Sandbagging Steve

And the new schedule will make Texas and OU play each other 12 weeks in a row at Kyle Field

We have proof

Correct. Some thoughts on the future of the Bluebloods. I know that's the list everyone goes with but... Nebraska is on very thin ice. They can't recruit. They have a small overall fanbase. I'm not sure they deserve to be on the list. It's not just current wins and losses. The game has completely changed and they can't keep up. Maybe things change in the new landscape of NIL/consolidation. I guess we can holdoff and see the new landscape before removing them. Candidates: Like it or not, Penn State could at least make an argument. They aren't elite right now, but they can still recruit and have one of the 5 largest fanbases in America. They have two national titles and are top ten in overall wins. You would like to see another title or two, but they have a bunch of unclaimed titles. Many of these teams claim those titles and so you have to dig to find the true measuring stick. They have played in important games and just missed on several other national titles. Like them or hate them, they could make an argument. They will win titles again with the right coach. There's probably going to come a time when LSU and Georgia will need to be considered. Strong resumes but need to keep climbing the overall wins list. Tennessee is also very close. If they had PSU's fanbase and recruiting territory, there would be an argument. They will always be a streaky program because of their location and recruiting territory. When they are on a run, they can dominate. I do think their disadvantages may keep them always on the outside looking in.

B1G is going to use the Big 10 Network (BTN) to make some of these teams work for now. Add a $1.50 to $2.00 per TV set within the region of the teams added to the conference. SEC/B1G will separate from the NCAA (and possibly join into one league down the road) and the B1G is going to try and make their BTN a college sports version of ESPN. It's why the they own a piece of their network. They will eventually have enough content throughout the country that they can command $3 to $4 for every TV set nationwide. It's why I've stated footprint still matters. This is a race, a generation in the making, to eliminate the complete deadweight at the bottom of the P5 Conferences and consolidate assets to create more leverage.

NO. It's been 40 years in the making. Some of these moves have been 100+ years in the making. This was always the end game. Way too many people on here that don't actually learn what is going on and just speak from emotion.

What does any of this have to do with competition on the field? That's the ongoing discussion. The best athletic conference. There's a poster here trying to make the claim that the B1G is a better football conference. I'm not sure how anyone could come close to making that claim. SEC has only one football program that isn't competitive. I have no idea how you pulled the BTAA into this but every B1G alum/fan I've ever met brings it up before even saying "hello". There are many schools with plenty of research dollars outside the BTAA. I stated earlier UNC will be about the BTAA vs. ESPN. ESPN will probably have to pull some strings to win that one. That is one program both conferences want that the BTAA can make the difference. UNC fits both profiles and is a geographical fit for both. BTAA could make the difference. In fact, I don't think any other program up for grabs will come down to BTAA. UVA isn't that important to the SEC. It's obvious you're a B1G alum. No issues, I love fans/alums from other teams, but this is a Texas board. B1G is not a good fit until everyone comes together under one umbrella. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of programs in the B1G that are similar to Texas, but not enough of them and it's just not the best geographical fit. We have better options for us. If the BTAA was the only thing that matters, Texas, USC, UNC and other schools would already be in the B1G. A long time ago. Yet, Texas not only selected the SEC, but has tried to select the SEC and PAC multiple times in its past history. There's way more to this than sending your athletics program to a conference for academic reasons. If that's your reasoning, it could turn into a disaster. That's not how you make business decisions. You have alums and fans that donate to the university and they better be happy with the results. Not all those bottom feeders rank higher than tOSU academically either. It's not hard to find good academics with better athletics than a few of them. UCLA is 50 million in debt. USC is struggling. Both programs never wanted to be in the PAC in the first place. USC/UCLA made a football decision. There's not one legit journalist/reporter who would tell you otherwise. B1G is lucky for Urban's national recruiting at tOSU or they would be in a world of hurt on the field. B1G doesn't have any programs other than Urban's recruiting machine that is competing for the playoffs. It's saving the conference from complete embarrassment right now. It's a great conference, but trying to sell it as a better football or athletic conference than the SEC is a major reach. USC should eventually help solve some of those issues. They will bring speed to the B1G. Cheers

