Rumor: Pitt Joining the Big Ten

[Vinsane]

I really do like the idea of Pitt joining the Big Ten. Now as for Michigan/Ohio State/Penn St./Pitt in the same division? You'd almost have to do it to keep up with the tradition. I don't see them scrapping that game for the sake of the Big Ten Championship to be on a "grander" scale.

I'd move to have the Big Ten change it's name however. MWC "Mid West Conference" comes to mind.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I really do like the idea of Pitt joining the Big Ten. Now as for Michigan/Ohio State/Penn St./Pitt in the same division? You'd almost have to do it to keep up with the tradition. I don't see them scrapping that game for the sake of the Big Ten Championship to be on a "grander" scale.

I'd move to have the Big Ten change it's name however. MWC "Mid West Conference" comes to mind.

"MWC" sounds like a mid major basketball league that would have Kent St, Cleveland St, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Drake, Valporaiso, Northern Iowa, Evansville, and Butler as it's members.

 

[Woy]

I really do like the idea of Pitt joining the Big Ten. Now as for Michigan/Ohio State/Penn St./Pitt in the same division? You'd almost have to do it to keep up with the tradition. I don't see them scrapping that game for the sake of the Big Ten Championship to be on a "grander" scale.

I'd move to have the Big Ten change it's name however. MWC "Mid West Conference" comes to mind.

You could make it like the Miami/FSU game in the ACC, where those two teams always play each other when scheduling opponents from the other division.

 

[NAHSTE]

I really do like the idea of Pitt joining the Big Ten. Now as for Michigan/Ohio State/Penn St./Pitt in the same division? You'd almost have to do it to keep up with the tradition. I don't see them scrapping that game for the sake of the Big Ten Championship to be on a "grander" scale.

I'd move to have the Big Ten change it's name however. MWC "Mid West Conference" comes to mind.

It's called keeping an interdivisional permanent opponent, like the SEC and ACC have done.

As for the MWC, you ever heard of the Mountain West? They kind of have that acronym already.

 

[jHammack]

I really do like the idea of Pitt joining the Big Ten. Now as for Michigan/Ohio State/Penn St./Pitt in the same division? You'd almost have to do it to keep up with the tradition. I don't see them scrapping that game for the sake of the Big Ten Championship to be on a "grander" scale.

I'd move to have the Big Ten change it's name however. MWC "Mid West Conference" comes to mind.

I don't like the name, however I would be all for a name change. As far as keeping them in the same division to keep rivalries is a hard thing to do. I would just make the divisions and just have that certain game every year. Obviously Pitt/Penn State and Michigan/Mich St would be in the same division. From there you would have to figure it out from there. Obviously Ohio State/Michigan is a must and so is Penn State/Ohio State... Penn State/Michigan isn't that big so I would say that's the main ones that would need considered.

I don't see this happening to be honest...give me a credible source and I'll believe it. But twitter and message boards? They said the same thing about Jim Harbaugh to Kansas and how did that turn out?

Yeah they are rumors, but that is what he said at the beginning of the post. Obviously it could fall through, but it's more than likely a done deal.

You could make it like the Miami/FSU game in the ACC, where those two teams always play each other when scheduling opponents from the other division.

+1

 

[Sportsbuck]

Under the current Big Ten scheduling format each team has 2 rivals that they play ever year and the other 6 rotate periodically.. I doubt the conference would go purely based on geographics when making up the divisions.

 

[Hasselbeck]

Can't call themselves the Big 12.....So who knows?

The Little 12 is still available though.

 

[Hasselbeck]

The Big East likely will just bite the bullet in regards to their football conference and go scoop up a good basketball school from C-USA (Memphis comes to mind immediately). Or they can just take the loss of a football program altogether and try to land a Xavier, Dayton, UNC Charlotte, etc.

Basically.. the BE is a terrible football conference and a bulk of their finances are brought in by basketball. I think that's going to be the focus for replacing Pitt.

As for the Pac-10, I doubt they expand to 12.. but I know the Mountain West is desperately trying to do that by adding Boise State, Nevada and Fresno State from the WAC.. so maybe this speeds up the Pac-10's efforts so that they aren't stuck in the cold.

 

[St. Francisco]

Big North Conference anyone?

 

[DaaBoTownSox]

Normally I woudln't post rumors like this... but for the purely hilarity of Jhammack and Pitty having to defend the B10 in the future I am going to.

