SEC Rumors

I don't know if this is an April Fools report, but there are rumors that the SEC Commish is reaching out to Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill to see if they're interested in joining the Southeastern conference.

If those schools join, the SEC would be a sixteen team conference.

What Do You Think Will Happen?

As reported again today in the Post-Dispatch/StlToday, Mizzou is shopping around.

Most reporters are informing the reading public that the SEC is the conference Mizzou will join.

However, there are other options out there though some aren't realistic:

• The interim Big 12 Commish persuades Mizzou to stick with the conference.
• The Big Ten expands again.
• Mizzou becomes an independent.

Which of the four options (the first one is Mizzou joining the SEC) will happen?

If Mizzou departs, the Big 12 will have to add at least BYU and another school (TCU, SMU, Houston?) to stop the bleeding. Heck, the way it's going, they might want to look at Southern Miss, Missouri State, and Tulsa. 

Mizzou to the SEC?

I came across an article today on Mizzou's Rivals site.

In "If Mizzou Moves, All Signs Point South," Gabe DeArmond provides an article that will probably light up the message boards. He intimates that if Mizzou moves, it sounds like the SEC would prefer to add them as the league's 14th member after Texas A&M.

He concludes the article with this paragraph: "As has been the case throughout the realignment situation, there are many moving parts. No deal is done until it is officially done. But all indications are that if Missouri chooses to leave the Big 12, or if there is no Big 12 to leave, the SEC is the likely landing spot for the Tigers."

I Didn't Think It Would Happen This Quickly

Wow. I've been doing all kinds of things today, and I just discovered that Texas A&M will be leaving the Big12.

So I'm thinking the presidents of the SEC gave Commissioner Slive the okay to add the Aggies at their last meeting, huh?

While I'm perfectly fine with the Southeastern Conference exactly the way it is, adding A&M provides the Texas market, a recruiting hotbed, and a top-flight research institution to the conference.

But thirteen teams? That ain't right. I think the SEC adds at least one more university or possibly three to move to 14 or 16 team conference.

As I've written about before, possibly ad nauseam, I'm for adding Clemson, Florida State, and Georgia Tech. Doing so just makes sense from a regional standpoint, especially since Georgia Tech is a founding member of the SEC.

You place A&M and one of the other three in the West, or you put A&M there and shift Kentucky or Tennessee or Vanderbilt to the West and place the other three in the East.  Both Clemson and Georgia Tech are natural Eastern SEC-like schools since they have heated rivalries with the Gamecocks and Bulldogs.

There's going to be all kinds of crazy speculation out there about what other universities the SEC might add, but I know one thing for sure. I sure would hate to be the commissioner of the Big "12."

Realignment Talk Again

Although I've looked through my Lindy's pre-season college football annual from time to time since I received it a few weeks ago, I haven't written much about college football recently. You can expect that to change since it's partway through July, and August is when my mind really turns toward college football season.

But today I came across two articles I thought I'd pass along.

Last summer there was a lot of excitement because of Nebraska and Colorado leaving the Big 12-2 Conference, but I haven't seen much about other realignment schemes happening until today.

Both articles come from sites associated with Texas A&M, the university the SEC, by various accounts, courted last summer.

The first article by Billy Liucci, "Will A&M Trigger the Next Realignment Explosion?", relates the politics of the Texas Ten Conference and provides speculation that the SEC will go after both A&M and Oklahoma.

But according to a more detailed and nuanced article, "The Winds of Change Blowing Again?", it sounds like the Aggies are taking a long-term perspective on the situation, especially considering the details the author, David Sandhop, goes into about the needed renovations to their stadium. Sandhop also reveals that apparently Clemson is ready to jump to the SEC, which makes sense to me.

The Texas Ten?

I got this off a Nebraska fan site, and I found it amusing.

Conference Talk, Again

I've never been a fan of Mizzou, but they're getting screwed. The Big Ten puts out feelers via a KC radio station that the Big Ten wants to be BFFs with Rutgers, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Mizzou. So now we have the Cornhuskers moving to let the Big Ten finally have a championship game while Notre Dame resolves to keep collecting its cash from NBC, and apparently the Big Ten Commish is no longer interested in Mizzou, at least if you go by reports.

That's cold.

And even if you do the sports-talk-radio rhetorical promenade where you might opine that Mizzou doesn't offer a major market, they'd certainly draw more cash than flippin' Rutgers.

At least with Mizzou and Kansas you could say the Big Ten would capture the St. Louis and Kansas City markets, which isn't an enormous draw, but it isn't bad. With those two additions, some "Big Ten" basketball teams might actually play solid offense.

