It looks like UConn has given up on joining a Power Five conference.
It looks like UConn has given up on joining a Power Five conference.
Still sad about this... Simple tweaks to the current alignment would be great for fans, yet they will never happen.
1. Uconn joining the ACC would be great, bringing rivals from the old Big East (the non-christian schools) back onto the schedule AND renew a rivalry with BC.
2. Move Louisville over to the Big 12 with Memphis. Instant rivalry there (they have history), makes geographical sense for fans, stabilizes Big 12.
3. Swap WVU and Missouri. Again, brings rivalries back and stabilizes Big 12 more
4. Stop letting Texas run the Big 12. Nuff said.
Doing those simple things would allow fans much better rivalry options and be good for all schools mentioned. I don't think Louisville would be adversely affected. Of course, Texas needs to stop ruining the conference by bullying everyone in it by throwing tantrums all the time (because they deserve more... because Texas)
And yes, I know none of this will ever happen
I wish somebody would tell Texas and ND to take a hike. Both teams need to understand that without the rest of the teams they ain’t crap.
At one point the Big East was an excellent conference in both football and basketball. Greed brought it down.
Sky, Big East may have been an excellent basketball conference, but football, not so much.
Roam, I appreciate your desire for realignment, but I don't understand your desire to always put WVU in the SEC. I worked for and was a graduate student at WVU in the 1980s. At that time, the football schedule included traditional northeastern and mid-Atlantic teams: PSU, Pitt, Syracuse, Boston College, Maryland, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, and Virginia. Miami was also on the schedule. When the Big East formed, most of those teams stayed on the football schedule. In the ACC, WVU could rekindle some of those "rivalries". I don't recall many, if any, regular season games against SEC teams over the years. Louisville belongs in the SEC with Kentucky.
Sky, Big East may have been an excellent basketball conference, but football, not so much.
Roam, I appreciate your desire for realignment, but I don't understand your desire to always put WVU in the SEC. I worked for and was a graduate student at WVU in the 1980s. At that time, the football schedule included traditional northeastern and mid-Atlantic teams: PSU, Pitt, Syracuse, Boston College, Maryland, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, and Virginia. Miami was also on the schedule. When the Big East formed, most of those teams stayed on the football schedule. In the ACC, WVU could rekindle some of those "rivalries". I don't recall many, if any, regular season games against SEC teams over the years. Louisville belongs in the SEC with Kentucky.
Not really my desire, but somewhat pragmatism... The ACC or Big Ten would never take WVU, not with it's academic profile. It is the reason they passed on WVU for years up to this point.
Knowing that, and seeing Mizzou in the SEC... an easy geographic fix is swapping those two. This also sets up two very good "natural" rivalries with Kentucky (I mean... Hatfield & McCoys!) and with Tennessee (Appalachian region, had a very successful game at a NASCAR track recently)
Just seems like a very good fit for the SEC
I don't think WVU was rejected by the ACC solely on the basis of academics. Demographics and lack of name recognition probably had as much to do with it as anything. West Virginia is a small rural state with small cites. It is a very small market. Mountaineer fans are very loyal, but WVU hasn't won a football or basketball national championship. Outside of the northeast and mid-Atlantic, the school is not well-known. Northern West Virginia (where WVU is located) has more in common with western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio than Kentucky and Tennessee.
If the B1G had known that Nebraska was going to be thrown out of the AAU, they would have probably taken Mizzou instead. But hindsight is usually 20-20.
None of these things are likely to happen. I thought adding Cincinnati would provide a partial "land-bridge" for WVU in the Big 12.
I don't think WVU was rejected by the ACC solely on the basis of academics. Demographics and lack of name recognition probably had as much to do with it as anything. West Virginia is a small rural state with small cites. It is a very small market. Mountaineer fans are very loyal, but WVU hasn't won a football or basketball national championship. Outside of the northeast and mid-Atlantic, the school is not well-known. Northern West Virginia (where WVU is located) has more in common with western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio than Kentucky and Tennessee.
If the B1G had known that Nebraska was going to be thrown out of the AAU, they would have probably taken Mizzou instead. But hindsight is usually 20-20.
None of these things are likely to happen. I thought adding Cincinnati would provide a partial "land-bridge" for WVU in the Big 12.
Yet the ACC added Virginia Tech, located in rural western Virginia with no championships either. In fact, WVU has more conference championships than VT. The ACC also took it's rival Pitt. Then, after WVU was a top 10 team in the late 2000s as well as winning 20+ games in Basketball... they were passed over again and had to join the Big 12.
It's pretty clear they were passed over for academics. If no one knows them outside of the Northeast, why on earth would the Big 12 add them over Memphis (Tennessee recruiting, good Bball/Football) or other schools? Because they weren't added for TV markets or fertile recruiting grounds.
Whoa, VTs joining the ACC is a whole different story. Politics had more to do with VT joining than academics. Maybe you need to refresh your memory. I remember how bizarre it was when it went down.
https://www.wralsportsfan.com/virginia-tech-s-unique-journey-to-the-acc/16733003/
Whoa, VTs joining the ACC is a whole different story. Politics had more to do with VT joining than academics. Maybe you need to refresh your memory. I remember how bizarre it was when it went down.
https://www.wralsportsfan.com/virginia-tech-s-unique-journey-to-the-acc/16733003/
Why would I have to refresh my memory? I don't care why VT was picked, if the school had bad academics no amount of politics would have gotten them in.
WVU has tried to enter the ACC 4 times, each time it was reported that the ACC does not want them... biggest reason was academics. It is what it is.
I think had penn st got in the big east it would’ve been a great conference for sports as for academics I have no idea but I’m sure it would’ve been pretty good.
