Around the Big Ten

[Pasadena Blue]

well since AAU and contiguous states is critical for B1G, UVA and NC are now possibilities.

So far the move to 14 doesn't affect M much ... since the new additions are going into the Flagshit's division, and Illinois is moving over to M's side.

We are probably looking at 9 or 10 conference games though.

If we did add more east coast schools, one would think that Wisky and Indiana or Purdue would have to also move over to our division.

[lineygoblue]

We are probably looking at 9 or 10 conference games though.

Ten would be fine. Five each at home and away. Add two tomato cans in the OOC schedule and each team gets 7 home games.

[THE_WIZARD_]

fear the twerps

[iam416]

I'm sure some have read this, but it's from the infamous "Purple Book Cat". The one thing I actually think is true is that Slive and Delaney are far, far more likely colluding than the perceived mortal enemies. Delaney's first move -- snipe the most vulnerable ACC team -- a good fit for the B10, too, at least everywhere but on the football field -- and kybosh on the $50M exit fee canard. Now the door is open for other teams to bolt. I suspect at least 4 of them would jump at the SEC. Once that happens, the ACC is dead. So Delaney pulls out the first brick; Slive knocks it over; Delaney picks the schools he really wants.

We're inching closer to the fascinating final chapters.

The target dates have not changed since last year. Jim Delany has in the shadows amassed his resources as the chatter surrounding expansion died down. Football season, for each of the past several years, has provided a convenient cover for Delany to manouver. In the past few months, the major networks and the heads of the three most powerful conferences have solidified their plans. Simply put, the SEC, the PAC and the B1G will make up the three 16 team super-conferences. Everyone else will play in on their own.

This is where the B1G stands today: Texas wants in, Notre Dame does not - yet. Delany has successfully dismantled the Big Twelve to the brink of collapse. Delany expects two of WVU, North Carolina, FSU and Miami to move to the SEC. Delany over the past several months has had ongoing discussions with Syracuse, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Maryland. Two of these four will likely follow Texas and Notre Dame to the B1G. The evaluation of these schools has ranged from facilities planning to alumni success. Internal speculation is that Georgia Tech and Maryland are the favorites at this point. Rutgers continues to attempt to force the situation, but is not a preferred choice.

The breakup of the ACC now serves one purpose: to separate Notre Dame's key decision makers from their resolve and ability to stay independent. Until the 5 game schedule with the ACC, many at ND were increasingly supportive of a move to the B1G. The insane deal that the ACC gave to ND made some of those people believe that ND could have its cake and eat it too. Delany wants to squash that immediately. He will stop at nothing to break up the ACC to force ND back into the discussion. He will have help.

Pay attention to the SEC. Silve owes Delany for A&M. Also less directly for Mizzou. Florida State should be the first domino to fall. Put it this way: Silve is Stalin, Delany is Roosevelt. Neither shares the same dogmas, but both know that the only way to win the war is to work together. This will be fun to watch.

[iam416]

For those who know of PBC, they likely think he's full of shit -- fair. But I think it's clear that this round is definitely just an opening salvo.

[hack]

What's planned and what happens are going to be two different things, but certainly it is much easier to understand Maryland as a means rather than an end.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Money, money, money
Must be funny
In the rich man's world
Money, money, money
Always sunny
In the rich man's world
Aha-ahaaa
All the things I could do
If I had a little money
It's a rich man's world

Ain't it sad

[Ghengis Jon]

2 divisions in the Jonesing-For-Money-Crack-Whore-Conference:

Cheech Division

Michigan
osu
Purdue
Northwestern
Indiana
Illinois
Rutgers

Chong Division

Everyone else


Michigan plays all in their division, plus Maryland and Iowa, maybe Nebraska. Toss a few Miami (OH)s in there and we're set. This schedule prevents a rematch with osu - and since Little Brother isn't a rival and doesn't really matter, we'll only see them if they back into the CCG. This will set UM up for a BCS bowl every year! Brilliant!

