Official Conference Expansion prediction thread.

[Babs]

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.
mere anarchy is loosed upon the sport,
the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
the ceremony of innocence is drowned.

[LA Ute]

Let us go then, you and I
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like the PAC-16 league across the nation....

[myboynoah]

I really enjoyed your comments.

I appreciated your post.

I'm being tag teamed. BatGirl has me pinned against the ropes and pellegrino is smacking me with a folding chair.

[SeattleUte]

As usual SU, you're full of shit. Contrary to your opinion, I think academics would enter into the picture and the folks at Texas would rather be associated with the research-oriented and academically superior Pac 10.

UCLA is going to wake up and ask itself why should it be eating Texas' shit.

Vanderbilt is probably stronger academically than Texas, top to bottom. Florida and Texas are comparable. There are several SEC schools that are Oregon's equal by any measure.

If Texas cared that much about academics it wouldn't be where it is now. Also, Texas is Texas. The last thing it cares about is validation from a bunch of California schools. It's got 50,000 students, that huge endowment, and it's a very unusual beast that's many things including a sports behemouth.

[Babs]

Conference is not that which alters when it alteration finds
or bends with the remover to remove...
oh, no! It is an e'er-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken.

[Babs]

I'm being tag teamed. BatGirl has me pinned against the ropes and pellegrino is smacking me with a folding chair.

hey! You should be grateful! He was reaching for the entire card table before I told him that might be excessive.

[SeattleUte]

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.
mere anarchy is loosed upon the sport,
the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
the ceremony of innocence is drowned.

lol

THE MORE THE MERRIER!!

[Babs]

lol

THE MORE THE MERRIER!!

At least somebody appreciates my humor.

Thank god for the Pac-10. I don't know why I even bother with the rest of these uncultured swine.

[SeattleUte]

At least somebody appreciates my humor.

Thank god for the Pac-10. I don't know why I even bother with the rest of these uncultured swine.

I LOVE THAT POEM.

[Babs]

I LOVE THAT POEM.

I had no doubt.

[LA Ute]

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.

It's "centre."

[Top Ute]

Vanderbilt is probably stronger academically than Texas, top to bottom.

Vanderbilt is also stronger in football than Texas, at least head-to-head.

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/sec/vanderbilt/vs_conf_opponents.php?confid=14&restrictions=none

[USUC]

I've become less concerned over whether or when this conference expansion will happen and more about what happens after the pieces fall where they may. You and I know that a 16 team conference is unsustainable. It creates scheduling nightmares, geography makes it difficult for non-major sports, and I believe it will be impossible trying to keep all those egos in check. Looking at the long term, this is a bad business decision. These over-zealous conference commissioners will be able to pat themselves on the back for the revolutionary changes they have made, and run on to the next venture before the whole systems implodes. Maybe this is what needs to happen. The slate will be wiped clean and a more sensible systems is formed. At the end of the day the unifying framework of a conference is geography. You may be able to push it to the brink for a couple of years, but its unsustainable. So what does the college football landscape look like when this chapter runs its course?

[U-Ute]

I've become less concerned over whether or when this conference expansion will happen and more about what happens after the pieces fall where they may. You and I know that a 16 team conference is unsustainable. It creates scheduling nightmares, geography makes it difficult for non-major sports, and I believe it will be impossible trying to keep all those egos in check. Looking at the long term, this is a bad business decision. These over-zealous conference commissioners will be able to pat themselves on the back for the revolutionary changes they have made, and run on to the next venture before the whole systems implodes. Maybe this is what needs to happen. The slate will be wiped clean and a more sensible systems is formed. At the end of the day the unifying framework of a conference is geography. You may be able to push it to the brink for a couple of years, but its unsustainable. So what does the college football landscape look like when this chapter runs its course?

I disagree to a certain extent. The biggest driver is TV. If the PAC-10 is able to pull this off, imagine the Big-10/SEC type of television contract they could negotiate with USC, Texas, and Oklahoma in the mix.

To put it into context, the SEC contract with ESPN is 15 years, $2.2B. That equates to $13M per team, per year.

You can sustain a lot with that kind of money.

U-Ute