Big 10 (11) to expand to 12 teams?

[El Supremo]

Who would you want to join? Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Syracuse or Mizzou?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/ncaa/wires/12/15/2060.ap.fbc.big.ten.expansion.4th.ld.writethru.0698/

[KamaAina]

1. Ha! ND isn't even on your short list!

then again, inside sources say they're close to reaching a deal with the MAC. :P

Of the above, Pitt's the best fit because of its natural rivalry with Penn State.

[El Supremo]

2. ND turned them down before.

And they play other sports in the Big East.

[madinmaryland]

3. Uhmm.. ND is going to the MAC where they may actually be able to be competitive.

:hide:

[LisaM]

4. I say, kick Penn State out and return it to the way it should be

in particular, make it so every team plays every other team in the league again.

[madinmaryland]

7. Actually, I think Michigan should move to the MAC with Notre Dame, so

that we should get back to the Big TEN!

:hide:

[Condem]

9. Now, mad.

Starting fires, again.

[madinmaryland]

10. Hmm. Iowa could go to the Mountain West to make room for Pitt!

:D

[Condem]

11. Ohio State does the only honorable thing and volunteers for the MAC...

therefore, setting up the natural rivalry with OU...and I'm not talking Oklahoma.

[madinmaryland]

13. Actually, we could replace Iowa with ONU to have a true Ohio rivalry!

:rofl:

[Condem]

15. Or we could throw out the thuggery that is the Michigan State University!!!

Biggest cheap shot artists in the Conference...and good luck in the bowl against Texas Tech with NO defensive backfield. There's the obvious answer.

[LisaM]

25. Yeah, what's up with MSU?

I don't think they're even going to have a team for their bowl game.

It's garnered very little discussion here.

[Condem]

26. What, some football players got in a fracas with some hockey players? Frat boys?

I do know this. The week after we played them they put the picture of Ware standing over Sandeman after that head shot on the cover of their program. Stay classy MSU.

[LisaM]

28. The guy that scored the winning TD against Michigan should have been in jail

he was released early because of prison overcrowding and reinstated at the football program - over the pleas of the hockey players whose skull he'd cracked - the same afternoon. The other guy, Jenrette, had had numerous scrapes with the law, and was reinstated anyway.

Dantonio must just be the chief thug.

[LisaM]

29. Here's that hit

Not very pretty to look at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9ZdFlZ_wcA

[Condem]

30. Yup, LisaM

Stanzi hung Sandeman out to dry, but it was a head shot.

[Jimbo S]

43. Local column published yesterday

Doug Moe: A.J. Sturges deserves better in 2010

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/doug_moe/article_39c99ac5-af12-5a06-8991-a7ed0e261f82.html

In the fall of 2007, A.J. Sturges enrolled at Michigan State University on a scholarship to play hockey. The Sturges family goes back five generations with Michigan State. John was a star on the Spartans hockey team in the 1970s. A.J.’s older brother, Dan, was already on the roster when A.J. arrived in East Lansing in 2007.

It was a year later — in October 2008 — that the world of A.J. Sturges was turned upside down.

Sometime after midnight on the morning of Oct. 19, Sturges was standing in the front yard of the house he shared with other hockey players in East Lansing when a Michigan State football player named Glenn Winston punched him in the side of the head.

[Condem]

45. Thanks, Jimbo.

Utter stupidity. D'Antonio better get this circus under reign. or, see ya. NO place for that shit.

[Auggie]

22. Brilliant idea

:eyes:

[Jimbo S]

44. Penn State: the unwanted stepbrother

I agree with Lisa. Everything was just fine with ten teams.

[Condem]

5. Offer it one mo' time to ND....with an ultimatum.

Hey, Irish. You got five seconds to decide. Expecting a turndown, the Big Ten then takes Mizzou and TCU replaces them in the Big 12.

[Bluzmann57]

6. Think outside the box

Go west and recruit Boise State. Travel costs may get in the way, but it would be interesting to see a team like that in the Big 10(11).

[Condem]

8. Disagree, Bluz.

Not a good fit. ND is the obvious. Again, they'll say no. I think Mizzou would jump at the chance. Remember, it's hoops, also. ND brings the most to the table. Then Mizzou, then Pitt. No Rutgers, no Syracuse. Too East.

[Bluzmann57]

12. ND already belongs to the Big East

at least in Bball. And Missouri would be an obvious choice but I'm not real sure that they will leave the Big Eight, er, twelve. And the heck with Pitt, Rutgers, and Syracuse. They are entrenched as Big East teams in all sports. As Horace Greely said, "Go west young man."
If not Boise State, how about...Iowa State?

[madinmaryland]

14. Dude! ND is going to the MAC! It's a perfect fit. nt

[Condem]

16. No Iowa State!!!

Bring nothing to the table. Missouri would jump at the chance. I'd go to Columbia in a Omaha minute to see the Hawks.

[Capt. America]

17. Mandel has good article about this...it may be better in theory than in reality to go to 12 teams.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/stewart_mandel/12/15/bigten-expansion/index.html

[Condem]

18. Here's another, Capt.

http://www.kansascity.com/385/story/1632957.html I can guarantee you it won't be ND (No Deal)

[Capt. America]

24. Nebraska vs. Iowa in the Big 10 West? How's that sound? But Nebraska will not move.

[SteelPenguin]

19. Of those?

This reminds me of that recent topic in this forum of what you'd do to change your conference, and reminds me there just aren't enough decent teams to fill up all the leagues. The ACC, SEC, and Big 12 all have their 12 teams and a championship.... But the Big 10 needs 1 more team, the Big East needs 4, and the Pac-10 needs 2. If the WAC and the Mountain West merged and dumped 6 of their teams, they'd have 12, and a slightly stronger conference, which would put 6 more substandard western teams into the pool.

