2011 College Football Season

[Meacon Keaton]

Fuck you all. Irish gonna be tough this year. Not undefeated, but we'll be pretty good.

[JStarr]

Also, if you ever wanted to go to a 4 team title tournament just have the highest seeded superconference winner play the 4th rated conference winner, the # 2 plays the # 3 and then the winners meet a week later. It would only add one extra game to the schedule, but having what amounts to three "BCS Title Games" instead of just one would add millions in extra revenue.

Pac-12/Big Ten won't give up their Rose Bowl match up and excluding teams outside the power conferences won't work either (say "hello" to Notre Dame and soon to be Texas).

Funny enough, the Big Ten and Pac-12 sound like they're about to shit and get off the pot regarding the whole "plus-one" idea.

Florida State seems like it'd be a great bet to join, but Florida's going to spit nails at the idea of giving FSU another recruiting advantage. Same with Clemson and South Carolina.

North Carolina, WVU, or VT would actually expand the footprint, without honking off any of the current membership. UNC's a real longshot, since they'd be loath to break up the basketball rivalry with Duke, but they'd be even better all-around additions than FSU or Clemson. Missouri would do the same, but it's hard to imagine them ever really being able to compete in SEC football.

Of course, it's hard to imagine aTm doing much better than 8-4 any year themselves, so meh. Besides, there's really nothing that forces the SEC to keep the divisions balanced. They may just stick with adding one.

[HailtotheYo]

and Texas will be in the Pac-16 eventually. There's no money in them being an independent with their own network.

Actually, Texas is one of about 5 schools that could still use the old ND model and make it work ... especially with their own network.

Starr ... WVU ? They bring nothing of consequence that I see. Football will be no better than A&M let alone FSU. Baseball ? Basketball maybe (I feel they're overhyped every year), women's sports ? The University itself ? ... I highly doubt the lucrative Morgantown TV market is that big of a draw.

I can see NC to a lesser extent ... but both Clemson and FSU just make sense. Florida would be retarded not to let in FSU. Bringing that rivalry in conference ? Shit, that's a win on every level. It also closes the door on Miami, which would be more of an andvantage to Florida in recruiting, than an advantage for FSU in joining the SEC. FSU can't really get much better in the recruiting department as it stands. I mean what, the SEC will boost them from #4 in the country to #3 each year ?

Wonder why they wouldn't look at Georgia Tech as a possibility, especially before WVU ...

[gunnar hendershow]

Fuck you all. Irish gonna be tough this year. Not undefeated, but we'll be pretty good.

Do all Irish fans have this post saved on their PCs and just c+p it when there is a few weeks until the season starts?

[naiwf]

and Texas will be in the Pac-16 eventually. There's no money in them being an independent with their own network.

Actually, Texas is one of about 5 schools that could still use the old ND model and make it work ... especially with their own network.

I disagree. Texas doesn't strike me as a fanbase that is spread out across the country and therefore a must add to all regional cable outlets. Notre Dame "fans" are everywhere and even then, they wouldn't be able to sustain a network on their own. If I wanted to be more specific, I'd probably rephrase it and say Texas would lose out on money by being an independent that they would easily recoup if they joined the Pac-16. At the end of the day the almighty dollar drives decisions and Texas would be the gold star on that Pacific conference that would help drive up ratings/revenues/profits etc.

[DMN in the House]

Texas wouldn't be a 'gold star' in a hypothetical Pac #. They'd be a top team, but the LA schools are the star of the Pacific, and I think they'd continue to be.

If anything, that would be a conference totally split, because the coastal teams have been together for so long. You'd have the 'traditional' Pac 8 (USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Oregon St, Washington, Washington St) and the 'New Southwestern Conference' (Texas, Arizona, Arizona St, Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma?, Oklahoma St.?, Texas Tech? (Honestly, if Baylor wasn't a religious school, they'd fit better)). A complete cultural divide.

[HailtotheYo]

I disagree. Texas doesn't strike me as a fanbase that is spread out across the country and therefore a must add to all regional cable outlets. Notre Dame "fans" are everywhere and even then, they wouldn't be able to sustain a network on their own. If I wanted to be more specific, I'd probably rephrase it and say Texas would lose out on money by being an independent that they would easily recoup if they joined the Pac-16. At the end of the day the almighty dollar drives decisions and Texas would be the gold star on that Pacific conference that would help drive up ratings/revenues/profits etc.

Texas is a fucking monster. Seriously: Most valuable team and the latest numbers are a revenue of just under 100m for the year (just for football mind you).

And yes, they have a HUGE nationwide fanbase ... evidenced here with merchandise sales:CLC Website Seriously, it's like the fucking Cowboys. They are one of a handful of teams that has a large nationwide reach.

Perspective here ... ESPN is building 13m studios for the Longhorn Network, paying Texas 15m a year (11 to the school 4 to the marketing department) and that's with rights to only ONE football game. If they do go independent, then the Network has first rights on negotiating for their football games. It's also contracted for 20 years. The Notre Dame deal with NBC that expired in 2010 was 9m a year.

