Louisville needs to hitch its wagon to UC and, to a lesser extent, Memphis, and Kansas.
If I were Jurich, I'd be all over a Big XII realignment, wherein my Cardinals could play in a North Division that includes Memphis, UC, Iowa State, and perhaps Kansas and Kansas State.
The South Division could be Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, and SMU or another Texas school.
Why would OU, Oklahoma State, and Texas want this? They would be the revenue generators for this conference and would be supporting the likes of UL, Memphis, and UC. I can see why they could include the Texas schools but in your scenario the South would be supporting the North.
Speaking from experience (and I'm as diehard of an OSU fan as they come), the Horseshoe can be a brutal place for opposing fans. I remember my sophomore years, some drunk kids were really on this old couple from Iowa, cursing them out and giving them hell, and me and a few buddies almost literally got in a fist fight with them over it (the kids, not the old couple ).
I've only been on the road once as a college football fan, to Michigan, and I didn't have too tough of a time. Yeah, I caught a lot of flak, but most of it was good natured. And the dirty looks I can deal with. Only once did someone physically tough me, but I didn't feel threatened.
I think Cincinnati would be an incredibly attractive target to the Big 12 if they were looking to return to a 12 team format. It'd be foothold in Big 10 country for television and recruiting purposes.
Programs that rarely get to venture to this part of the country would be regular fixtures at Paul Brown Stadium and on showcase for one of the top recruiting areas in the country.
Don't think for a second the B12 doesn't see value in that, and don't think for a second the Big 10 would be pleased to see that kind of action right in it's back yard.
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From what I've seen, its the night games is when opposing fans get brutalized.
I've been to 45 years worth of day games at OSU and the opposing fans get treated fairly decently. Ribbing and some smack talk, but people are fairly reasonable and I've seen little trouble.
But I've been to a couple OSU night games there and that's when people have had the day to get truly screwed-up drunk and its a whole different ballgame. Drunks get ugly, get violent, don't know when to stop, and all kinds of other really bad behavior. The worst in people comes out and OSU fans are no different.
And I think that is more of a universal thing with alcohol and night games. I've been to night road games in East Lansing and Madison and it's a good thing we were 4-5 big guys or else we would have gotten killed. I'll never do that again.
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I guess???????
It would get great/awesome/fantastic etc for UC. With Oklahoma St, Texas, and Oklahoma they would have a decent shot at getting two BCS bowl games in a given year. I don't think that ever was a realistic option for the Big East.
I really don't know what to think about the whole recruiting angle. It seems as if big time programs are now more willing to grab another home game and pay for it, than to get a recruiting game in Cincinnati. Just a year or so ago OSU played a Toledo "home game" in Cleveland. At the same time they bought out UC and moved the game to Columbus, Va Tech bought UC and move the game to the DC area, and Tennessee signed a one year deal with UC for them to head down to Knoxville. It seems to me that a team like Tennessee could benefit greatly from a UC home game, yet they chose not to.
I can see some recruiting value, especially to teams that aren't OU, Texas, but I don't know if the recruiting gain would offset the monetary support that they would provide.
I'm approaching the issue from the idea that the Big 12 is going to be forced to add 3 teams to get back to 12 (to have the 6 team divisions and a championship game). If they have to add to 12 (and I assume they will - just to keep pace with the other "major" conferences), and you assume that no one is going to bolt a stable conference (Pac12, ACC, BigWhatever) to join a conference that's in flux, you're going to be drawing from mid-majors or Big East schools (the only group LESS stable than the Big 12).
You're not going to get an economic powerhouse school to add, it's going to be someone that's going to take more money out of the conference than they put back in for now. If that's the case, you may as well get a foothold in a new part of the country (Ohio) that's a fertile recruiting ground and a major metropolitan area.
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