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Rank Them

Elite (3)
Notre Dame
Florida State
North Carolina

Near Elite (3)
Virginia
Georgia Tech
Clemson

Very Good (3)
North Carolina State
Virginia Tech
BYU

Good (6)
Miami
Boston College
Pitt
Syracuse
Louisville
Connecticut

Best of Rest (13)
SMU
UH
Wake Forest
Duke
Cincinnati
South Florida
UCF
Boise State
Fresno State
San Diego St
Navy
Army
Air Force

i don't know where the cutline is, but I do know that there enough people on it or worried, that there should be a pool of plenty of $$$$$ and congressmen to gin up a serious lawsuit. Lawyer up and just muck everything up as much as possible.

Well, I'll take a stab at the cutline.

Assume Big 10 and SEC get first dibs and they take the best 4 (big assumption is the ND shuns independence)

Big 10
Notre Dame
North Carolina

SEC
North Carolina St
Virginia Tech

That leaves Big 12 with the leftovers

Big 12
Florida St
Clemson
Miami
Virginia
Georgia Tech
BYU

These are the remaining schools on the outside looking in. Actually not a bad conference and most importantly to me, a very strong BB conference.

Best of Rest
Boston College
Pitt
Syracuse
Louisville
Connecticut
SMU
UH
Cincinnati
South Florida
UCF
Wake Forest
Duke
Navy

that's 13 schools, add Boise St, Army and San Diego St and you have a 16-team conference.

This leaves the PAC as is. My bet is they hold their noses and do some expansion. Looking at it from this perspective, I actually feel a lot better.

SoCal - I almost agree with you...but while ND may put their other sports in B1G, they aren't going to shun independence in football. They make too much money and get their own vote on the college football committee - and they are the swing vote between power and non-power, so the power conferences will always give them access to the national championship in return for being a member of their voting block.

Maybe Duke takes their place (to help bring UNC into the fold), maybe UVA, maybe GT. If it's one of the latter, Louisville goes to B12.

Sure, 'maybe' worse case is ND and BYU stay independent.

That means B12 takes 2 from the Best of the Rest, say Louisville and Pitt, still not a terrible remaining conference.

Best of Rest - East
Boston College
Syracuse
Connecticut
Cincinnati
South Florida
UCF
Wake Forest
Duke

Best of Rest - West
SMU
UH
Boise State
San Diego St
Navy
Army
Air Force

then a battle royal for last spot between Fresno State, Tulane and Tulsa and any other scrub you can mention. fwiw, BoR West looks much better with BYU.

What triggers this? Florida State or North Carolina bailing on the ACC would be a good start.

SoCal_Pony wrote:Rank Them

Elite (3)
Notre Dame
Florida State
North Carolina

Near Elite (3)
Virginia
Georgia Tech
Clemson

Very Good (3)
North Carolina State
Virginia Tech
BYU

Good (6)
Miami
Boston College
Pitt
Syracuse
Louisville
Connecticut

Best of Rest (14)
SMU
UH
Wake Forest
Duke
Cincinnati
South Florida
UCF
Boise State
UNLV
Fresno State
San Diego St
Navy
Army
Air Force

I've updated Best of Rest to include UNLV.

Assume the Big 4 conferences all go to 18 teams. That means 22 openings (B10 - 4), (SEC - 4), (PAC12 - 6), (B12 - eight). Also assume the Top 9 on my list are locks, that leaves 13 spots for the remaining 20 schools. Put another way, are there 7 schools on this list SMU is superior to. I say yes based on the value of Dallas. Also, don't assume Duke is a lock to make the final cut. Their FB history is abysmal and inviting them solely based on BB is akin to being being a long-term investor who never sells a stock within 10 years of purchase placing a big bet TODAY on Berkshire Hathaway because you believe in Warren Buffett. Same can be said for CT now that Calhoun is gone, Boise St once Petersen leaves or Syracuse once Boeheim retires.

Also, I see neither UCF or South Florida joining the SEC, B10 or PAC, nor do I see both joining B12. If Fl St and Miami go B12, both could be left out.

I would rank VT on par with UVa, if not higher. Yeah UVa's academics are better, but all that really matters is football and there's a lot more VT football fans in Virginia than UVa- so if you're going for the TV markets in DC/Northern VA, Richmond, Virginia Beach, I think your best bet is VT. With that being said UVa will end up in the Big Ten and VT will be in the SEC when the smoke clears

i think you are right about VT having more fans, but if you want customers watching that actually can buy something, then you would rather have a smaller number of UVA fans

gostangs wrote:i think you are right about VT having more fans, but if you want customers watching that actually can buy something, then you would rather have a smaller number of UVA fans

Haha- you might actually be right about that. VT isn't a bad school though, it's actually pretty darn good - especially for engineering. I had a couple buddies from boarding school who were VA residents that actually chose VT over UVA for its engineering program. My point is, it's not some joke like Texas Tech

i agree with you - but if you want to see a UVA guy roll his eyes try to mention them in the same sentence. It would be how we look at UH.

gostangs wrote:i agree with you - but if you want to see a UVA guy roll his eyes try to mention them in the same sentence. It would be how we look at UH.

True. The only school with more p-ricks for alums than SMU is UVA and that is a FACT.