Forgive me if I'm beating a dead horse by starting an umpteenth thread on the same thing, but in my ten minutes of due diligence, I couldn't find a thread dedicated to this topic. If the Big 12 survives, who would you like to see added? And try to be realistic. We'd all love to see Notre Dame, Arkansas and Southern Cal added, but it probably won't happen. As for me, I'd be okay with taking BYU for their fan base, but if we took them, I'd also like to bring in Tulane and UNLV to compensate for them. Why Tulane and UNLV, you may well ask? Great destinations. You could go to Vegas one year and N'awlins the next. If Missouri leaves, add Boise State.
Horn Fan... scratch the TCU ****! they don't carry a TV market nor do they sell out their stadium for mediocre opponents and they don't travel well at all unless it's a big game...
Try to get Mizzou to come back (or stay) because they have a Midwest TV market; otherwise, get Boise State and leave it at that - even though their TV market is non-existent.
I wrote a whole screed on Big 12 expansion here. It's long, but if you scroll through the topics, you'll find some ideas on probable available schools. I don't know who Greg Swaim is, but Swaim is talking about most of the same schools everyone else is: BYU, Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, and West Virginia. Basically, the rebuilt B12 is likely to have a whole lot of Big East tinge to it.
I think Pogo's lineup could happen, with my only disagreement being Missouri. I think if Missouri goes, Texas will leave the B12, and play in a different conference next year. Absent MO, though, I certainly think any 3 of BYU, WV, Louisville and Cincinnati could well get tapped by the B12 to get back to 12 and a conference championship playoff game. Only 1 of those -- WV -- would be in my top 4, but I'm not the decider.
Agree 12 teams and a conference championship game are necessities. TCU, SMU, Cougar High, WVU, Louisville and Cincy would not enhance the conference in any manner. Rice would be the choice as the Big 12 standard barer in Houston, and the addition of the two Florida directional schools would bring in schools that the remainder of the conference could relate to on some level. Therefore leave Pogo's West as is and have the East: Rice (it is in East Texas - somewhat) KU KSU ISU UCF USF If 16 are needed, add Rutgers and Georgetown (they are back into football) to the East; and add Air Force and Boise to the West. This would keep the Big 12 active in Houston and counter the SEC"s move into Texas by moving into Florida.
If the goal is to have any chance at ND let WVU head for the SEC or twist in the wind. Make sure UConn and Rutgers leave the Big East either for the Big 12, ACC or B1G. Use UL as plan b and invite BYU and their network. With no Big East offer ND non-football membership with games against OU, Texas (TD). Let the eastern teams, Mizzou, ND, and a combination of KU, Kstate, UConn/Rutgers/UL play olympics in the east. Texas, OU, OSU, BYU, TT, BU in the west. Tier 3 rights for each school, let BYU and ND keep network rights. Yes it will never happen, but...
why not get to 16 first, since that's supposedly the future anyway? Take the pod system that was proposed for the Pac-16 and implement it here (but call them divisions)Big 16 West BYU Boise St Air Force Texas Tech Big 16 South Texas OU Okie St Baylor Big 16 North Kansas K-State Iowa St Mizzou Big 16 East West Virginia Louisville Rutgers South Florida (one team we know won't do the horns down) or Cincinnati play everybody in your division, then 2 teams each from the other divisions. top 2 teams with the best conference record play for the championship. championship game in Dallas (more exposure in Texas for a team like Boise or WVU), or can rotate between each "region" if people get butt hurt about it being in texas -- looking at you tittybaby Tom Osborn. sounds good at 5am. i will see if i'm self flagellating out of joy or anger later, depending on comments. (i hope it's joy)
You don't go beyond 14, in any case, because you hope that your unique Tier 3 model + programming will make boucoup $$$. If it does, then you hope you can pick off a major-major from another conference in the future. That's would I would want to do, at least. I just hope the B12 thinks State of Florida and NYC, but apparently they aren't. They seem to be thinking BYU -- a decent mid-major -- and Louisville, and somewhat less decent mid-major that is contiguous. Can't tell yet who's in the running for #3 (to get back to a championship game), except Texas will not allow another Texas school to be added. WV would be ideal, and contiguous with the B12 through KY to MO; however, I think WV goes to the SEC if MO doesn't get there first.
Horn Fan... scratch the TCU ****! they don't carry a TV market nor do they sell out their stadium for mediocre opponents and they don't travel well at all unless it's a big game... __________________________________________________ baylor doesnt sell out their stadium for good opponents.
I've been thinking about this a little more and I've drawn the conclusion that, IMO, Boise State, BYU and Tulane make the most sense. Crazy, eh? Here's why? Louisville and West Virginia have a lot of appeal but academically, they suck. We've just lost three of the Big 12's original seven AAU members in the last two years (though Nebraska subsequently fell out of the AAU) so it would be ridiculous to replace AAU schools with schools that are like 164th academic standing. Rutgers would be good because of their AAU standing, the national rank of 68, their big enrollment, proximity to large metropolitan viewing areas and their recent success on the field. But they don't have any comparable nearby companions they could join with so they'd end up being a lonely geographic outlier. An unhappy outcast. Why would they leave the Big East for that? Meanwhile Boise State and BYU are academically comparable to Rutgers even if they're not AAU schools. They're ranked 67 and 71 respectively. BYU supposedly has the national LDS appeal and they've both had recent success on the field. BYU even has the legacy of their 1984 MNC which is much more recent than A&M's 1939 MNC. And they seem to be rivals, so they could come into the conference as a matched set. Unless Missouri leaves, that leaves one opening. I must admit that Tulane is kind of like a poor man's TCU. A small college in a big city with a negligible fanbase. And unlike TCU, they haven't been successful on the field. But they are an AAU member, they're geographically close but just outside of the current conference footprint, they have a football history that even includes a stint in the SEC... And get this - Texas has played Tulane more times over the years than every other team except for A&M, OU, Baylor, Rice, TCU, Arkansas, SMU, Tech, Houston, Oklahoma State and Missouri. The Big 12 revenue sharing would double their 24 million dollar athletic budget so they could probably upgrade and improve over the years. Just for the sake of pride, the Big 12 has to take an AAU school and Tulane makes more sense than Rutgers and Rice, the only other viable alternatives. Road games to New Orleans. Recruiting in Louisiana. It could happen. Big 12 North: Boise State Brigham Young Iowa State Kansas Kansas State Missouri Big 12 South: Baylor Oklahoma Oklahoma State Texas Texas Tech Tulane