Texas wouldn't be a 'gold star' in a hypothetical Pac #. They'd be a top team, but the LA schools are the star of the Pacific, and I think they'd continue to be.

They'd be the Gold Star in the forming of the conference. The University and the Texas market would be the 'gold stamp' on everything. I think that's the sense he was talking about.

[naiwf]

Texas wouldn't be a 'gold star' in a hypothetical Pac #. They'd be a top team, but the LA schools are the star of the Pacific, and I think they'd continue to be.

They'd be the Gold Star in the forming of the conference. The University and the Texas market would be the 'gold stamp' on everything. I think that's the sense he was talking about.

That's what I'm talking about. The Pac-insert # getting the crown jewel of the remnants of the Big 12, pretty much makes anyone west of Texas a fan/viewer of that conference since the Big 12 would cease to exist without Texas and A&M. Adding a team of that caliber to a conference with USC would also get them plenty of national coverage. I don't think Texas would ever go to the SEC or Big 10, so it's an ideal pairing.

I guess it's just a NY bias, but I rarely if ever see Texas fans or Texas gear around here, although I used to have some myself. All of the other "national" teams not based in NY, like Notre Dame football, Duke hoops, the Cowboys, Steelers etc are still visible at sporting events/on the street. Texas jumping to the Pac-# Conference would pretty much make them on par with the SEC at worst, if not the clear cut # 1 football conference in America, unless Oklahomo went to the SEC in response.

[HailtotheYo]

I guess it's just a NY bias, but I rarely if ever see Texas fans or Texas gear around here, although I used to have some myself. All of the other "national" teams not based in NY, like Notre Dame football, Duke hoops, the Cowboys, Steelers etc are still visible at sporting events/on the street. Texas jumping to the Pac-# Conference would pretty much make them on par with the SEC at worst, if not the clear cut # 1 football conference in America, unless Oklahomo went to the SEC in response.

I absolutely acknowledge that of all the places in the country, the NE Triangle (NY - Philly - DC) is the least visible area for Texas. No doubt about it. It's also one of a handful of areas that is saturated with both pro/college sports. When I was in Silver Spring the last 3 years, it was the first time I'd ever been in a place for an extended period and didn't see Longhorn gear on a somewhat regular basis.

Kind of like Texas being the area where you'll find the least amount of Yankee gear.

Of course, with A&M jumping ship I'll have to completely restart my NCAA 12 Dynasty with new conferences ... again

[Meacon Keaton]

You know you can re-arrange conferences after each season, right?

[HailtotheYo]

Actually no, haven't gotten that far yet ... so you can just jump to a conference if you want ? That's sweet.

Also DMN I hate to say I told you sooooooooo but:

HttK, A&M can't go anywhere without Texas, so if the Longhorns don't want to go to the SEC, the Aggies are fucked. UT holds all the power in that relationship.

.... I did

.... need to get my predictions up for this year as well.

[Meacon Keaton]

So SEC says "Hmmmm...no." to A&M. For now anyway.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6861385/sec-extend-invitation-texas-leaves-options-open

[Damian WayLNKe]

Awkward...

[Meacon Keaton]

It does kind of have that "Break up with your girlfriend, only to find out the girl you were flirting with isn't really interested after all" feeling to it, doesn't it?

[HailtotheYo]

SEC made a smart move. They need team #14 and don't want to "just take someone" for the sake of it. Sure, Clemson and FSU were tossed out there as names, but that's just because they make the most sense with regional rivals and geographic footprint.

A&M made a statement to the Big 12 and too Texas. That was pretty much the point of it, and apparently there were concessions made (there's something behind the scenes going on with an agreement about the Longhorn Network, as that was the biggest issue). I still think they make the move eventually. Conference posturing isn't done.

[Commander Sheepard]

I'm kind of thinking that the SEC wants to wait until A&M regents meet and decide for sure what they want to do. I mean, yea, it's pretty evident, but the SEC doesn't want to look bad by talking about adding A&M and then getting turned down. Also, as someone pointed out, they don't want to just take ANYBODY as the 14th team, so waiting until they have a really good program lined up there makes sense.

[Meacon Keaton]

I'd rather see the SEC take FSU and Clemson over A&M, anyway. But I think that's the old-school fan in me wishing for a reincarnated SWC.

[HailtotheYo]

I'd rather see the SEC take FSU and Clemson over A&M, anyway. But I think that's the old-school fan in me wishing for a reincarnated SWC.

Oh momma, now we're talking.

Although, I wouldn't mind A&M calling up LSU/ARK/Ok/OkSt/Houston/TCU/MissSt/Mizzou/Tulsa/Kansas/KansasSt and saying "fuck em all, let's make our own fucking conference"

[gunnar hendershow]

I want a conference with TAMU, Texas, OU, OkSt, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, Rice, Baylor, and Houston before the end of all this conference reshuffling. Basically the SWC with some minor tweaks.

[Meacon Keaton]

And I know it's months late, but I just saw this on the Notre Dame forum I visit.