Big 10 expansion talk heating up

[All-American]

You know, there is one thought that nobody seems to be bringing up, and it appears to be a rather critical component of the talk of Colorado to the PAC 10.

Colorado isn't very good.

They REALLY aren't very good.

Even with the market and research considerations, how much does the PAC 10 stand to gain by adding a bad team?

[New Mexican Disaster]

Another thing to consider: what if Missouri and Colorado bolt to the Pac-10 and Big 10? Does the Pac-10 take Utah and the Big 12 BYU? This does not seem to be totally out of the realm of possibility.

[TheBYUGuy]

USC has always had an easier path to the BCS due to the lack of a conference championship.

The Pac-10 has a true round robin schedule. No other BCS conference can claim the same thing. I would argue that winning out in the round robin produces a more legitimate champion than winning a division and an interdivisional championship game.

[Portland Ute]

The Pac-10 has a true round robin schedule. No other BCS conference can claim the same thing. I would argue that winning out in the round robin produces a more legitimate champion than winning a division and an interdivisional championship game.

I'd agree with you. But, logistically, that just doesn't make sense for most conferences. Also, it leaves a lot of money on the table if you get rid of conference championship games.

My preference would be to see 10 or 11 conferences of 9 or 10 teams all playing round robin schedules.

The winners of those conferences would then play in a tournament/playoff.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

The Pac-10 has a true round robin schedule. No other BCS conference can claim the same thing. I would argue that winning out in the round robin produces a more legitimate champion than winning a division and an interdivisional championship game.

The round robin schedule is also hurting the Pac-10 in terms of win-loss records. Instead of scheduling non-conference patsies like the Big 12 and SEC, they're playing one additional conference games which automatically gives the Pac-10 teams 5 additional losses. This may not seem like a big deal but consider where USC (if UW wasn't on the schedule), Oregon (If Stanford wasn't on the schedule), and Oregon State (if Arizona wasn't on the scedule), would have been in the rankings at the end of the regular season. Okay, they would have been even more overrated than they were.

The Big East has one-upped the rest of the BCS conferences by only playing seven conference games.

[statman]

... having 14 teams is A LOT and they'd better hope that they can increase the pot enough to make enough sense for them to expand to 14 as opposed to 12...

12 is the magic number -- you play each divisional team every year (5 games per year), and each non-divisional team every-other year (3 games per year) + 4 OOC games.

With 13 or more teams, the schedule either becomes unbalanced, or you end up rarely playing some teams in your conference (what's the point of that?) or you end up having no OOC games. 12 is the perfect number...

[statman]

Another thing to consider: what if Missouri and Colorado bolt to the Pac-10 and Big 10? Does the Pac-10 take Utah and the Big 12 BYU? This does not seem to be totally out of the realm of possibility.

I think that's probably the most likely - assuming it's Missou that goes to the Big X...

[Mormon Red Death]

Rumor has it Pitt to the big X this Friday

[Coach McGuirk]

Interesting. That would put the big east in need. Trying to think of where they would look. Nothing coming yet that is an easy fit without poaching, and the big east would have a hard time poaching, imo.


So when does the PAC-10 want a championship game?

[falafel]

So when does the PAC-10 want a championship game?

As soon as they are the only major conference without a championship game. Actually, I think they'll get the itch after this. They'll be the biggest/most relevant conference without one.

[cougjunkie]

Interesting. That would put the big east in need. Trying to think of where they would look. Nothing coming yet that is an easy fit without poaching, and the big east would have a hard time poaching, imo.


So when does the PAC-10 want a championship game?

Big East will poach someone from Conference USA. Possibly Memphis or East Carolina.

[Jarid in Cedar]

Big East will poach someone from Conference USA. Possibly Memphis or East Carolina.

Memphis would probably be their best fit.
I would think that East Carolina would be the better target for FB, but Memphis would be a good fit for BBall and everything else considered equal, the Big East always will be a premiere BBall conference.(plus a home and home between Memphis and Louisville would be sick!)

[BoylenOver]

Memphis would probably be their best fit.
I would think that East Carolina would be the better target for FB, but Memphis would be a good fit for BBall and everything else considered equal, the Big East always will be a premiere BBall conference.(plus a home and home between Memphis and Louisville would be sick!)

What's the connection between Louisville and Memphis? Former C-USA rivals? I remember the C-USA title game five(?) years ago when the Memphis player went to the free throw line with the chance to win the game and missed.

[myboynoah]

Big East will poach someone from Conference USA. Possibly Memphis or East Carolina.

I don't know much about East Carolina, but if it's Memphis then this is a major downgrade for the Big East. But they have few options at this point.

[BoylenOver]

Rumor has it Pitt to the big X this Friday

If speculation and rumors can be believed re: BYU/Utah to BCS conferences, this is the less-desirable scenario. If it was Mizzou, the chips could fall differently.

On top of Memphis and ECU, what about UCF?