Big 10 looks for 12th team

[Caveat Emperor]

Mizzou and Iowa State are clearly the best fits, IMO.

I don't see why people say Pitt -- they're a metro school and would end up in a league full of land-grant universities. Plus, Pitt's natural rival (WVU) is in the Big East.

[Handofdeath]

Yes, Mizzou might be a good fit as well as many other teams. But, say Mizzou leaves the Big 12 who replaces them? The Big 12 better have Arkansas or TCU on deck if that happens.

[joshnky]

Yes, Mizzou might be a good fit as well as many other teams. But, say Mizzou leaves the Big 12 who replaces them? The Big 12 better have Arkansas or TCU on deck if that happens.

I hope its Missouri because the musical chairs could be extremely interested. If Missouri goes to the Big Ten, then Arkansas to the Big 12, then _______ to the SEC, then .....

Likely, nothing happens but that could be a major shake up that could impact every BCS conference except the Pac10.

[Caveat Emperor]

I'm hoping the Big East is proactive this go-around and makes some targets to get ahead of the proverbial storm. Like most good ideas, though, I'd expect the basketball schools to whine and undermine any efforts to get more football involved.

Inevitably, the BE is going to have to split off the football schools from the hoops schools.

[joshnky]

I'm hoping the Big East is proactive this go-around and makes some targets to get ahead of the proverbial storm. Like most good ideas, though, I'd expect the basketball schools to whine and undermine any efforts to get more football involved.

Inevitably, the BE is going to have to split off the football schools from the hoops schools.

The situation in the Big East is so precarious (too-big basketball and too-small football) that it is only a matter of time before they get raided again and the whole thing dissolves. Maybe we can start up the Metro again?

[Caveat Emperor]

The situation in the Big East is so precarious (too-big basketball and too-small football) that it is only a matter of time before they get raided again and the whole thing dissolves. Maybe we can start up the Metro again?

Agreed. The time is now for the football-playing Big East members to start planning for the next decade. They won't get any more schools admitted as it stands, due to the already gigantic size of the basketball conference and the reluctance of the basketball schools to give up the current balance-of-power (8 hoops-only, 8 football).

If I'm the Big East football schools, I split now. Offer to lay some cash on the basketball side of things to keep the Big East name, and then target some schools to try and expand to 12 teams.

[Handofdeath]

1. Pitt
2. Cincinnati
3. West Virginia
4. Louisville
5. Temple

I think all of those these teams would be at least a decent choice.

[KoryMac5]

Mizzou and Iowa State are clearly the best fits, IMO.

I don't see why people say Pitt -- they're a metro school and would end up in a league full of land-grant universities. Plus, Pitt's natural rival (WVU) is in the Big East.

I don't see how you figure Pitt's natural rival is WV. Pitt's football program has always felt like Penn State's little brother. WV is more like a distant cousin. You get Pitt in the Big Ten and those games with PSU would be a bloodbath.

[dabvu2498]

Nobody is leaving the SEC anytime soon. Not with the new ESPN contract. Consider that Vanderbilt receives more money in broadcast fees than Notre Dame as a result of that contract. Or so I have been told.

[WVRed]

I don't see how you figure Pitt's natural rival is WV. Pitt's football program has always felt like Penn State's little brother. WV is more like a distant cousin. You get Pitt in the Big Ten and those games with PSU would be a bloodbath.

It's an hour and a half one way from Pittsburgh to Morgantown, therefore the backyard brawl.

[KoryMac5]

It's an hour and a half one way from Pittsburgh to Morgantown, therefore the backyard brawl.

I will grant that although Pitt is 30 miles closer to WV than PSU, the bad blood exists more with the Pennsylvania schools than with West Virginia. Pitt and PSU have been battling for years for the same recruits, and Paterno hasn't always been kind to Pitt. Most PSU fans look down on Pitt and I am sure they don't think much of our program either. I have to think the Big Ten would press hard for Pitt as they are pretty close to WV, PSU, and OSU. Plus PSU is the only eastern school in the Big Ten.

[jmcclain19]

I find it telling that despite almost playing for the NC this year, only one poster on this Cincinnati Board even bothered to mention the Bearcats as belonging in the Big 10.

Everyone is basing this off geography, which is a mistake. Boston College being poached by the the ACC proved that Geography can have little to do with new teams while access to TV Markets can make a huge difference.

That being said, I'd put money on it being Rutgers. Gives Big Ten the NYC TV market, and Rutgers is up and coming football power in a potentially huge market who has spent a ton of money recently on new digs and new facilities. Those don't pay for themselves.

[Danny Serafini]

If there's a 12th team (and I really hope there isn't) it's going to come from the east. Penn St. has been begging for years to get another eastern team in so they have someone nearby, and there are more big TV markets to be had out east than going west.

One school that's been tossed out multiple times on this thread that makes no sense to me is Iowa St. They play in a minuscule market, and competitively they would be a bottom feeder. To paraphrase Rick Pitino when he was with the Celtics, Marcus Fizer is not walking through that door. I'm feel very confident saying the 12th team won't be Iowa St.

[GAC]

No way ND ever gives up their independent status. Why restrict themselves to a conference when there is so much money involved from their standpoint? As well as their "arrangement" with the BCS...

http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/bcs_explained.html

Under the new BCS arrangement Notre Dame will be guaranteed one of the at-large slots in a BCS bowl if it is ranked No. 8 or better in the final BCS Standings. It is also guaranteed annual payment for its participation in the BCS. In those seasons in which the Irish play in a BCS game, the school will receive $4.5 million (an amount equivalent that received by a conference that places a second team in a BCS bowl). In those seasons in which Notre Dame does not play in a BCS game, it is projected to be paid $1.3 million for its participation in the BCS arrangement.

I like Missouri; but I don't see them leaving the Big 12 for the B10. Will never happen.

IMO, any team that is invited will not come from trying to rob one of the "established" conferences; but like a conference such as the Big East. And I don't say that as a slight on the BE either, only that they are the "younger" conference when it comes to football (est 1991), are still trying to gain respect and establish themselves (and doing a solid job mind you), and they seem to be the likely candidate.

And... it's not simply about football and basketball; but a school offering a cross-range and diversity of both men and women's sports that would be compatible with the B10.

It's ironic because Penn State, prior to joining the B10, applied for BE membership and was rejected. Would PSU oppose a Pitt from joining the B10? Or even an OSU, if it were the Bearcats?

Maybe. But we've got two teams from Indiana in the B10.

But I like any of the following....

Cincinnati, Pitt, or West Virginia.

[LoganBuck]

I saw one clown split the conference up like this. That seems fair.

East
Ohio State
Michigan
Penn State
Michigan State
Purdue
Indiana

West
Illinois
Northwestern
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Missouri