B1G survives on having 3 of the 5 juggernaut fanbases in college football: tOSU, Michigan, Penn State. They just added the 6th most important (simply because of their location and history) in USC and they are chasing the last juggernaut in Notre Dame. The bottom half of their conference is complete bread. They make $ because the juggernaut teams have to play the bread. SEC is loaded top to bottom. The only reason the $$$ is close between the two conferences remains the fact that the SEC only has one of the 5 juggernaut fanbases: TEXAS. But they then almost have EVERYONE right under those top 6 teams that are worthy of anything. They are LOADED. Vanderbilt is the only team that is not competitive and Mississippi State is the only other team that doesn't bring some kind of value financially.

B1G likes Miami too The basketball theory has relevance, but it is tricky. You can't just take some of these schools that bring very little (UVA) unless it is all at once and then a breakaway from the NCAA in order to get all the basketball money. You can't take 4 or 5 of those schools and then wait a few years. Otherwise, you lose a bunch of money on your TV contract. B1G like UVA but VT is actually a much better athletic program. UVA has very few fans, but they are a prestigious academic university and the flagship of Virginia. SEC would be interested in not only VT but maybe UVA in order to block the B1G's advancement into the southeast, just like you mentioned with UNC.

Oregon and Washington are reported to be worth $60,000,000 total. They would need to be worth close to $150,000,000 to keep the B1G from losing money. Those numbers come from a former TV executive. Oregon and Washington are both borderline top 20 programs overall. In other words, really damn good. This shows the branding power of tOSU, Texas, Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State with USC coming in behind them. You then have just a few more programs that can even cover their own weight. After that, it's competition for these teams to play. The better the competition, and closer to break even you can get, the better. In order to add the Clemsons and other teams that deserve to be included, you eventually have to demote a bottom feeder or take a $40,000,000 to $55,000,000 per year loss to revenue for every single team added. This is why the B1G prefers to wait on ND. And this is why, down the road, a deadweight or two could get purged. With Texas just added, the SEC could be the next to add teams. They have extra money to spend on adding two teams because they just added one of the Big 6 teams, Texas. It will come down to GOR agreements. ND may be easier for the B1G to pry loose from the GOR. We will see.

This is another possible long term play.

You're not thinking it out. Stanford is worth way more and they may bail just simply because they don't want to be involved in football from this point forward. USC and UCLA just left a conference they've been in for over 100 years. There's more teams that deserve to be added to the SEC/B1G but only Notre Dame technically carries their own weight. The reason for this is because the top 6 to 10 programs are worth a fortune. The next 6 to 10 carry their own weight. They then need competition to play. In order to continue adding the UNCs, VTs, FSUs, and Clemsons of the world, eventually, you may need to purge someone. It's the reason the B1G wants ND first. They are one of the Big 6 programs that then allows them to add one to three more teams without losing much value. SEC can probably add two more of the top programs remaining without losing value because the addition of Texas. Want to add more than that? Well, there's no more Bluebloods left, so the only way you can do that without losing money is purging someone. Why are the SEC/B1G wanting to add these programs? To eliminate the weak teams from the other conferences. And, eventually, someone from their own conference may be eliminated too. It's quite possible the names SEC/B1G don't even exist in the future. They could all merge and the name changes. Vanderbilt is costing the SEC well over $100,000,000 per year within the next few years. Not making, costing them. They will probably stay in the league for all other sports and play some OOC games with the SEC teams. I think they would agree that they don't belong at this level. NIL, huge stadiums, competitive matchups every single week. I'm not saying it is going to happen. But it's definitely a possibility. If it does, it will be down the road.

It depends on who has the TV rights. If ESPN has the TV rights for weekday games and late night games, and the said team is worthy of a spot, I think ESPN would like that setup. It keeps more fans involved and watching more games.

