OT: D1

[Ship69]

Michigan going crazy during Jump Around yesterday in Madison was classic.

Wisconsin is fading fast. First time I've seen them have a bad o-line in a long time, and their QB getting knocked out didn't help. Big Ten East is interesting for a change, but the West doesn't look like much more than Iowa at this point. The Iowa-PSU game should be an interesting one.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Michigan going crazy during Jump Around yesterday in Madison was classic.

[IUPNation]

Meanwhile, Ohio State unfortunately is looking very much like Ohio State again today, yet the Oregon team that beat them is losing 17-7 at halftime to a 2-2 Stanford team.

You mean lost to Stanford. Good ending.

Played in a half empty stadium too.

[Ship69]

Make me sad. Lol.

And ... Pitt continues to baffle the Pick 'Em crowd.

Meanwhile, Ohio State unfortunately is looking very much like Ohio State again today, yet the Oregon team that beat them is losing 17-7 at halftime to a 2-2 Stanford team.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Noted Dames getting taken down by the Bearcats.

Make me sad. Lol.

And ... Pitt continues to baffle the Pick 'Em crowd.

[Ship69]

Noted Dames getting taken down by the Bearcats.

[IUP24]

Exactly. Maryland delivered the DMV and Rutgers gives them a chunk of greater NYC.

What most people fail to realize is that even adding a "good" program doesn't necessarily increase the conference member's revenues either, specifically if it doesn't get their conferences network newly onto television sets in new media markets. UCF would be a sensible add for the ACC. But the ACC Network is already available to all Florida residents. Adding UCF does nothing other than make FSU and Miami mad. It doesn't get them into any new markets. It doesn't force cable networks in non-traditional ACC areas to add the channel, etc. The same is true for the Big Ten. Adding Pitt or West Virginia brings nothing new or different to the league in terms of potential revenue. I couldn't care less what Greg Schiano does at Rutgers. They were added to create additional television revenue. Nothing more, nothing less.

The entire design behind Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC, and why those ADs/presidents in the SEC all agreed, is because of the backroom deal that Greg Sankey attempted to work out to expand the playoff. Adding Texas and OU, in an expanded playoff, benefited the SEC members because they figure that in a 12 team playoff, they can realistically get 5 bids. The conferences are paid out by the bids per league based on the TV money. That's massive cash coming into a conference and split amongst its members.

When you consider the bowl schedules, the conference tie-ins don't necessarily change based on who is in which league. So you're just swapping out one team for another typically. If Miami didn't go to the Camping World Bowl, UCF would. Miami would finish 7-5 or 6-6 and go to a low tier bowl instead of Virginia, who would then sit at home. The league wouldn't get any more bowl teams and they wouldn't get any additional revenue, unless of course they had more than one playoff team.

[Fightingscot82]

Take one thing I said and dissect it. The overall point is that it's all about money. If a school doesn't add a huge chunk of additional revenue, the move isn't happening.

Exactly. Maryland delivered the DMV and Rutgers gives them a chunk of greater NYC.

[IUP24]

I was on a Southwest flight with Greg coming back from Indy. I was there for a work conference and he for the B1G championship when he was on the OSU staff. There's no first class on Southwest so he had to mingle with us regulars. Seemed like a genuinely nice guy who didn't mind. Still boggles my mind that a guy with millions in the bank would fly Southwest LOL

Did he tell you about the time he hit a student on a bike while at Ohio State?

[IUP24]

Rutgers under Schiano doesn't have the look of a perennial doormat. They've made big strides under him so far, and he's had a nice recruiting class so far this year, including several four-stars. New Jersey is a good talent pipeline, if you can recruit it.

Take one thing I said and dissect it. The overall point is that it's all about money. If a school doesn't add a huge chunk of additional revenue, the move isn't happening.

[Fightingscot82]

The ACC lost its charm to many in the South when they brought in all the 'Yankee' schools and the cherry on top was Maryland leaving.

But, as stated above, MD opened up a huge television market to the BIG. From Maryland's perspective, I think it was a no-brainer to leave.

If there's ever been a program worthy of the title of 'sleeping giant' ... it's the Terps. But, for whatever reason, they can't keep all their stars home. That region gets heavily cherry-picked by the big boys.

I've gone to several games down there at the 'Snake Pit' ... it's a really cool venue at night. Day games, not so much.