Pitt supposedly informed thier scholarship athletes that they will be moving to the Big Ten, and the athletes put it up on twitter, then were told to remove it minutes later.

http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/2010/1/31/1285428/twelfth-man

If true, that's huge for the Big Ten. Sucks for the Big East though :laugh:

 

[Rayman]

Yeah, I never really bought Rutgers as a viable candidate for the Big 10.

 

[Vinsane]

It's called keeping an interdivisional permanent opponent, like the SEC and ACC have done.

As for the MWC, you ever heard of the Mountain West? They kind of have that acronym already.

Oh, they're a legitimate conference? Whoops.

 

[nesper]

Yeah, I never really bought Rutgers as a viable candidate for the Big 10.

maybe, mayeb not. There is nothing (aside from no interested team)that would stop them from going to 14 though its been one of the most media attention ideas which in reality doesn't mean anything but there has to be some fire some where for that smoke.

 

[NAHSTE]

Oh, they're a legitimate conference? Whoops.

Prepare to get groaned by at least Hasselbeck, likely more. They annually buttrape other conferences (Pac 10 especially) who underestimate them, so yeah, they're legit.

Bowl record was superior to that of the Big Ten for the last few years in fact.

 

[Senser81]

What would the Big10 have to gain by adding Pitt? Its just another mouth to feed. They have pretty good athletics, but they weren't/aren't Penn State when it comes to football tradition. And, perhaps more importantly, Pitt doesn't have the academic prestige of most Big10 institutions.

Unless its Notre Dame, I don't see the Big10 adding another team any time soon.

 

[FedEx227]

I guess the appeal of having a Big Ten title game, but honestly that doesn't benefit them all that much besides the extra revenue from another game.

As it stands now they have a better chance of making the National Title game without the conference matchup at the end of the year.

Plus I can't imagine the other 11 teams are really going to be in joy about sharing more Big Ten Network revenue with as Senser put it "another mouth"

 

[Sven Draconian]

Pitt adds a two things.

1) A major sports market
2) Success in both major sports.

Dividing the conference into divisions also makes sense so you don't get wildly uneven scheduling (Remember when the Big 10 champ never played Ohio State or Michigan a few years back?) and you get to foster tighter rivalries. You get the benefits of a small conference, but the prestiege of the big ones. Perfect setup.

Pitt allows the Big 10 to add some depth. Too many bad programs in each sport. Northwestern, Pudue, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State and Minnesotta are just bad football programs. They may have a standout season here and there, but they've been consistantly bad for too long.

That's an 11 team conference with 6 bad teams (on a year to year basis). Let alone now that Michigan is down. That leaves Ohio State and Penn State. Iowa and Wisconsin are good programs, but they aren't annual contenders.

The Big 10 is hoping that Pitt can slide into the Iowa/Wisconsin grouping of good progams. Win between 8-10 games a year, win some bowl games and threaten for the conference a couple times a decade. Obviously they wanted Notre Dame, but the Golden Domers have no interest in joining the conference.

Unfortunately, I don't really see Pitt as that program. Ohio State and Michigan already steal recruits from Pennsylvania...and Penn State is already the big brother. It's only going to get worse once the difference is played out on the field, yearly. Pitt should compete initially because they still have some talent and they can use this new Big 10 status for a few years. Eventually though, the annual losses to Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan (plus having to deal with Wisconsin and Iowa) are going to take a toll.

Pitt fans....Michigan State football is your future.

 

[Senser81]

Pitt allows the Big 10 to add some depth. Too many bad programs in each sport. Northwestern, Pudue, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State and Minnesotta are just bad football programs.

Funny how Michigan State used to routinely kick Pitt's ass only a couple seasons ago. The last time Pitt was relevant in football was when they had Dan Marino at QB.

 

[SuperKevin]

This makes sense more for basketball than it does for football I think.

 

[NAHSTE]

This makes sense more for basketball than it does for football I think.

This. Pittsburgh is a solid hoops program that already plays a brutal brand of basketball that will fit right in with the Big Tweleven.

On the football field, I'm not so sure, since their biggest recruiting draw was always "We have a really easy path to an auto BCS bid" and now they're gonna be competing with tOSU, Penn St. and Michigan for recruits, asking these recruits to come play for a 4th or 5th place team. One that is coached by Wannstedt.