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Why the Pac-12 and not the Big 10? Geographically it makes more sense. As a Big 10 fan, I could care less about Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers and Maryland. I already watch many Big 12 games and watched SWC and big 8 games.
Technically speaking, Texas and Oklahoma are the western most boundary of the South. Going to the Mighty Midwest Conference doesn't make any more geographic sense than the PAC, IMO. Kansas and Missouri, sure, they can go to the Big 10. Oklahoma/Texas schools? I don't think so. Plus, I've always heard that there would be no way that the Big 10, with its academic pedigree, would take Oklahoma/Oklahoma State/or Texas Tech.
There is no easy solution. I still wish there is a way the Texas and Oklahoma schools could start a 10 team South Central Conference (SSC) and then pick up 2-3 bigtime quality non-conference games per year to satfisy the strength of schedule.
Technically speaking, Texas and Oklahoma are the western most boundary of the South. Going to the Mighty Midwest Conference doesn't make any more geographic sense than the PAC, IMO. Kansas and Missouri, sure, they can go to the Big 10. Oklahoma/Texas schools? I don't think so. Plus, I've always heard that there would be no way that the Big 10, with its academic pedigree, would take Oklahoma/Oklahoma State/or Texas Tech.
There is no easy solution. I still wish there is a way the Texas and Oklahoma schools could start a 10 team South Central Conference (SSC) and then pick up 2-3 bigtime quality non-conference games per year to satfisy the strength of schedule.
SSC East
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Rice
SMU
Tulsa
SSC West
Baylor
TCU
Texas
Texas Tech
UTEP
Ok I have to chuckle at this a bit. Earlier you essentially small-timed TCU, Boise State, and BYU, and now you're proposing a conference with one of the absolute worst programs in the history of Division I football. Texas-El Paso is 114th out of the current 120 FBS teams in all-time winning percentage.
I really don't see A&M hurting the conference that much. Even if not replaced a non-conference game for some teams could be a better choice and have less members. I'd love to eventually see Texas/ LSU or a Florida team non-conference. If you want to play national championship; matchups is everything and non-conference more important than ever.
Meh, after seeing big time papers like the Dallas Morning News consistently listing schools like Notre Dame and Arkansas for Big XII replacements, I say people take a break from all this until the Oklahoma AD actually says something cause this noise to signal ratio is just stupid now.
Ok I have to chuckle at this a bit. Earlier you essentially small-timed TCU, Boise State, and BYU, and now you're proposing a conference with one of the absolute worst programs in the history of Division I football. Texas-El Paso is 114th out of the current 120 FBS teams in all-time winning percentage.
More of a pipe-dream more than anything. I'm just frustrated that Oklahoma/Texas will have to sellout to the PAC.....which will greatly diminish the traditions based on geography and culture in this part of the country. (Just like the traditions/regionalism/culture that other conferences possess in general.)
I know that the SSC would never be a reality.....just kind of me daydreaming that we could keep some semblance of regional identity in our sports, which pretty much looks like a pipe-dream now that A&M has caused the dominoes to start falling.
Oklahoma/Texas are used to calling the shots in the Big 8/Southwest Conference/Big 12. Those days are pretty much over and we'll be deferring to lesser programs (with the exception of USC) now.
I'm an Old Time Traditionalist; and, it pains me to see those traditions swept away so easily just because of money and the fact that A&M just couldn't stand its big brother Texas any longer.
Meh, after seeing big time papers like the Dallas Morning News consistently listing schools like Notre Dame and Arkansas for Big XII replacements, I say people take a break from all this until the Oklahoma AD actually says something cause this noise to signal ratio is just stupid now.
Exactly.
Just a lot of blather feeding off bloggs & message boards.
Kinda funny watching Texas fans tracking private airplane flights between Norman, Lubbock, Austin, LA, etc.
when did we start asking the "now what?" questions? was it when Penn State got the whole realignment thing going by joining a Big Ten conference that for an eternity were quite content and truly represented their tight midwest/great lakes region?
