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Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Rutgers

Harvey Perlman denies report:

http://my.journalstar.com/post/Husker_E ... ntrue.html


Adam Rittenberg, Big 10 blogger from ESPN, will be on the local espn radio show I am listening to in a bit. Will provide any updates if I catch it.

They can have those 2 teams.

the small sample of nebraska fans there seem to be bitter about the texas bloc of the Big 12 and more than interested in a move to the Big 10. if an administrator like Perlman doesn't have to worry about a fan/alum backlash, its that much easier to follow the money.

btw when are all those secret SMU handshakes supposed to kick in so I know what to look for. Nobody ever seems to make any speculative argument of exactly how SMU is going to buy itself into the Big 12.

Stallion wrote:btw when are all those secret SMU handshakes supposed to kick in so I know what to look for. Nobody ever seems to make any speculative argument of exactly how SMU is going to buy itself into the Big 12.

don't worry, i hear we again have Rice committed to be in lockstep with us in whatever move we make.

Most disappointing. I would rather the Big 10's expansion to 16 had not included Notre Dame, but it is also not surprising.

ND will not join the big ten. The campus and the alums do not want it.

and Tulane and Tulsa and now Baylor? Oh well I just hope a few teams that have been getting DFW kids now have to recruit against us on a more even playing field-it would be great if Baylor, Texas Tech AND OSU and others in the North like Iowa St., KSU etc were left behind, but I kind of doubt all of them will

Samurai Stang wrote:Most disappointing. I would rather the Big 10's expansion to 16 had not included Notre Dame, but it is also not surprising.

not convinced it will. I think the big 10 stops at 14, this time. Notre Dame stands pat until the music stops. 3 or 4 years down the line, ND can still join the Big 10 to make 16. If the Big 10 is willing to expand to 16 only for ND now, they will be willing to expand to 16 to get ND any time in the future too. Its a game of blink right now with ND banking that the Big10 won't expand to 16 without them.

Hoop Fan wrote:

Samurai Stang wrote:Most disappointing. I would rather the Big 10's expansion to 16 had not included Notre Dame, but it is also not surprising.

not convinced it will. I think the big 10 stops at 14, this time. Notre Dame stands pat until the music stops. 3 or 4 years down the line, ND can still join the Big 10 to make 16. If the Big 10 is willing to expand to 16 only for ND now, they will be willing to expand to 16 to get ND any time in the future too. Its a game of blink right now with ND banking that the Big10 won't expand to 16 without them.

The Big 10's purpose in life would seem to be waiting for Notre Dame.

this could be an expansion by stages-to see what ND does. The 14 Conference models really raises the stakes for a school like SMU. Greater chance to be in a decent caliber conference but probably a great chance of getting left behind. Everytime I count the leftovers I have a hard time convincing myself SMU will make the cut of the leftovers if the BCS Conferences got to 14-very well might depend on how big Conference Leftover is.

Stallion wrote:this could be an expansion by stages-to see what ND does. The 14 Conference models really raises the stakes for a school like SMU. Greater chance to be in a decent caliber conference but probably a great chance of getting left behind. Everytime I count the leftovers I have a hard time convincing myself SMU will make the cut of the leftovers.

Who do you foresee going where?

ND is the prize they were eyeing in the first place. But why four teams and not five to get to 16? 15 is an odd number. Perhaps, they haven't agreed on the 16th team yet. Syracuse, Pitt, UConn, have all been mentioned, but they all have flaws or perhaps the top target said they did not want to leave the BE. The Big Ten might have an Iowa problem in that Iowa may be getting some heat to add ISU. Or perhaps there might be some interest in KU or OU by some of the schools (including MO and NE). Or do they do something so crazy that no one will believe it. Invite SMU.

I'm not sure I know-too many assumptions but I don't think Big 12 would recover from losing Missouri, Colorado and Nebraska. I think Texas looks West and insists on taking at least 3-5 teams with it. That will leave the Big 12 Leftovers with 4-6 schools. Leftovers could reform-but how big do they want to go? 9,10, 12 or 14 schools?

then consider:

BYU
TCU
Utah(if not already PAC)
UH
Colorado St
Air Force

Obviously, it would be in SMU's interest for the Leftover Conference to go to at least 12 for Championship. The problem I forsee is those Mountain Schools may just want to merge with the Best of the WAC.