I agree Southern. The history of the Big East shows the limitations of looking primarily at short-term gain vs. long-term vision. Now, everybody has to live in the beds that were made.
Penn st recruits pretty dang good but could we recruit better in the south if they played in Florida and Virginia every other year?
Penn st recruits pretty dang good but could we recruit better in the south if they played in Florida and Virginia every other year?
Probably, but you'd have to wonder if other schools would recruit our area better too.
You guys disappointed me southern, whenever I see one of these conference realignment threads, I look for the ever popular, "ND needs to be told to join a conference.." I guess though, this is close enough, and your answer southern, is ND will never be told to take a hike, brand name means too much..
You sound as out of touch with reality as those DEM 20 cartoon characters the last two nites clamoring for health care for illegal aliens.. lol....
You guys disappointed me southern, whenever I see one of these conference realignment threads, I look for the ever popular, "ND needs to be told to join a conference.." I guess though, this is close enough, and your answer southern, is ND will never be told to take a hike, brand name means too much..
You sound as out of touch with reality as those DEM 20 cartoon characters the last two nites clamoring for health care for illegal aliens.. lol....
If Notre Dame keeps getting bombed in big games that name won't mean much for too long.
They’ve been gettin hammered in big games since 1996 Roam lol. How’s the baby girl doing?
Notre Lame has been pounded more times than the "I" in PIXAR
I would/could go into a long harangue, southern, but I know you guys know better than this, at least I think you do, and will give the benefit of the doubt..BUT, BTW football is an offensive game now, even Bama got romped by Clemson, OSU was romped, by Clemson I believe. AS years go by , no one pays attention to these scores, they just know who won or lost...Goodness knows how many times PSU has been romped, numerous torchings by OSU, 42-7 vs UM last yr
Suffice to say, the Notre Dame brand name is still huge in CF, seven games in prime time TV last yr, NBC, ABC, even CBS jumped in and put ND-Navy in prime time..Its exactly why the school stays independent, it serves them well...I doubt there was a close second in Saturday night games..
I would/could go into a long harangue, southern, but I know you guys know better than this, at least I think you do, and will give the benefit of the doubt..BUT, BTW football is an offensive game now, even Bama got romped by Clemson, OSU was romped, by Clemson I believe. AS years go by , no one pays attention to these scores, they just know who won or lost...Goodness knows how many times PSU has been romped, numerous torchings by OSU, 42-7 vs UM last yr
Suffice to say, the Notre Dame brand name is still huge in CF, seven games in prime time TV last yr, NBC, ABC, even CBS jumped in and put ND-Navy in prime time..Its exactly why the school stays independent, it serves them well...I doubt there was a close second in Saturday night games..
Not really a good argument. Notre Dame CONSISTENTLY gets hammered in the big bowl games / CFP, while the names you mentioned may get beat badly once, but all have won national championships in the past 5 years too.
So really, comparing teams that got "romped" once but also won NCs recently isn't exactly compatible to a team who bombs out of every big year end game for the past 25 years.
You conveniently left out the other team I mentioned, PSU..While you guys consider OSU your big rival, since inception of PSU BIG 10 play, they have lost 12 games to OSU by double digits, including ghastly scores of 38-7, 28-9,45-6, 28-6, 37-17, 38-14, 63-14, 38-10, etc, etc...Is that really a rivalry..? Despite that, the networks love to hype this as a rivalry, really proving once game is over, scores mean nothing, theyre for the history books..
As for ND, youre right, they need a NY6 bowl victory, Im confident its coming..and on 1/1/18 they beat LSU in Citrus Bowl, a bowl you guys claimed when you lost to the basketball school, is next bowl after the NY6...a 12-0 regular season stands out a lot more to network execs than a bowl loss, they will be in demand every week with records like that..
You conveniently left out the other team I mentioned, PSU..While you guys consider OSU your big rival, since inception of PSU BIG 10 play, they have lost 12 games to OSU by double digits, including ghastly scores of 38-7, 28-9,45-6, 28-6, 37-17, 38-14, 63-14, 38-10, etc, etc...Is that really a rivalry..? Despite that, the networks love to hype this as a rivalry, really proving once game is over, scores mean nothing, theyre for the history books..
As for ND, youre right, they need a NY6 bowl victory, Im confident its coming..and on 1/1/18 they beat LSU in Citrus Bowl, a bowl you guys claimed when you lost to the basketball school, is next bowl after the NY6...a 12-0 regular season stands out a lot more to network execs than a bowl loss, they will be in demand every week with records like that..
LMAO, again Penn State has actually beaten OSU rather recently... and won the Big Ten. No one here is arguing OSU hasn't had the best of us since joining the Big Ten, but you just need to stop comparing teams who actually have won a big game to Notre Dame... who hasn't.
At the end of the day... PSU won the Big Ten and was competitive in the Rose Bowl, losing to USC in a absolute classic game. The next year we went to another NY6 bowl and beat Washington. What does this mean? It means that unlike ND, we didn't throw up all over ourselves and tank in a big bowl game. Notre Dame has consistently done this for two decades now, and I've seen experts start to talk about how the school is being given too much credit. Some have said "if ND goes undefeated again, I'm not sure I want to see them in a playoff because they'll just get blown out"
Again, stop trying to compare... it's nonsense. Simple fact is we've been to BCS bowls and NY6 bowls and not been blown out and/or won them. ND has yet to do so. I'm not saying ND is a bad program, but I stand by my original post that if ND continues to get hammered in year end games... people will stop caring. Interest in ND has already waned. People just get tired of the same old thing... Just like people are tired of seeing Alabama play Clemson, TV ratings plummeted for that game last year.
