Pitt/Cuse to Join ACC

[BrntO4Life]

I was going to come in here and defend him by saying we shouldn't berate someone for trying to get an education, but I looked at my calendar and realized it was no longer 1963.

[Senser81]

My whole point had nothing to do with who made the Big East bad lol. My point was the fact that people are getting butthurt because Pitt/Cuse did something to better help their programs, but the other teams that did it got a pass. That was my point. I didn't say Syracuse was a good football team and they weren't partly to blame for the Big East being bad, at no point did that even represent my argument. So as far as tarding it up, you've taken the cake with FirstTimer, like a bunch of douchebags who can't have a normal discussion.

I don't understand why this is so difficult. You took issue with someone saying that Pitt/Cuse screwed the Big East. You justified Pitt/Cuse's actions by saying "they helped their programs"...so does that somehow negate the point that they screwed over the Big East?

I rob a bank. I get caught. My defense is "I only did it to get more money". HUH?

I added to your faulty reasoning by saying that Pitt and Cuse are two of the biggest reasons why the Big East was already teetering...its like a CEO running a company into the ground, quitting and taking new job, and then having the temerity to say "Whew! I got out of there just in time!".

Eat shit, tard.

[Senser81]

Do UNF people view Pitt as a "rival"?

[FirstTimer]

I added to your faulty reasoning by saying that Pitt and Cuse are two of the biggest reasons why the Big East was already teetering...its like a CEO running a company into the ground, quitting and taking new job, and then having the temerity to say "Whew! I got out of there just in time!".

Eat shit, tard.

Did you just describe the sale of VSN?

:redsmug:

:ninja:

[Warner2BruceTD]

well, this thread turned to shit

[FirstTimer]

LOL at this being stickied.

[BrntO4Life]

well, this thread turned to shit

When do I get my award?

[Senser81]

Can we make a U of North Florida award for thread-ruining?

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

In regards to a massive shuffle of college football's landscape, it completely depends on some dominoes falling first...

The Big XII or Big East will not disintegrate...they will pick up teams from lesser conferences and the lesser conferences will fill in with even lesser teams and the even lesser conferences will fill in with the teams making the jump to FBS.

Let's just say the Big XII keeps Texas/Texas Tech and Oklahoma/Okie State (which it is looking like they will), as well as Mizzou (who, we all know would love a Big10 invite) the Big XII will look to add schools like BYU, Air Force, SMU, Houston, TCU, maybe try and bring in one of the Florida schools (USF/UCF). I can't see the Big XII not being at 12 teams because the conference championship game is big bucks...so, they'll expand at some point.

The Big East could look to Army and Navy for football-only, look to UCF and East Carolina, maybe try and bring Temple back or maybe even Buffalo or something.

The Mountain West looked to expansion but decided against it early this year, but they may open the gates again. I know there was offers out to SJSU, UTEP, and Utah State before Fresno, Hawaii, Nevada and Boise jumped on board...but even they may want to expand to 12 to get that championship game.

If Conference USA gets raided, they might look to schools to re-align their conference a bit, maybe look to FAU and FIU, LaTech, Troy, etc.

The WAC and Sun Belt are already going to be adding schools like Texas State, UTSA, UTA, and South Alabama. UMass will be joining the MAC.

No conference will disappear, they'll just look to bring in other schools and it'll filter down into one huge re-alignment of college football.

But, right now, everyone is in a holding pattern...Pac12 decides for now to stay put, SEC looks like they are quietly looking into things, ACC just made a move and may be posturing for a few future moves, all while major schools like Texas, Oklahoma and their sister schools, as well as WVU, Mizzou, amongst a few others kind of wait to see who makes the first move.

[Senser81]

I would guess that if the Big12 and Big East needs teams, they will both raid the Conference USA. Its the most logical source for major conferences needing teams. And the Conference USA is so new and such a clusterfuck, that no one other than Jay Hammock will be upset that we are missing out on the Rice-Tulsa rivalry.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I would guess that if the Big12 and Big East needs teams, they will both raid the Conference USA. Its the most logical source for major conferences needing teams. And the Conference USA is so new and such a clusterfuck, that no one other than Jay Hammock will be upset that we are missing out on the Rice-Tulsa rivalry.

Like I said, there will be some initial jockeying by the bigger named schools and that is what everyone is waiting on. It is why you see the Pac12 say they won't add anymore (at the moment), the SEC reject WVU (or, more appropriately, telling them they don't fuck on the first date), and the ACC posturing up with two not-talked-about moves.

Sooner or later, someone will move and then the rest of the dominoes fall into place.

There are a lot of second-tier schools that would love to move up to the first tier in the super conferences, as even bottom feeders for a while. There are a lot of third tier schools that would love to move up to the second tier (to conferences like CUSA or the MWC) and then those conferences like the Sun Belt and WAC will fill in with whatever they get raided with the new FBS programs.