So unless leagues are evil bastards like the ACC, and raid other major conferences, they'll need to 'promote' up 7 different teams from the MAC or Conference USA, Sun Belt, or the runoff from a WAC/MW merge.

East Carolina
UCF
Southern Miss
Marshall
UAB
Memphis
Houston
Southern Methodist
Tulsa
UTEP
Rice
Tulane
Temple
Ohio
Bowling Green
Kent State
Buffalo
Akron
Miami (OH)
Central Michigan
Northern Illinois
Western Michigan
Toledo
Ball State
Eastern Michigan
Troy
Middle Tennessee State
Louisiana-Monroe
Florida Atlantic
Louisiana-Lafayette
Arkansas State
FIU
North Texas
Western Kentucky

Does anyone seriously want any of those teams in the Big 10, Big East, or Pac-10? Or if the Big 10 raids the Big 12 and takes Nebraska would the Big 12 want one of them? etc.

[Condem]

20. I can speak for the Big 12, SteelPenguin, if the Huskers or Mizzou go to the Big Ten.

TCU would be the choice.

[SteelPenguin]

21. Yeah

I'm sure if allowed to pick out of those conferences TCU and Boise State could find new homes in the Big 12 and the Pac-10. Which then leaves the rest of those conferences in the heap as well of "why are they even in Division 1"

[Capt. America]

23. Nothing on this list worth taking.

[Condem]

27. Rutgers could make a big play.

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2009/12/politi_rutgers_in_the_big_ten.html Interesting.

[Capt. America]

32. What does Rutgers bring to the table other than TV markets? They don't have the football tradition

and they don't "feel" like a midwestern team. I am also of the opinion that we only want to add a team to our league if it increases the overall competition level. What good does it do our conference to add another Indiana/Purdue/NU (at this point, Illinois)? The best choice would be ND because they already play 3 Big 10 teams a year, but that won't happen, and I doubt Mizzou would want to join.

PS: My conspiracy ideas were correct about Syracuse, why else would they play 3 Big 10 teams this last year if not to "try them out".

[Condem]

33. Missouri would join in a heartbeat, Capt.

I have no doubts about that. ALL Rutgers brings to the table is the eastern seaboard. And that's a lot of TV sets and $$$$. Simple as that.

[Ganja Ninja]

39. Rutgers has no Football tradition?!!!

:wtf: From Wikipedia: "Rutgers was among the first American institutions to engage in intercollegiate athletics, and participated in a small circle of schools that included Yale University, Columbia University and long-time rival, Princeton University (then called The College of New Jersey). The four schools met at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in Manhattan on 19 October 1873 to establish a set of rules governing their intercollegiate competition, and particularly to codify the new game of football."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutgers_University#Sport

[Capt. America]

40. Ahem....1873? Before Schiano there was nothing for decades. When one thinks "football" Rutgers does

not come to mind.

[Poiuyt]

31. ND is the obvious choice, but they say they want to stay independent

Missouri would be a good fit because of geographic proximity and a built in rivalry with Illinois.

[Condem]

34. Now the PAC-10 is talking expansion per the ESPN blog.

What ya' think west coasters?

[JonLP24]

35. Well I'll focus on football

Boise St would be a good fit for football, other sports? No.

So for the sake of argument let's just focus on football and adding two teams.

Boise St a no brainer.

The second team is tough to decide. Many suggest Utah and they could be a good fit. They have a long rivalry with BYU so that would have to be a non-conference game. Though some years they have been flat.

Fresno St is very good. They schedule aggressively every year on opponent's turf and are successful. They have the most BCS wins of any non-BCS school.

Hawaii was pretty good during the Timmy Chang years but I don't feel they make a strong candidate today.

Others might consider BYU but I don't like them.

TCU is far away and I like leaving the MWC teams as is. It's a pretty good conference and they could build into a strong conference down the road.

[fishwax]

37. I'd think the Pac 10 would make another play for Colorado

They tried in '94 but Colorado passed--if they're serious about expansion I'd think they'd try again, and if the Big 10 made a serious play at Missouri that might make it even more likely. Colorado football is down at the moment, but overall they'd fit in well with the Pac 10, they'd secure a sizable new media market for the conference, and they would be a good fit academically as well.

Academics, incidentally, could be a big stumbling block for Boise State. They're a regional school, and just not on the level of the current Pac 10 schools ...

[Condem]

38. I think you're right, fishwax.

Boise State in the PAC-10 would be knee-jerk. A couple of years of good football. So what??? They bring absolutely NOTHING else to the table.

[Capt. America]

41. Colorado State? Utah? Nevada?

[JonLP24]

42. Utah is a strong prospect

The other two not so much. Nevada has been pretty good at football but I'm unsure how they matchup academically and overall athletics. Colorado State is my second favorite team but they are not strong enough to even be considered. Especially coming off of a 3-9 season but they beat Colorado!

[MadBadger]

36. Pittsburgh