Conference Realignment

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#251      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
WeWillWhen said:
I’m contrarian. I think when USC plays in Memorial Stadium, and UCLA comes to SFC, there will be huge local interest and ticket sales. Huge. I would SO rather see those teams than Rutgers or Maryland, TBH.
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Right but Rutgers and Maryland don't belong in the Big Ten either, that's not contrarian at all.

Exciting and exotic matchups are what non-conference play is for, and used to regularly feature Big Ten and Pac 10 interplay.

#1 USC, a greatest team of all time contender, came to Champaign in 1972 and cleaned our clocks.
 
#252      

SoCal Illini

S
SoCal Illini
illini80 said:
I have a fire stick, but know nothing about coding and have few friends. One out of three ain’t bad, right?
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1/3 is not bad!
Just look for an IT person now, maybe you'll have to pay them $50 or something, then Yahtzee my friend.

looking at it that way you're actually 50% of the way there 👍
 
#253      

SoCal Illini

S
SoCal Illini
ChiefGritty said:
Right but Rutgers and Maryland don't belong in the Big Ten either, that's not contrarian at all.

Exciting and exotic matchups are what non-conference play is for, and used to regularly feature Big Ten and Pac 10 interplay.

#1 USC, a greatest team of all time contender, came to Champaign in 1972 and cleaned our clocks.
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My dad was on that Illinois team. The '72 team had some solid players of their own. (Larry Mcarren, Scott Studwell, Tom Hicks, Gerry Sullivan, George Uremovich, and some others)
they did a home and away series I believe, when it was in LA at The Coliseum, my dad said when they took the field they were met with the loudest boos hes ever heard. lol

Then, years Later 88 or 89, Illinois was unranked at the coliseum vs SC. Illini down 13-0 with like 4 mins left in game, two big plays later Illinois comes out with a 14-13 vicory. that's when the SC fans got chippy and my mom, yep, my little old mom had to get into with the SC fans.

Aditionally, Illinois and SC have played each other a few times seems every 10 years or so. Played 4 bowl games vs UCLA.
 
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#254      

WeWillWhen

WeWillWhen
WeWillWhen
Yeah, I guess that I just am not convinced that the sky is falling.

Conference realignment has ALWAYS been a part of college football. Just in my memory, major conferences like the Southwest and Big East have vaporized. Eighteen teams have cycled through the Big 8/Big 12. Pac-8 grew to Pac-12. Big Ten and SEC have gone from 10 to 16; ACC from 8 to 15.

Now let's talk about post-season. In the mid-70s there were only around a dozen bowls. That has been massively expanded to . . . 40? I lose count. And now on top of that, here comes the 12-team playoff.

Through it all college football has continued to be massively popular. I don't really see that changing. Texas and Oklahoma will be headed to their third conference in three decades; doesn't seem to be affecting their popularity. I also don't think that things like ending the "sanctity" of the BIG/PAC match-up in the Rose Bowl is a big deal. That actually ended two decades ago, the Rose remains massively popular, and to be honest, the two best Rose Bowl games I ever watched both had Texas as a competitor. If anything, I think that opening up the CFP to more teams is going to attract a lot more eyeballs, and potentially could create some great Cinderella stories, ala March Madness.

Yes, I acknowledge that in-person attendance has been on a modest decline for awhile, but that is true of ALL spectator sports, and surely is due to some combination of ticket prices and the fact of every game now being watchable in the comfort of one's home in front of a 70-inch screen. If one were to add up all the eyeballs watching college football both in person and televised on any given weekend, I would be shocked if the number today isn't way higher than the 70s/80s.
 
#255      

mattcoldagelli

mattcoldagelli
The Transfer Portal
mattcoldagelli
ChiefGritty said:
Right but Rutgers and Maryland don't belong in the Big Ten either, that's not contrarian at all.
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I've got a contrarian take for you - Rutgers basketball is fitting hand-in-glove.

Grindy/tough style of play? Players you love to hate? Hellish arena that provides a massive home court advantage? For these reasons and others I can't even quite put my finger on, Rutgers feels assimilated while Maryland still sorta feels like an ACC-B1G Challenge game.
 
#256      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
mattcoldagelli said:
I've got a contrarian take for you - Rutgers basketball is fitting hand-in-glove.

Grindy/tough style of play? Players you love to hate? Hellish arena that provides a massive home court advantage? For these reasons and others I can't even quite put my finger on, Rutgers feels assimilated while Maryland still sorta feels like an ACC-B1G Challenge game.
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Pikiell Island has a NATO-like treaty of mutual defense with the Real Big Ten. That's where we do all our nuclear weapons testing (and it shows).
 
#257      

BZuppke

BZuppke
Plainfield
BZuppke
mattcoldagelli said:
I've got a contrarian take for you - Rutgers basketball is fitting hand-in-glove.

Grindy/tough style of play? Players you love to hate? Hellish arena that provides a massive home court advantage? For these reasons and others I can't even quite put my finger on, Rutgers feels assimilated while Maryland still sorta feels like an ACC-B1G Challenge game.
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No
 
#258      

Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs
southeast DuPage
Mr. Tibbs

Pac12 looking to replace USC & UCLA with SMU & San Diego St.
yep, those are their best alternatives
 
#259      

spotter

S
spotter
I have no knowledge of the program, but why isn't Colorado State a target of both the PAC 12 or the Big 12? Academics? Not enough of a following?
 