^^^ Edit: It was supposed to be $30,000,000 and there's two number 17s. $25,000,000 per team in today's setup plus an increase of over 20% in inventory with the additional games. I could see someone overpaying a little for it and giving $35,000,000. It would be competitive live football and that's valuable.

I still don't think this is the end of the world for the leftovers not in the eventual SEC/B1G. I think the finished number for the SEC/B1G may be 42 to 44 before any possible purging within the SEC/B1G. I could see one to four teams purged at some point down the road. Vanderbilt is an example way down the road. Here's a ray of sunshine for the 3rd Conference. If they are patient and form a good conference, with a little creativity they can survive. We will call them the Big 20 Conference here. ((This doesn't include the outside possibility that Oregon and Washington are excluded from the SEC/B1G. We could lose a team or two from the list as well.)) Take no weeks off per team, including thru the month of December, and finish the season before the SEC/B1G. The #1 vs. #2 for the Big 20 Championship. They then could possibly play the winner of the "other" conference (leftover P5/MWC/Old AAC). With the added games and the playoff, and a willingness to play a weekday game and one late night game per week, I can see this worth $40,000,000 per team for the Big 20 Conference (not the "other' conference). If the winner of that playoff has only one loss, I can see them getting into a 12 team national championship playoff. 1. Oklahoma State 2. TCU 3. Texas Tech 4. Baylor 5. Houston 6. Arizona State 7. BYU 8. Utah 9. Colorado 10. Arizona ------------------------------ 11. Louisville 12. West Virginia 13. Pitt 14. Cincinnati 15. Iowa State 16. UCF 17. Georgia Tech (NC State or Syracuse) Best left out of the SEC/B1G 17. Kansas State 18. Kansas 19. Memphis Play all 4 of the teams in your division Play all 5 teams in your corresponding division Play 3 teams from one of the other divisions for two years and then 2 teams the following two years. Play 2 teams from the last division for two years and then 3 teams the following two years. 14 conference games and 1 OOC game against the SEC/B1G. #1 vs. #2 for the Big 20 Championship Possibility but maybe not the best idea: Play the conference champion of the one other league remaining at this level of football (Oregon State, WSU, Fresno St., SDSU, Syracuse, Temple, South Florida, Wake Forest, etc.) A chance at the national championship playoff It would add 2 or 3 games per year, but I think that's where we are heading anyway. The kids now get paid more, so they are going to play more. The current D2/D3 already has a large playoff.

Level 1 saucing from within the beautiful Bright Football Complex, the home of the world's #1 sport's team! Your Fighting Texas Aggies!! JIMBO DID NOT OFFER

Paraphrasing John WIlner (who broke the USC/UCLA story) on the radio: If ND doesn't insist on Stanford to the B1G, or Stanford declines the offer, Stanford and Cal may both eliminate their football programs. They're wired differently and the faculties at both schools, which have major clout in their decision-making processes, don't want to continue in college football. I think that is a good possibility. The fan attendance at both schools is nonexistent. Stanford is the #1 reason the PAC sank to the bottom of the ocean in the first place. Arrogant leadership that pretty much ran the PAC for decades.