The questions were there as the Big Eight and the remnants of the old SWC combined to form a geographical nosequitor called the Big Twelve? What on earth did Texas have in common with Iowa State?
surely the questions were in force when the SEC acquired Ark and So Car and got the vaunted "Conference Championship Game" which stood far less for competition within the conference and far more about $$$$$$$$$$$$$.
But heck, isn't that what it is all about anyway.
it's certain that the "now what?" questions were operating in earnest when the Big East, decimated in a way that the Big Twelve now is, played musical chairs with the ACC as everybody was asking, "where, if anywhere, is Notre Dame going?"
The musical chairs game went on, along with our "now what?" questions with the Big 12 and the Pac 10 which became, of course, the Pac 12 although it appeared on the way to being the Pac 30.
Instead of that massive exodus west, the Big 12, which never should have been in the first place, bled out piece by piece, CU to the Pac 12 (this being a school actually east of the Rockies), Nebraska to the Big Ten which shot holes in that conference's very notion and game it played with academic superiority. At least the conference is at 12 which allows it that lucrative championship game. So what if Ohio State-Michigan, arguably the best of college football rivalries now has schools in different divisions (my bet: UM-MSU and OSU-PSU become bigger rivalries in time than OSU-UM). Wisconsin loses all its traditional rivals as intradivision. The conference may be a mess, but the championship game in Indianapolis is a sell out, was within a day of tickets being offered.
And do you really think you couldn't run a 12 team conference with an exciting 11 game round robin, simply by eliminating the non-conference cupcakes that fill BCS schools' stadiums for the sake of $$$$$$ and 52-7 routs.
and again...ain't that what it is all about, show me the money?
So now we have Texas A&M telling the Big 12 it's going to be good bye if it finds another conference to join (it already has found it, the SEC, and these talks never would have been made public if the SEC didn't already say "come on in; the water's fine. and we would love to be part of that Texas market."
All about increasing "The Footprint", all about the revenue of new markets. The SEC, Presented by Delta. McDonald's Big Ten-or-Twelve-or-Whatever.
So "now what?" we ask? Will OU take A&M's move as a reason to abandon the Big Twelve, Subsidary of Titanic Cruise Lines? And if so, where does Texas go? Or Oky State? What's to become of Missouri? Does Iowa State even exist any more.
So at this point, if there is an answer to "now what", to me the answer at this point becomes obvious: WTF. What cares.
College football arguably was the most traditional of sports, ahead of even that other (former) bastion of tradition, MLB. MLB, of course, has divisioned and wild carded itself into a mockery of its long, cherished history.
And College Football has become professional football in all things but name. Does anyone really doubt that the sports is de facto professional?
Look, if I want the NFL, I can watch the NFL. What draws (or drew) me to college football was the beauty of a game once related to campuses and the pagentry of a sport where football was meant to enhance school spirit and in which we had a real relationship to real universities and the real conferences they belong to.
So at this point, forgive me if I opt out of interest. If Notre Dame decides to join the Pac 50 to be closer to its rivalries with USC and Stanford and you ask me "what now?", my answer would be "does it really matter?"
when did we start asking the "now what?" questions? was it when Penn State got the whole realignment thing going by joining a Big Ten conference that for an eternity were quite content and truly represented their tight midwest/great lakes region?
The questions were there as the Big Eight and the remnants of the old SWC combined to form a geographical nosequitor called the Big Twelve? What on earth did Texas have in common with Iowa State?
surely the questions were in force when the SEC acquired Ark and So Car and got the vaunted "Conference Championship Game" which stood far less for competition within the conference and far more about $$$$$$$$$$$$$.
But heck, isn't that what it is all about anyway.
it's certain that the "now what?" questions were operating in earnest when the Big East, decimated in a way that the Big Twelve now is, played musical chairs with the ACC as everybody was asking, "where, if anywhere, is Notre Dame going?"