#260      

redwingillini11

redwingillini11
White and Sixth
North Aurora
redwingillini11
spotter said:
I have no knowledge of the program, but why isn't Colorado State a target of both the PAC 12 or the Big 12? Academics? Not enough of a following?
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No new TV markets. They would just bring another mouth to the table to feed without raising the value of the conference.

That being said, Colorado State would feel like a natural fit, and SMU instead is going to stick out like a sore thumb. I'm not sure I'll ever accept them as a true member of the Pac 12, just like I'll never accept Maryland or Rutgers as true members of the B1G.
 
#262      

SoCal Illini

S
SoCal Illini
Mr. Tibbs said:

Pac12 looking to replace USC & UCLA with SMU & San Diego St.
yep, those are their best alternatives
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SDSU has built a solid program that's pretty consistent, I think 12 bowls last 13 years, along with more history than you'd think (think Don Coryell, Marshall Faulk, kevin O'Connell, even John Madden and Joe Gibbs have history there). San Diego area has a big local talent pool, not to mention a brand new stadium and "only team in town". I could see them ending up like Utah if they go.

Not sure about SMU, a lot of kids from the west coast go there, but typically not athletes. That's a weird one, although the football program is decent now. If history is any indication, they'd spend some $$. A lot of the reasons the got the 'death penalty' in the 80s are effectively legal now.

if they want to add two, SDSU and Boise make the most sense. Both solid at football (Boise more so) AND basketball (SDSU more so).
Plus SDSU would be the only team in CA south of the SF Bay area
And Boise area is growing pretty rapidly in population

And who knows, if any of those schools get more $$ than theyre getting and re-invest it, they could theoretically compete with the big boys.

one more thing to add, SDSU basketball has a pretty rabid student fan base (really big school). If they can get that way with football that'd be another thing theyd bring to the table.
 
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#264      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
ChiefGritty said:
I am a complete maniac, but a consistent maniac: SMU was a major conference team in 1985 therefore they deserve to be now too. Same with Houston.

Rice to the Big Ten folks, you're hearing it more and more.
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Is the goal to expand to the point we have less money per school? If it’s about the money, and it’s always about money, I don’t see the argument.
 
#265      

GrayGhost77

GrayGhost77
Centennial, CO
GrayGhost77
ChiefGritty said:
I am a complete maniac, but a consistent maniac: SMU was a major conference team in 1985 therefore they deserve to be now too. Same with Houston.

Rice to the Big Ten folks, you're hearing it more and more.
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Rice? Really? Have they ever been good in any major sport?
 
#266      

illini2019

I
illini2019
ChiefGritty said:
I am a complete maniac, but a consistent maniac: SMU was a major conference team in 1985 therefore they deserve to be now too. Same with Houston.

Rice to the Big Ten folks, you're hearing it more and more.
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From one maniac to another, let's not jump to adding Rice while overlooking a two-time national champion, former power conference team that has produced 12 All Americans and one Heisman Trophy winner. Chicago's Big Ten team (?) - the Maroons from the University of Chicago
 
#268      

bdutts

bdutts
Houston, Texas
bdutts
ChiefGritty said:
I am a complete maniac, but a consistent maniac: SMU was a major conference team in 1985 therefore they deserve to be now too. Same with Houston.

Rice to the Big Ten folks, you're hearing it more and more.
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Why do SMU and Uof H "deserve" that?
 
#271      

Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs
southeast DuPage
Mr. Tibbs
I assume it was a joke.............. imo, Coastal Carolina has a better chance of becoming a B1G member than Rice does
 
#272      

champaignchris

C
champaignchris
It doesn’t seem like SMU could possibly be a better candidate for the PAC than an additional MWC school after San Diego St.

If they’re going to grab a school just for its media market despite being bad at football, wouldn’t UNLV be a better fit for the PAC 12 by pretty much every possible criteria?
 
#273      

redwingillini11

redwingillini11
White and Sixth
North Aurora
redwingillini11
champaignchris said:
It doesn’t seem like SMU could possibly be a better candidate for the PAC than an additional MWC school after San Diego St.

If they’re going to grab a school just for its media market despite being bad at football, wouldn’t UNLV be a better fit for the PAC 12 by pretty much every possible criteria?
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I assume they already have plenty of access to the Las Vegas media market, especially since they have the Pac-12 tournament and football championship game there.
 
#274      

Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs
southeast DuPage
Mr. Tibbs
taking SMU is all about access to Texas and the media markets there , especially Dallas and Houston
 
#275      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
Mr. Tibbs said:
taking SMU is all about access to Texas and the media markets there , especially Dallas and Houston
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I mean, we could swipe Texas Tech or TCU literally tomorrow, and they would both provide better TV ratings in Dallas and Houston than any of the small schools actually located in those markets ... very much an Illini/Northwestern comparison in Chicago, IMO; at a certain point, it's about your fans in the market, not where your campus is physically located.
 
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