I like it more and more as I think about it!! Maybe we can add Slippery Rock, Northeastern Nevada Technical School, the Michigan School for the Deaf, and Davenport College so we can be a super-dee-duper conference. We can schedule all conference patsies so we can guarantee double digit wins for every season! Just think of all the money we'll be rolling in! Surely all the ticket and concession prices will plummet because of the huge east coast TV markets will more than make up for it! I'm sure Brand-On! is drooling over all the revenue that the likes of Maryland and Rutgers drink coasters are sure to bring in. Can't wait to buy my new kitchen towels with the 10, no 11, no 12, no 14 conference logos on them. And the pay for view can't be far behind...I'll pay big bucks for that Rutgers-Indiana match-up! A new TV ratings record I'm sure!

Bleah.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Money.....money changes everything....

[iam416]

I think that's right, Hack.

I also think that the B10 doesn't go to Maryland and Rutgers just for the hell of it. The overall plan has to make sense. I tend to agree with DSL on this one -- there are lots of smart folks who had to think this over. That doesn't mean they didn't/won't fuck it up. But I don't think it's being done without serious thought.

Personally, I think this is the first move to the uber-conferences that will form the basis of the BCS Final Four. I think you'll ultimately see a de facto 8-team playoff with the winner of the "micro conferences" playing in the macro conference CG and getting an automatic bid to the final 4. The B10, SEC and, I think, P12 are given for this scenario. The question is whether a 4th will emerge or whether the three power players will go beyond 16 to 20.

[Hannibal]

All of this marveling over Delaney's brilliant secret plan reminds me of when everybody was speculating about Dave Brandon's brilliant secret plan for hiring a head coach. Turns out -- there wasn't any.

As for the logic that "these people are smart, so they must be making the right decision", here is a short list of the great decisions made by some "smart people"...

1. Deciding to get a sponsor for the UM-OSU game. Remember that short-lived fiasco? The backlash was so severe that the decision was reversed instantly. The wizards of smart were totally caught off guard.

2. New Coke

3. Almost anything that the NHL has done in the past 20 years

4. Dave Brandon letting the Michigan football program twist in the wind for six weeks while other programs poached our recruits

5. The Arch Deluxe

6 The financial travesty in the video game world known as "Star Wars: The Old Republic"

7. BP Deepwater Horizon

8. Gene Smith deciding to go to a bowl game in 2011, because his sources assured him that there would be no bowl ban

9. Bill Martin going on a vacation with his cell phone turned off at a time when Michigan was in the most important coaching search of my lifetime

10. Dave Brandon's existence

11. John McCain being selected as the Republican presidential nominee because the Republicans needed a moderate to get elected.

12. Any decision made to invest in Enron stock

That's just a short list that I was able to come up with in about three minutes. I think that you get the point.

Not everything has some kind of ultra-secret, diabolically genius scheme underneath it. Some things are as they appear to be on the surface. If this long term cuthroat Machiavellian strategy is really the plan, then we are diluting both our brand and our income to alleviate some sort of ridiculous paranoid fears that the ACC is going to squash us if they have Rutgers and Maryland instead of the Big Ten. I have yet to have it explained to me why the Big Ten is affected in any adverse way whatsoever if the ACC has 16 teams and we have 12. One thing that is patently obvious to me is that these moves absolutely, positively, will not increase the popularity of college football. They can only decrease it. As evidenced by the fact that the negative reaction to these new moves is unanimous. There is nobody even trying to defend these moves from the standpoint of making the sport better or stronger. And less popularity means less money for everybody. When tradition is dead, what is left? College football becomes AA baseball or the IHL.

[Optimus Prime]

fear the twerps

Is that anything like shingles?

[Ghengis Jon]

All of this marveling over Delaney's brilliant secret plan reminds me of when everybody was speculating about Dave Brandon's brilliant secret plan for hiring a head coach. Turns out -- there wasn't any.


Delaney=Brand-On!=Bettman

[Optimus Prime]

It was Jim Harbaugh , he said no.

[UMStan White]

"All of this marveling over Delaney's brilliant secret plan reminds me of when everybody was speculating about Dave Brandon's brilliant secret plan for hiring a head coach. Turns out -- there wasn't any."

My sentiments exactly!