I can't remember everything. PAC used to be called the PCC. The name has changed at least 2 or 3 times because they all hate each other and the Southern California schools kicked some of the PNW schools out by just renaming the conference. I can't remember the original name change. Even when they invited them back in the conference later on, they all didn't play each other. In fact, that is actually common all across the college game. I remember another occurrence where Duke was pissed off at South Carolina (who used to be in the ACC) because they landed a big-time basketball recruit. The horror! Duke refused to play SC in sports. South Carolina got tired of it and just left the conference. It used to be more common than you would imagine that teams would stop playing each other while still in the same conference! USC was going to kick WSU and OSU out of the conference a second time in their history if they didn't straighten up. WSU and OSU weren't invited back to the PAC until the 1960s. OSU was one of the 4 founding members of the PCC in the early 1900s and were abandoned. Stanford once voted to kick UCLA out of the conference. It almost worked. Didn't quite have enough votes. PAC schools have voted to kick each other out on several other occasions in their history and didn't have quite enough votes. That doesn't even include all the so-called short term bans, sanctions and in house fighting. The history of the PAC isn't the same perception played out in the media today. They all hate each other at the admin level. It's full of fighting, bans, breakups, you name it. Idaho and New Mexico State were just kicked the F out of the Sun Belt once the rule was changed that you only need to have 10 teams to hold a championship (the Big 12 rule) A D3 school was just kicked out of the conference they founded almost exactly 100 years ago for winning too much. That happened in 2019. They founded the conference in 1920. That was all over the internet when it happened. Back in the early days, the big schools used to fight and kick each other out. Some of those conferences don't exist anymore. It's not conference related, but UM-ND is a fun one. Michigan refused to play Notre Dame simply because they beat them in 1909 and wouldn't let other teams in the B1G play them either. They canceled the 1910 game like the day before the game and refused to play them for many decades. Some B1G schools did still play them but some followed Michigan's warning. Michigan's slogan "To Hell with Notre Dame" is literal. There's a lot of history behind why Notre Dame hasn't joined the B1G. A lot of unwarranted hate back in the day from the B1G programs. They actually wanted to join a long time ago and the B1G refused.

West Virginia has been an Independent for most of its entire history. Their choice. That's what they wanted at the time. They have no one to blame but themselves. Penn State leads WVU 48-9-2 in that so called "rivalry". I don't think Penn State and WVU have ever been in the same conference. Both were Independents for most their history. I don't think they should ever play again. I think Penn State agrees. It's too lopsided in one direction. They've only met about 60 times (that's not exactly an old rivalry by college standards) despite being right next to each other geographically. For most of history, teams had no choice but to play teams within driving distance because of travel and cost restrictions. They used to play glorified high schools for this reason. Colleges, glorified high schools and Intramural squads put together for this reason that don't even exist anymore. Now you understand the only reason they've even played 59 times. Penn State has been playing football for like 130 or 140 years. West Virginia is a bubble team that may still get a seat at the table anyway. Playing regional programs again. And I'm not sure they even deserve it. One of the reasons they've been left out to date is because they are known to have some of the most classless fans in the country. So classless they were left out of the ACC for that reason. They aren't getting the B1G because of academics. No one to blame but themselves. The end result with all this realignment will be the elimination of the programs with NO or very small fanbases. Everyone else will get back together and any regional games worth even two pennies will be played again. You just gave an example right here. Texas is actually playing more real rivals and better regional competition in the SEC than it ever has before. Teams in their region that are the same size as them. No more teams smaller than some Texas high schools. No more classless leeches AKA Baylor and friends who try to undermine, lie and cheat about everything Texas. PAC has been fighting for nearly 100 years. They've split up before. The name has been changed 3 or 4 times. It's only been called the PAC for like 50 years because they've fought so much and kicked each other out so much the name has changed and changed. Expulsions, bans, breakups, you name it. They don't like each other. Off the field. On the field, you've never seen anything more tame in your life. The only "rivalries" in the PAC are: Arizona State vs. Arizona USC vs. UCLA Cal vs. Stanford Washington vs. Washington State Oregon vs. Oregon State Washington vs. Oregon I may be missing one or two, but not much. All those games will still be played. The Left Coast just doesn't have enough power teams and there isn't much else that can be done about it. There's way too much distance between teams out West and there's no solution for it. This has been 70+ years in the making. USC/UCLA hate the San Fran and PNW schools (and vice versa) and have been trying to find a solution for new partners for over 70 years. I'm not talking about on the field. I'm talking about at the administration levels. They fight like cats and dogs. In their histories, there's more collisions between the PAC universities and their presidents/admin/BOR/politicians than there is on the field. They've all been looking to separate forever. Read the history books. Some of them will probably still play again in the B1G but it will be where they can't boss each other around. There will be like-minded schools for the Southern California teams and actual leadership in the B1G to make big boy decisions. Colorado always wanted to be in the PAC The rest of the Big 8 has been trying to get in the B1G since the formations of their colleges over a century ago. Texas tried both the PAC and SEC several times. Lawmakers are the only reason Texas wasn't GONE many decades ago. Irrelevance was the only reason ATM didn't join the SEC generations ago. ATM has wanted the SEC since Bear Bryant left them at the altar for Alabama. The ACC and SEC used to be one conference and split up a long time ago. They still get along just fine. None of this is new. It's been 100 years in the making. And since OU won their case in the mid-1980's, it's been a race to rid of the small schools that LEECH off everyone and then whine and cry and act disrespectful and classless to the breadwinners. No one outside of their very small fanbases is going to miss them. They aren't rivals to the Bluebloods. There's no more than 15-25 of these so-called teams. There may be one or two casualties that deserved to be included, but not really. And guess what? They are still going to get to play! And make money! And if they are good enough, they'll still get invited to the playoff. Nothing is changing but a restructuring that is best for all parties involved. It will be much more regional but also national than it is right now. It's just a slow process but it's about to finally happen. Everyone will finally be able to get along for once.

