After this report on Orangebloods.com about the Pac-10 preparing to extend offers to Texas, A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, OK State, and Colorado, the tectonic plates of conference expansion and realignment have really begun shifting sliding. The tremors will potentially be felt all the way in Charlottesville. Here's the latest:
-- The Mountain West has decided to not invite Boise State... yet. The MWC probably wants to wait and see if the Pac-10 gobbles up the Big 12 South and the Big Ten brings in Mizzou and Nebraska. If schools like Kansas, K-State, Baylor, and Iowa State are there to be cherry-picked, the Mountain West would probably be interested. My guess is that there will eventually be a place for Boise State (and maybe even Nevada) in the MWC, but they will have to wait until the Pac-10 and Big Ten make their moves. Those moves, however, might be happening very soon...
-- ...because Nebraska could be Big Ten bound by as early as Friday. It looks like Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe might have killed his conference by opposing a playoff system and issuing ultimatums to Big 12 member schools. Is the Big 12 about to destroy itself? Did it already?
-- Missouri is playing it close to the vest, but it's pretty clear to me that they are Big Ten bound.
-- It also looks like Colorado is as good as gone, as the Buffaloes are really a slam dunk fit for the Pac-10. Colorado won't (and shouldn't) hesitate to ditch the rapidly crumbing Big 12.
-- If you're looking for a tidy wrap-up, SI's Stewart Mandel offers up a gem in his Sixteen Scenarios for How the Expansion Dominoes May Fall.
Pac-10, Big Ten, Big 12, Mountain West... but how do these tectonic shifts rumble all of the way to ACC country?
That answer is pretty simple: it's all about the SEC. IF the SEC decides it needs to expand in order to keep up, and IF Texas remains unavailable to them (so far, the Longhorns have said that the SEC isn't a possibility because of the poor academic fit), and IF the SEC then decides to chase schools like Florida State, Miami, Clemson, Georgia Tech, and/or Virginia Tech, the ACC might be left to scramble. That's a lot of IFs, and a lot of dots to connect. I'm not really worried... yet.
just curious - why would texas feel that it is a poor academic fit for the SEC? do they think they're ivy league or something?
ReplyDeleteTexas is actually a pretty good school. They are AAU members. In the SEC, only Vanderbilt, and maybe Florida, and maybe maybe maybe Ole Miss could be considered "good schools."
ReplyDeleteI would throw Georgia on that list.
ReplyDeleteI know Texas is a decent school, but what about the rest of the Big 12? I don't see it as being much better than the SEC, overall.
I will miss the ACC when its gone! I even read an article today that threw out some UVA ---> Big 10 speculation. I don't understand why things aren't fine as they are.
Oh, right, cash rules everything.