The musical chairs game went on, along with our "now what?" questions with the Big 12 and the Pac 10 which became, of course, the Pac 12 although it appeared on the way to being the Pac 30.
Instead of that massive exodus west, the Big 12, which never should have been in the first place, bled out piece by piece, CU to the Pac 12 (this being a school actually east of the Rockies), Nebraska to the Big Ten which shot holes in that conference's very notion and game it played with academic superiority. At least the conference is at 12 which allows it that lucrative championship game. So what if Ohio State-Michigan, arguably the best of college football rivalries now has schools in different divisions (my bet: UM-MSU and OSU-PSU become bigger rivalries in time than OSU-UM). Wisconsin loses all its traditional rivals as intradivision. The conference may be a mess, but the championship game in Indianapolis is a sell out, was within a day of tickets being offered.
And do you really think you couldn't run a 12 team conference with an exciting 11 game round robin, simply by eliminating the non-conference cupcakes that fill BCS schools' stadiums for the sake of $$$$$$ and 52-7 routs.
and again...ain't that what it is all about, show me the money?
So now we have Texas A&M telling the Big 12 it's going to be good bye if it finds another conference to join (it already has found it, the SEC, and these talks never would have been made public if the SEC didn't already say "come on in; the water's fine. and we would love to be part of that Texas market."
All about increasing "The Footprint", all about the revenue of new markets. The SEC, Presented by Delta. McDonald's Big Ten-or-Twelve-or-Whatever.
So "now what?" we ask? Will OU take A&M's move as a reason to abandon the Big Twelve, Subsidary of Titanic Cruise Lines? And if so, where does Texas go? Or Oky State? What's to become of Missouri? Does Iowa State even exist any more.
So at this point, if there is an answer to "now what", to me the answer at this point becomes obvious: WTF. What cares.
College football arguably was the most traditional of sports, ahead of even that other (former) bastion of tradition, MLB. MLB, of course, has divisioned and wild carded itself into a mockery of its long, cherished history.
And College Football has become professional football in all things but name. Does anyone really doubt that the sports is de facto professional?
Look, if I want the NFL, I can watch the NFL. What draws (or drew) me to college football was the beauty of a game once related to campuses and the pagentry of a sport where football was meant to enhance school spirit and in which we had a real relationship to real universities and the real conferences they belong to.
So at this point, forgive me if I opt out of interest. If Notre Dame decides to join the Pac 50 to be closer to its rivalries with USC and Stanford and you ask me "what now?", my answer would be "does it really matter?"
Overall, this is an excellent post which every college football fan under 40 should read.
>>>>>
All about increasing "The Footprint", all about the revenue of new markets. The SEC, Presented by Delta. McDonald's Big Ten-or-Twelve-or-Whatever.
<<<<<
Agreed. It's disgusting. It's all about "franchising" football. I call it selling out for cash.
>>>>>
the Big Twelve, Subsidary of Titanic Cruise Lines?
<<<<<
LOL. True here as well.
>>>>>
College football arguably was the most traditional of sports, ahead of even that other (former) bastion of tradition, MLB. MLB, of course, has divisioned and wild carded itself into a mockery of its long, cherished history.
<<<<<
^^^
On the money here. THIS is exactly why I'm so fed up with all this realignment stuff....it is killing the traditions based on region and culture. It will never be the same and I'm predicting that it will greatly diminish not necessarily the interest in college football, but certainly the relationships/identity that have made it such a unique/fascinating sport.
Last edited by Bass&Catfish2008; 09-03-2011 at 09:56 AM..
Sooners are most likely the next team to leave the conference. After the announcement (which ever way they decide) the Big 12 will add lesser known colleges and be weaker for the time being.
Texas being greedy really blew up in thier face and the Big 12 deserves whats happening, thats for damn sure. Traditions are nice but its money that talks nowdays, it sucks but thats how the modern world works.
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