Big 10 Report: Conference Realignment

[Mr. Laz]

A source in St. Louis familiar with the situation told NewsCenter 16 Thursday afternoon that Missouri will leave the Big XII and soon join the Big 10. Other schools expected to follow the Tigers are Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers and Nebraska.

Many have speculated that such an expansion would include Notre Dame but ND athletic director Jack Swarbrick told me today that the Irish prefer to stay independent in football and in the Big East for other sports. Swarbrick said maintaining football Independence is such a part of what Notre Dame is.

He went on to say the Big East is a great partner for the University in other sports.

"We do have to monitor what is going on," Swarbrick said. "There will be significant shifts. "Hopefully we can navigate them by keeping our football independent and keeping our Big East affiliation because that is what we care about."

The move of Syracuse, Pitt and Rutgers to the Big Ten from the Big East could categorically change the landscape of the Big East itself. Thus, what Swarbrick is referring to when stating the University must continue to monitor what is going on.

The interview with Swarbrick was done before the late afternoon announcement.

http://www.wndu.com/sports/headlines/92447574.html

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by billay

Will this effect the Big 12 at all?

I think we're pretty much done with this shit. It was all a big Texas Bendover.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by billay

Will this effect the Big 12 at all?

If Bebe were smart, it should. BYU and Memphis, why not?

But Bebe is NOT smart, so it won't.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by ROR

I think we're pretty much done with this shit. It was all a big Texas Bendover.

The smack has only just begun.

[DaKCMan AP]

SEC has no peers on the field
By Pat Forde
ESPN.com

The working premise for a preseason college football poll voter is so idiot-proof a "Jersey Shore" character could do it.

Just put a Southeastern Conference team on top and let everything else fall into place.

But in reality, it isn't quite that easy. The hard part is picking the correct SEC team to win it all.

For the third straight season, the SEC starts on top of the USA Today Top 25. This year it's Alabama, which follows Florida in 2009 and Georgia in '08. Neither the Gators nor the Bulldogs won titles after being picked to do so.

Wrong teams, right league. That's because, in 2009, for the fourth straight season, an SEC team ended up at No. 1. By now you know the roll call: Florida in 2006, LSU in '07, Florida again in '08 and Alabama in '09. It's gotten to the point where the entire sport comes with a drawl, y'all.

Until last season, no conference had won four straight national titles since the advent of the Associated Press poll in 1936. The fact that three different SEC schools were part of the run is all the more impressive. So is the SEC's 6-0 record in the 12-year history of BCS title games.

And some want to award the league a seventh national championship in that span, giving Auburn a retroactive 2004 title now that the NCAA has vacated USC's crown.

You want more? I got more.

• The four straight title-game victories? None of them close. Not a single second-half deficit. Average margin of SEC victory: 16.8 points. Closest margin: 10 points. Hasn't mattered whether the opponent is from the Big Ten (Ohio State twice) or the Big 12 (Oklahoma once, Texas the other); they haven't been able to compete.

• The league hasn't been just one marquee team and a bunch of hash. It has placed at least two teams in the USA Today final poll top six each of the past four seasons. Alabama was No. 1 and Florida No. 3 last season; Florida No. 1 and Alabama No. 6 in 2008; LSU No. 1 and Georgia No. 3 in 2007; and Florida No. 1 and LSU No. 3 in '06.

• Those eight teams were largely unbeatable -- except when facing their SEC peers. They were a combined 39-1 in nonconference games -- including seven dominant BCS bowl victories -- but still managed to lose 10 league games. If you want to underscore the much-discussed depth, understand that Kentucky, South Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas and Auburn beat teams that either went on to win it all or finished in the top six.

"I know there's teams, they have circled games in other conferences, this is the premier game in the conference for this season," said Mississippi State coach and former Florida assistant Dan Mullen. "That's almost every single week in our conference."

Added LSU coach Les Miles: "I can tell you in our conference … you come out with a conference champion, they've been through it. They played the very finest competition. They've played it week in and week out. They've seldom had the opportunity to duck and have an off game. When they get to the title game, they've been there."

