

Well it wouldn't be a mid-western conference anymore. It would be the Northern conference with the Midwest and Mid Atlantic in their camp.

I do prefer 10-team conferences (gives you a round robin + 3 OOC games) but as a practical matter I don't see this happening. So I'm glad to see conglomeration, would be nice to see four big conferences imo

"Sorry big east will die first."

A shame, but hopefully Rutgers will be paddling to safety when that happens.

ACC buyout just went up to 50 million didn't it? Also Florida and SC will never let FSU and Clemson in, as an FSU alum i would love to see it just bc the ACC is crap at football and the games aren't as exciting, however I've become a lot more invested in basketball and would really miss the ACC which is basically the SEC in football, every game is huge almost.

I'm watching this fantastic LSU-Ole Miss game, and it's making me more against expansion. This is the kind of game that gets lost in expansion. Some people say it would never happen, but Auburn lost regular games their third and fourth biggest rivals -- Florida and Tennessee -- in the SEC's expansion/division formatting. Similarly, Tennessee lost Auburn and Ole Miss. Missouri and Kansas played 120 times, and now that's done.

We lose the relatively small but valuable and traditional games like this, and instead we get improbable match-ups. I hate that Nebraska-Michigan or Texas-West Virginia is for a division or conference titles, as opposed to for bowl games or highly anticipated non-conference games.

Admittedly I am a traditionalist in these things. I still feel the pain of the Peach Bowl being renamed the Chik-Fil-A Bowl as sharply as the day it happened.

"Well it wouldn't be a mid-western conference anymore. It would be the Northern conference with the Midwest and Mid Atlantic in their camp."

As you probably figure, that's what irritates me. What does somebody in East Lansing care about football in Maryland?

when they play them regularly...

We also gain games like Rutgers Penn State and Maryland Rutgers etc. This has been happening as long as there was college football although losing some rivalries is a shame

This is hard, trying to cut the teams down to 10. The core is definitely LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. Kentucky and South Carolina would probably round it out, but Arkansas is an important member, TAMU is already a prominent member and Vanderbilt matters for athletics. Missouri... is on the chopping block, but I can't really reasonably get it to 10.

SC: Maryland vs. Rutgers or Penn State -- those are pretty natural matchups. Maryland Nebraska or Maryland Minnesota, less so.

PE: If we assume a southwestern and an east coast conference, it's a little easier. TAMU, Missouri, and Arkansas are all real far away from the rest of the conference. I guess SC is the natural loser, given history, although the hyper-expensive, hyper-professional future of college athletics probably indicates that Vandy should drop down to 1-AA/FCS/whatever.

Maryland Nebraska or Maryland Minnesota, less so.

Which is why they'll be in different divisions

"They are the ones that launched this realignment frenzy."

Not really. The SEC's perennial pointless "championship game" (which earned big bucks) motivated everyone else to follow suit.

Also, can someone explain to me why the SEC gets away with oversigning?