Will the Pac be better off?

[Babs]

I've mentioned before that my BiL is a huge Huskies fan. I was curious what he thought of the realignment, so I emailed him.

I was surprised how disgruntled he is about the expansion. He says it will do nothing for recruiting for the Pac 10 teams, and that the Pac-16 will be so difficult that no Pac team will ever play for the national title again.

I thought this was odd. I mean sure, obviously the conference is about to get a lot more difficult. OTOH, the Pac-10 has played for fewer BCS titles than any other conference. Even the Big East and ACC have played for more.

The expansion has the potential to create what practically amounts to a Pac-16 autobid to the title game, right? Or will we have a scenario where the SEC gets a presumed autobid to the title game, and whichever other team finishes with the fewest losses (likely the Big 10) gets the other spot?

I don't know, but either way it seems like this can't hurt the Pac-10. And honestly it's issues like double BCS autobids and presumed title spots that make me suspect that the megaconference won't last more than ten years, anyway.

[SeattleUte]

The Pac has always had this tight club where all the venues were interesting if not in each instance paradiasical, and they had the pretense of being a western Ivy League. Boulder/Salt Lake could have maintained this culture. I bet a huge majority of Pac 10 fans and alumni hate what's going on. If fan sites are any indication that's so.

[Babs]

The Pac has always had this tight club where all the venues were interesting if not in each instance paradiasical, and they had the pretense of being a western Ivy League. Boulder/Salt Lake could have maintained this culture. I bet a huge majority of Pac 10 fans and alumni hate what's going on. If fan sites are any indication that's so.

Oh, I don't doubt that's the case at all. You only had to watch the first Rose Bowl that included a Big 12 team to pick up on the elitism. I'm sure they're dismayed to realize that not only has cousin Billy from the trailer park been invited over for dinner, but now he's moving in.

What I find hard to swallow is the suggestion that by picking up two of the top five programs of the last decade, Pac-10 football will become less competitive nationally.

[SeattleUte]

Have you noticed no one really wants this? No one, except maybe Scott and a couple of personally invested AD's. It's like a couple of world leaders who want to plunge an entire continent into a blood bath no one else wants. No one wants it, not the fans, no one (except maybe ESPN, ABC, etc.; what do they really want?).

[landpoke]

Have you noticed no one really wants this? No one, except maybe Scott and a couple of personally invested AD's. It's like a couple of world leaders who want to plunge an entire continent into a blood bath no one else wants. No one wants it, not the fans, no one (except maybe ESPN, ABC, etc.; what do they really want?).

Link?

[Uncle Ted]

The Pac has always had this tight club where all the venues were interesting if not in each instance paradiasical, and they had the pretense of being a western Ivy League. Boulder/Salt Lake could have maintained this culture. I bet a huge majority of Pac 10 fans and alumni hate what's going on. If fan sites are any indication that's so.

Cool... Do the Boulder/SL city councils have a boycott on Arizona (like Austin) too?

[Uncle Ted]

Have you noticed no one really wants this? No one, except maybe Scott and a couple of personally invested AD's. It's like a couple of world leaders who want to plunge an entire continent into a blood bath no one else wants. No one wants it, not the fans, no one (except maybe ESPN, ABC, etc.; what do they really want?).

I don't know about all the fans but this fan would prefer that the Big 12 just stay the Big 12 and patch things up with BYU and Utah. In the long term this super conference fad will most likely wear off and we'll be back to conferences of 10 to 12 teams again.

[Moliere]

The Pac has always had this tight club where all the venues were interesting if not in each instance paradiasical, and they had the pretense of being a western Ivy League. Boulder/Salt Lake could have maintained this culture. I bet a huge majority of Pac 10 fans and alumni hate what's going on. If fan sites are any indication that's so.