All this is why commissioner Mike Slive keeps calling this the SEC's "Golden Age." And he cannot be flagged for excessive celebration when simply stating the truth.

But as I wrote before the Alabama-Texas BCS Championship Game in January, tyranny is a bad thing. It would be good for college football for someone to lead a peasant revolt against SEC hegemony. Here's how it can happen -- both in the short term and beyond.

Start with this season. Alabama is the defending champion and returns the Heisman Trophy winner, its starting quarterback and its top two receivers. But Alabama also returns just three of its top 16 tacklers from last season -- and one of those, end Marcell Dareus, has unresolved eligibility issues related to the NCAA's ongoing agent investigation.

With losses like that, it's hard to see why Alabama should be such a prohibitive favorite. (The Crimson Tide got 55 of 59 first-place votes in the USA Today poll.) For that reason, my preseason pick is Boise State, which has everything but a name brand and a power conference. And if Ohio State weren't burdened by its recent history of nonconference train wrecks, there would be much more support for the Buckeyes.

League depth also could be an issue this season. Although Florida is prominently positioned at No. 3 in the USA Today poll, the Gators must overcome huge turnover -- they lost their defensive coordinator, their superstar quarterback and a slew of other draft picks. Everyone else in the SEC East comes with question marks as well.

In the West, voters at media day last month put LSU a shocking fourth. Arkansas and Auburn are the buzz teams, but can they live up to it, or will they fold under high expectations the way Mississippi did a year ago?

So this time around, it really does look like one power team (Bama) and a lot of uncertainty.

For the long haul, the rest of America has to get faster. The stereotype of Southern speed versus plodders from the Midwest and elsewhere probably is overplayed, but everyone who saw the Florida and LSU defenses overwhelm the Ohio State offensive line a few years back knows there also is some truth to it. In the SEC, athletes aren't at just the skill positions; they're everywhere. Even the long-snappers are fast.

[+] EnlargeMiles
Jason Parkhurst/US PresswireLSU scored 31 straight points against Ohio State to give Les Miles his first national title.

"There seems to be a more athletic team [in the SEC]," Miles said. "There seems to be better ends, better corners. Seems like the receiving corps is more athletic. It just seems that there's greater competition in that regard."

So recruiting comparable speed is a priority. Then hope for some self-inflicted SEC wounds.

Agent issues are percolating around the league, and as long as the talent continues to flow to the SEC, the agents and their runners will, too. Also: As long as the passion to win remains at borderline toxic levels, the pressure to do whatever it takes will remain as well. As much as Slive has tried to rehab the league's outlaw image, scandal could be as big a threat to SEC dominance as anything another league can throw at it.

Then there are coaching questions. There might be too much inbreeding going on.

The three new hires for 2010 all have backgrounds in the league. But going outside the geographic footprint (and coaching pedigree) of the league for established head coaches has been good for some programs in recent years.

LSU brought in Nick Saban and Miles from the Big Ten and Big 12, respectively, with championship results. Florida imported Midwesterner-turned-Utah coach Urban Meyer, and he'll be a giant for as long as his esophagus lets him. Kentucky pulled old Pac-10 and NFL warhorse Rich Brooks out of retirement and enjoyed four straight winning seasons for the first time since the 1950s.

Perhaps Derek Dooley (former Saban assistant and son of a Georgia legend) will be the next great leader at Tennessee. Or Joker Phillips (assistant to Brooks) will sustain the momentum at Kentucky. Or Vanderbilt's Robbie Caldwell (assistant to retired Bobby Johnson) will coach as well as he talks. But they all have a lot to prove.

For now, though, the SEC as a whole has nothing left to prove. It is the standard of excellence in college football, and the evidence is in the trophy case.

Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/previe...pat&id=5448863

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/previe...pat&id=5448863

more random SEC news that nobody gives a shit about

you've begun sneaking them into other threads now

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by sedated

strange move by BYU. anyone know why?

could be a huge blow to the MWC and their hopes for that BCS bid.

Its a great move by BYU. For one they will keep more of the tv money. MWC rope tied them into many games on their MTN network. Their other sports won't suffer and BYU can play a schedule to fit their needs. Also it basically kills the MWC for any BCS bid.