[FirstTimer]

In regards to a massive shuffle of college football's landscape, it completely depends on some dominoes falling first...

The Big XII or Big East will not disintegrate...they will pick up teams from lesser conferences and the lesser conferences will fill in with even lesser teams and the even lesser conferences will fill in with the teams making the jump to FBS.

Let's just say the Big XII keeps Texas/Texas Tech and Oklahoma/Okie State (which it is looking like they will), as well as Mizzou (who, we all know would love a Big10 invite) the Big XII will look to add schools like BYU, Air Force, SMU, Houston, TCU, maybe try and bring in one of the Florida schools (USF/UCF). I can't see the Big XII not being at 12 teams because the conference championship game is big bucks...so, they'll expand at some point.

The Big East could look to Army and Navy for football-only, look to UCF and East Carolina, maybe try and bring Temple back or maybe even Buffalo or something.

The Mountain West looked to expansion but decided against it early this year, but they may open the gates again. I know there was offers out to SJSU, UTEP, and Utah State before Fresno, Hawaii, Nevada and Boise jumped on board...but even they may want to expand to 12 to get that championship game.

If Conference USA gets raided, they might look to schools to re-align their conference a bit, maybe look to FAU and FIU, LaTech, Troy, etc.

The WAC and Sun Belt are already going to be adding schools like Texas State, UTSA, UTA, and South Alabama. UMass will be joining the MAC.

No conference will disappear, they'll just look to bring in other schools and it'll filter down into one huge re-alignment of college football.

But, right now, everyone is in a holding pattern...Pac12 decides for now to stay put, SEC looks like they are quietly looking into things, ACC just made a move and may be posturing for a few future moves, all while major schools like Texas, Oklahoma and their sister schools, as well as WVU, Mizzou, amongst a few others kind of wait to see who makes the first move.

One of the better takes I have seen thus far. In the end I just think there is too much $$ involved for any of the major conferences to fold or collapse...however right now it really doesn't look good for BigXII or the Big East.

[G-men]

The Big East should bring in Villanova for football

[Fox1994]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0922-dufresne-college-football-20110922-11,0,2991572,full.column

LA Times article about the Pac-12 slowing expansion.

 

Pac-12 slows the college football expansion train for now

The conference's decision to not add Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech allows the sport to catch its breath, if only temporarily.

Don't mess with … Pullman?

These are fascinating days for purveyors of dark comedy and comeuppance.

Last year, Texas wrecked what was then the Pacific 10 Conference's plan to expand to 16 teams when the Longhorns reneged in the 11th hour.

Tuesday night, as college football stood at the precipice of upheaval, the West told Texas, "go east" and sang the old Texas song: "You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em."

This wasn't the Cuban missile crisis by the factor of infinity, but it's been an interesting "Ten Days in September" for brinkmanship.

It is simplistic to suggest Pac-12 presidents acted heroically when they rebuffed Texas and Oklahoma and their two political appendages.

"If the Pac-12 was able to structure terms that were favorable terms for the membership, they would have done it," Western Athletic Conference Commissioner Karl Benson observed Wednesday.

That the decision turned out to be good for college football was a residual benefit.

There were scenarios in which the league would have expanded to 16 and other conferences may have crumbled, but it's OK to think Pac-12 university presidents were also magnanimous.

To be clear: Commissioner Larry Scott did meet with Texas and Oklahoma. A deal could have been done if not for some audacious other-end behavior.

The message, as one Bowl Championship Series executive familiar with the situation relayed it this week, was "Texas cannot be trusted."

The Pac-12 was willing to consider expansion again, but not on anyone else's terms.

The audacious part was Oklahoma and Texas acting as if it was their decisions to join the Pac-12, not the other way around.

With the Big 12 reeling after the defections of Nebraska, Colorado and Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Texas used the Pac-12 as a lever in negotiations. Oklahoma President David Boren, a former United States senator, threw down the oratory gantlet earlier this month when he pronounced the Sooners would not "be a wallflower."

Boren made it sound as if his school had an open invitation to the Pac-12. And, of course, Oklahoma State was welcomed to tag along. Boren told the Oklahoman newspaper only days ago that the Pac-12 was his school's "sole focus."

If only he had booked a reservation. This is the same Boren who, in 2006, demanded Oregon's controversial win over Oklahoma in Eugene be expunged from the record books because of shoddy Pac-10 officiating.

Texas also erred in thinking just being Texas trumped everything.

Commissioner Scott met with Texas to see whether something special could be carved out. But there was a huge problem — the Longhorn Network. Texas, in conjunction with ESPN, launched its own network weeks ago. It was controversial from the start and ultimately drove Texas A&M to the Southeastern Conference.

Texas Inc. thought it could transfer operations to its Pacific branch. However, the Pac-12 had just made equal revenue sharing a cornerstone of its new $3-billion network deal.