I'll never be able to watch The Godfather the same way after reading this.

What did they really have in the PAC? They've been trying to find a better home for like 70 years. It finally boiled over, like pretty much everything is in college football. They will get ND, UO and Washington soon. All this is just a thinning of the herd. A slow, with-the-least-lawsuits-as-possible, elimination of 15 to 20 schools from the megaconferences (64 down to 48/40, maybe 32). The other teams will still have a spot in some capacity, just not playing within the megaconference on a weekly basis.

Believe it or not, Minnesota, Kentucky and Missouri would make a top 48 list. Maryland and Rutgers probably make the top 48 list as well. They bring a new footprint and very good recruiting territory to the table while their overall numbers are about as bad as the other options at the bottom. Sit down and look at the teams. A combo of academics, TV viewership, attendance, recruiting, perception AND footprint. The bottom 15 teams out of the top 66 are pretty bad. That's what is holding the money train down right now. I think, down the road, there will have to be a purge of some of the teams within the 2 big conferences. These big schools aren't going to keep sharing $150,000,000++ per school with teams that bring absolutely nothing to the table. If Notre Dame joins the B1G, that's 3 teams in the state of Indiana. At some point, things are going to boil over. It's nothing new. All these conferences have had purges throughout history. It's just been a while. I could see 2 to 4 of Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, Northwestern, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt being demoted in football within the next 15 to 20 years. I wouldn't be surprised if Vanderbilt bows out first. And that one could happen sooner rather than later. OSU's biggest problem is footprint. Although markets mean less, overall footprint still matters. A conference may prefer a Rutgers or Maryland in order to play games in that region than a second school in Oklahoma. That's really what it boils down to. It will be interesting. I do agree that Oklahoma State is on the bubble for the reasons we discuss here. They shouldn't be, but that's the way it works. I don't think it matters though. They are going to be just fine. All the current P5 programs are going to be okay. It's just arranged differently, and if done right, it will be much more exciting for the sport.

There will be some ACC schools and probably a few other programs that deserve in (Boise, Memphis, SDSU). If those teams played a 11 or 12 team league schedule and held a playoff, it would be a fun league. If the winner of that league (and playoff) had a good enough record, I don't see why they shouldn't be considered for the 12-team national championship playoff. Start the season a week or two earlier and only take one week off per year. You could be done with your season at the same time as the megaconferences and ready for a possible playoff bid. I think it's much better than the current formula right now. Much more competitive and exciting. I would tune in. I bet that formula would grow and add more fans than currently watch most of those games right now. Fun, competitive, live matchups are worth a fortune.