[the Talking Can]

Originally Posted by Bowser

If Bebe were smart, it should. BYU and Memphis, why not?

But Bebe is NOT smart, so it won't.

memphis is a pos juco with nothing to offer....we might as well offer DeVry

[sedated]

Originally Posted by Bowser

If Bebe were smart, it should. BYU and Memphis, why not?

But Bebe is NOT smart, so it won't.

what would that really bring to the Big 12? Besides just 2 more schools?

Memphis is a hoops school, a very new "power" that may not sustain anything now that Cal is gone.

BYU is a decent football school, but they have the religious BS and they are too far away.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

memphis is a pos juco with nothing to offer....we might as well offer DeVry

Heh. At least both schools are "name" schools, and wasn't there a rumor floating around that the CEO of FedEx (a Memphis alum) would fork out 10 mil to the conference that was willing to take Memphis on? (Personally, I don't understand why they wouldn't do all they could to entice TCU to come on over, but that's another story)

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by sedated

what would that really bring to the Big 12? Besides just 2 more schools?

Memphis is a hoops school, a very new "power" that may not sustain anything now that Cal is gone.

BYU is a decent football school, but they have the religios BS and they are too far away.

Yeah, travel would be a bitch, true.

[the Talking Can]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Heh. At least both schools are "name" schools, and wasn't there a rumor floating around that the CEO of FedEx (a Memphis alum) would fork out 10 mil to the conference that was willing to take Memphis on? (Personally, I don't understand why they wouldn't do all they could to entice TCU to come on over, but that's another story)

academically, memphis is a half-step above Fort Hays State

their football program is one of the worst at any level in the country with no support and pathetic facilities...


they are minor league in every way except for the fact that Calipari cheated there for a few years...

[sedated]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Heh. At least both schools are "name" schools, and wasn't there a rumor floating around that the CEO of FedEx (a Memphis alum) would fork out 10 mil to the conference that was willing to take Memphis on? (Personally, I don't understand why they wouldn't do all they could to entice TCU to come on over, but that's another story)

I'm all about getting TCU. Ideally the best scenario would be to add TCU and Boise St (TCU to the south, Boise St and Oklahoma to the north). Football brings the dollars, and the Big 12 is stacked with hoops talent as it is.

$10 million isn't that much for a conference. Divided up its only a million each, and I'm sure Tejas would want half.

[tk13]

If BYU can beef up their schedule, I think it's a great move. Although I've said the last year or two that I'm not sure the MWC is too far below the Big East or ACC. They did great in the bowls too.

But I understand why BYU would do it... Utah's leaving and could have a recruiting edge by being in the Pac 10. BYU has a following across the country because of the church. They leave, get more TV money, beef up the schedule... even if they win 8 or 9 games instead of 11... they might end up in a better bowl.

I wonder what Boise State thinks now. They made the right move but it's not going to be the "non-BCS" powerhouse conference it could've been.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by sedated

I'm all about getting TCU. Ideally the best scenario would be to add TCU and Boise St (TCU to the south, Boise St and Oklahoma to the north). Football brings the dollars, and the Big 12 is stacked with hoops talent as it is.

$10 million isn't that much for a conference. Divided up its only a million each, and I'm sure Tejas would want half.

I'd be down with that scenario, but I sincerely doubt Texas would want to have to play against either of those schools on a regular basis, no matter how good the games (and the money) would turn out to be.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by Bowser

I'd be down with that scenario, but I sincerely doubt Texas would want to have to play against either of those schools on a regular basis, no matter how good the games (and the money) would turn out to be.

Mack Brown isn't making the call. More football powers bring more money, and that's what the heads of the schools want. I'm sure Jim Tressel and Joe Pa weren't crazy about having to play a (probably good again) Nebraska team every year. And I'm sure USC football didn't exactly want to face Texas and Oklahoma every year, but that's what the Pac-10 was going for.

When it comes to purely football, the 2 biggest powers would get separated into different divisions, setting it up to meet in the championship every year.