Many in the league were appalled to read details of Texas' Pac-12 entry application in Sunday's Austin American-Statesman. The newspaper suggested a way Texas could join the Pac-12 while retaining the revenue from the Longhorn Network. The story had the financial breakdown and even the 16-team pod system that would make it all work.

The reaction out west: When Bevo Flies.

Last year's push toward a super 16 conference was rubber-stamped because Scott wanted the strongest package he could muster as he entered television negotiations.

By just adding two teams, though, the Pac-12 secured the most lucrative contract in college football. University presidents were thrilled beyond words.

So why did they need to go to 16 teams now?

Taking in Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech would have required swallowing hard on academics. Texas is the only one of the four that is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), but also the school that presented the Pac-12 the most headaches.

Not expanding allows the Pac-12 to take credit for slowing the frenetic and cannibalistic pace of expansion. Syracuse basketball Coach Jim Boeheim, speaking at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham, said, "If conference commissioners were the founding fathers of this country, we would have Guatemala, Uruguay and Argentina in the United States."

Maybe the backlash had some immediate impact on some presidents. And maybe it's only temporary. "I don't expect this is going to be the end in terms of realignment," Benson said.

Benson hopes the Pac-12 staying pat at least leads to an in-season moratorium. "It would be nice to get back to the football season and focus on the teams, student-athletes and the tradition of college football on Saturdays," he said.

In the 1990s, Benson oversaw the 16-team WAC before it dismantled and splintered. "I lost eight schools in one phone call," he said of the eight football-playing schools who broke away to form the Mountain West.

Boise State, his alma mater, ditched the WAC this year for the Mountain West. Three other WAC schools — Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii — will join the Mountain West for football next year.

Nevada and Fresno State announced they were leaving while Benson was moving his daughter into her dorm at USC.

"I took it very personally," he said. "I felt I was betrayed."

Benson has reached out in recent days to beleaguered colleagues Dan Beebe of the Big 12 and John Marinatto of the Big East.

"There is survival," Benson said he told them. "As many times as people counted the WAC out, and people told me to just shut it down, you can rebuild it."

Celebrate today's walk back from the ledge.

Enjoy this relative expansion calm — for the week or two that it lasts.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com

[WAC commissioner Karl] Benson has reached out in recent days to beleaguered colleagues Dan Beebe of the Big 12 and John Marinatto of the Big East.

"There is survival," Benson said he told them. "As many times as people counted the WAC out, and people told me to just shut it down, you can rebuild it."

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

In regards to a massive shuffle of college football's landscape, it completely depends on some dominoes falling first...

The Big XII or Big East will not disintegrate...they will pick up teams from lesser conferences and the lesser conferences will fill in with even lesser teams and the even lesser conferences will fill in with the teams making the jump to FBS.

Let's just say the Big XII keeps Texas/Texas Tech and Oklahoma/Okie State (which it is looking like they will), as well as Mizzou (who, we all know would love a Big10 invite) the Big XII will look to add schools like BYU, Air Force, SMU, Houston, TCU, maybe try and bring in one of the Florida schools (USF/UCF). I can't see the Big XII not being at 12 teams because the conference championship game is big bucks...so, they'll expand at some point.

The Big East could look to Army and Navy for football-only, look to UCF and East Carolina, maybe try and bring Temple back or maybe even Buffalo or something.

The Mountain West looked to expansion but decided against it early this year, but they may open the gates again. I know there was offers out to SJSU, UTEP, and Utah State before Fresno, Hawaii, Nevada and Boise jumped on board...but even they may want to expand to 12 to get that championship game.

If Conference USA gets raided, they might look to schools to re-align their conference a bit, maybe look to FAU and FIU, LaTech, Troy, etc.

The WAC and Sun Belt are already going to be adding schools like Texas State, UTSA, UTA, and South Alabama. UMass will be joining the MAC.

No conference will disappear, they'll just look to bring in other schools and it'll filter down into one huge re-alignment of college football.

But, right now, everyone is in a holding pattern...Pac12 decides for now to stay put, SEC looks like they are quietly looking into things, ACC just made a move and may be posturing for a few future moves, all while major schools like Texas, Oklahoma and their sister schools, as well as WVU, Mizzou, amongst a few others kind of wait to see who makes the first move.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7001803/east-carolina-applies-big-east-conference-membership

A source told ESPN's Joe Schad on Tuesday that the Big East's initial expansion targets would be the service academies -- Army, Navy, and Air Force -- with Central Florida and East Carolina as second-tier possibilities.

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A source with direct knowledge of the meeting told ESPN.com's Andy Katz that Connecticut didn't commit to remain in the Big East and is still actively pursuing membership in the ACC.

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Villanova, a Colonial Athletic Association team in football that won the FCS championship in 2009, wants to be considered as a candidate for the Big East, according to a source. The Wildcats already are a basketball member of the conference.

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