The odd aspect of this Pac-16 conception is the tremendous travel costs of the other sports besides football. And I also wonder whether the old Big 12 powers with the old Pac 10 teams would actually make more money once they split up the money sixteen ways.

Or, as you can read by clicking HERE, maybe the Big 12 becomes Big 12 Light since Texas has always wanted its own TV network? And click HERE for an ESPN article about that too. Since the two schools that have left the Big 12 have to pay a fee to get out of the conference, it might make more sense to stick together.

But I guess it's a possibility that A&M could say goodbye to the new Big 12 [10] since the power play here is to let Texas have its own channel. A Longhorn channel certainly wouldn't please or help the Aggies (making them even a weaker second fiddle), and there's also a rumor that OU, like A&M, has had talks with the SEC, which might have scared the Longhorns.

The main problem, in my opinion, at the root of all this though is revenue sharing. And a condensed Big 12 [10] doesn't address that problem.

Mizzou, Your Move

Since it seems that Nebraska's move to the Big Ten is imminent, what does Mizzou do?

Any followers of Mizzou care to chime in?

Heck, if I were the Big Ten head honcho, I'd extend invitations to Iowa State, K State, and Kansas. If Mizzou comes on board, then you have a Big Ten that is a mega-conference like the Pac 10 seems destined to become.

It'll be interesting to see what the SEC and ACC does in response to all these conference shifting shenanigans.

Conference Shakedowns

As I wrote about in mid-December (click HERE for that post), there's talk out there about the Big 10[11] expanding, and that speculation is being discussed here in Big 10 country. As I dropped off the kids this morning, two pundits on 670 The Score out of Chicago were talking about expansion possibilities.

Apparently, a Kansas City radio station reported (maybe yesterday) that the Big 10 offered membership to Notre Dame (they still can't let it go, can they?), Rutgers, Nebraska, and Mizzou.

To me at least, Nebraska and Mizzou make sense geographically, but the Big 12 has to angry as hell. Throwing in the Kansas schools would make some sense here if you consider geography. Rutgers makes little sense to me, especially since Pitt would be a better fit.

The guys on The Score also floated a rumor about SEC expansion by saying that "reportedly" the SEC is interested in adding Florida State, Miami, Clemson, and Georgia Tech to make the conference a sixteen-school league.

While I'm fine with the SEC as it is, those four schools are attractive because all of them would have natural rivals within the conference: Clemson and South Carolina; Georgia Tech and Georgia; and Florida State, Miami, and Florida.

Whatever may eventually happen, the people within the higher echelons of the Big 12 and ACC have to be some grumpy and paranoid folks right now.

Deja Vu All Over Again: Pac 10 Considering Expansion

Click HERE to read about how the Pac 10, like the Big 10, is considering expansion.

I wonder if Vegas odds-makers have lines on this stuff?

If the Pac 10 can persuade Colorado to switch conferences, I would expect TCU to be embraced by the Big 12.

The Big Ten [11] to Expand to be the Big Ten [12]

As has been reported, it's time for the talk about expanding the Big 10 to begin again. It was probably about a decade ago when the conference courted Notre Dame, who simply said, "No thanks, we're making major money with NBC, fellas."

So I wonder if the Big 10 will try to seduce ND to become part of the conference again? Perhaps last go-round, Big 10 officials asked this question: "If we were the last conference on the earth, do we have a chance of you joining us?" to which Notre Dame replied with "Maybe." The Big 10 brass thought, "There's still a chance!"

Big 10 = Unrequited Lover

I imagine speculation is out there on who the Big Ten conference will court this time, and here are my so-called thoughts:

• U of Pittsburgh: They expanded over to Happy Vallley, so why not the Land of Piroges?
• U of Cincinnati: Since they've become a football power at present, this might make sense. However, I wonder how long that will last.
• U of Louisville: This would be a serious expansion southward for the conference. Athletically the school is strong in both football and basketball. For U of L, a move from the Big East to the Big Ten is a no-brainer.
• Boston College: "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes ... you just might find ... you get what you need." This is a very strong academic school, and they're good in football. This would mess up the ACC, and Boston is long ways from Big 10 country though.
• Iowa State: What if ISU jumps ship to the Big 10 and then TCU moves into the Big 12 where it should be? Pipe dreams, yes. But this makes lots of sense, people. I smell conspiracy and collusion.

So what do all of you sports fans think?

Who should the Big 10 seriously court?