As for Greg, ... hey, he's did it there once. The second act, however, is never guaranteed. He had them rocking and rolling in the Ray Rice days. He had Tony Soprano doing spots for them (in character, etc.).

I was on a Southwest flight with Greg coming back from Indy. I was there for a work conference and he for the B1G championship when he was on the OSU staff. There's no first class on Southwest so he had to mingle with us regulars. Seemed like a genuinely nice guy who didn't mind. Still boggles my mind that a guy with millions in the bank would fly Southwest LOL

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I agree. I'm not a fan of Schiano but he's somehow only a good fit at Rutgers.

I disagree that Maryland & Rutgers are not a good fit for the B1G. I don't think you can say they're a perfect fit the way Penn State fit in right away. It took some time for Nebraska to feel it fit too. If you look at it from a purely football perspective (understandable) yeah they look like bottom feeders. But Maryland is an excellent athletic program. Rutgers has some work to do but they also don't seem to fit well with the ACC.

I still feel that conference realignment was better back when the Big East had BC, Pitt, WVU, and Virginia Tech and before the Big 12 exodus happened. Cable network revenue really screwed with stuff.

The ACC lost its charm to many in the South when they brought in all the 'Yankee' schools and the cherry on top was Maryland leaving.

But, as stated above, MD opened up a huge television market to the BIG. From Maryland's perspective, I think it was a no-brainer to leave.

If there's ever been a program worthy of the title of 'sleeping giant' ... it's the Terps. But, for whatever reason, they can't keep all their stars home. That region gets heavily cherry-picked by the big boys.

I've gone to several games down there at the 'Snake Pit' ... it's a really cool venue at night. Day games, not so much.


As for Greg, ... hey, he's did it there once. The second act, however, is never guaranteed. He had them rocking and rolling in the Ray Rice days. He had Tony Soprano doing spots for them (in character, etc.).

[Fightingscot82]

Rutgers under Schiano doesn't have the look of a perennial doormat. They've made big strides under him so far, and he's had a nice recruiting class so far this year, including several four-stars. New Jersey is a good talent pipeline, if you can recruit it.

I agree. I'm not a fan of Schiano but he's somehow only a good fit at Rutgers.

I disagree that Maryland & Rutgers are not a good fit for the B1G. I don't think you can say they're a perfect fit the way Penn State fit in right away. It took some time for Nebraska to feel it fit too. If you look at it from a purely football perspective (understandable) yeah they look like bottom feeders. But Maryland is an excellent athletic program. Rutgers has some work to do but they also don't seem to fit well with the ACC.

I still feel that conference realignment was better back when the Big East had BC, Pitt, WVU, and Virginia Tech and before the Big 12 exodus happened. Cable network revenue really screwed with stuff.

[Ship69]

The only league at risk of not surviving at this point is the Big 12. Their two flagship power members are bolting. Every other league has a landmark program to hold the fort:

ACC: Clemson
Big Ten: Ohio State
SEC: Alabama
Pac 12: USC

Nobody left in the Big 12 holds the same water that any of those other four do in their respective leagues. Oklahoma State would leave the Big 12 to affiliate itself with USC. But other schools aren't leaving their situations to affiliate themselves with OK State or Kansas. The academic argument is a lie. If somebody benefited the Big Ten, they would be invited, AAU member or not. It's about what university opens the door for more money.

If you follow college football, you should know that everything is about money. That's it. The proposed expansion of the playoff is only about money. And teams leaving one conference to go to the next is only about, you guessed it, money.

I'd love to see Pitt, West Virginia, and Penn State play each other every year. But you have to ask, what does WVU offer the ACC that they don't currently have? On the contrary, what does Pitt offer the Big Ten that they don't already have? Why would the Big Ten add Pitt when there are more Penn State grads in Allegheny County than there are Pitt grads? Pitt brings nothing to the Big Ten different than Penn State does in terms of households/media market. Rutgers isn't a Big Ten type of school either, but they provided the league a perennial doormat who opened up the Big Ten network to millions of television sets in the NJ/NYC area. All about the money. Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, etc., were all for adding Rutgers. An easy W and it increases the check at the end of the year.

Rutgers under Schiano doesn't have the look of a perennial doormat. They've made big strides under him so far, and he's had a nice recruiting class so far this year, including several four-stars. New Jersey is a good talent pipeline, if you can recruit it.

[Fightingscot82]

Was it a team bus or a local transit?

Looks like a team bus.