Southside

I can see why you fixate, given IU goes to so few post season FB games. Did you get bullied by a leprechaun when you were a kid? Or perhaps just an Irish girl?

The game example you gave, UVA, is like IU playing Idaho. Not sure if UVA even scored a TD that game. Cold there... Is Bloomington tropical lol. I live down south now. All of Indiana is considered cold my most. Like most large Catholic families in the inner city, we were fans of both Bobby and Lou growing up. As kids, we loved IU BB, but not sure we even knew IU had a FB team. And I've tailgated at both IU and ND for football since HS in the late 80s. There simply is no comparison. My early years at college in Bloomington were fun FB wise. At least we tied OSU and beat PU either my frosh or soph year. The next year we lost to all the good teams, including getting destroyed by ND early season...

Bet you are great at parties lol

I've been to 20+ IU FB games, 20+ PU games, and 20+ ND games in my life. My father had ND season tix to ND for years when I was a kid. I had IU and ND season tix for several years before moving south. My best friend is a PU grad, and I've taken him to my games, and he's taken me to his. If you think IU or PU has a better FB game day than ND, not sure what to tell you. 6th best... lol. They played UGA to a one score game twice in the last 5 years, which is better than most. They got clobbered by Bama a few times, but so did every one else. But hey, the B10 is praying that the 6th best SEC teams joins the B10 lol.. And Cinci is a pretty dumb example too. They were undefeated last season. Beat IU at IU too. And Cinci almost knocked off UGA the year before.

Just read a few articles on the current landscape.... Many are saying the PAC is ready to implode. While talking about unity, etc. to each other, internally they're all in panic mode. Seen several articles saying the B12 will likely go after the AZ teams, if they haven't made the call already. A lot of folks think a PAC/B12 merger is the most logical outcome Overall, once the ND domino falls, you have to think the B10 will raid the PAC, B12, and ACC for 3-4 more teams, likely at least one more coming from the PAC. And the SEC is likely on the phone to ACC schools. Guessing we'll end up with the SEC and B10 having 20 each, and a PAC/B12 merger of 20 teams. What's left of the ACC likely to fade away or cobble something together with the AAC. Fun stuff lol

Gotta be careful when looking at the moving parts. The deals are typically for the Tier 1 games, and also may have conditions that are different for FB and BB. Also keep in mind that the B10's current deal is split between Fox and ESPN. Fox wanted it all and was willing to pay 1B. NBC reportedly outbid them a bit. Now with USC/UCLA joining, the value no doubt increased. Regardless of who wins it, there will likely be Tiers established. T1 for instance national on whatever network. T2 perhaps regional. T3 to be only only on the B10 Network. Also keep in mind that Fox Corp is the majority stakeholder (like 60% IIRC) of the Big10 Network. That may make things awkward if NBC should win the bid for the T1 stuff. Also, if NBC wins the deal, what will that mean to ND, who currently is on NBC primetime for all their home games. I doubt ND is going anywhere that won't allow them to be nationally televised as a T1 game every week when at home. Might be some hinky type of deals made to get them guaranteed nationally.

Yup. I spent a ton of time out in E Mesa on business many moons ago. We had an apartment out there off Superstition Hwy...., spent a ton of time in Tempe every week. Loved that area, and agree, ASU was easily the fav around Phoenix.

Pat's awesome. I thought she was the winningest when she stepped down though. Geno will end up with the record if he keeps coaching. I like McGraw and Mulkey too. Mulkey has one of the best win % out there. Similar to Pat and Geno, just a lot less years. I was surprised she left Baylor.

2022 FB Recruit Rank - ND #7 2023 FB Recruit Rank - ND #1 Kids seem to be buying the phony in the 2020s.

AAU isn't the end all be all. And heck, Nebraska was kicked out of the AAU lol. Some schools simply don't care. And IIRC, a lot of has to do with federal grant money for research. ND has a huge war chest, and big boosters. They don't care. But there are several colleges considered good academically that aren't. ND, Dartmouth, Boston U, Wake, Georgetown, etc.. And if you look at different college rankings, there are a lot non-AAU schools ranked higher than than AAU schools.

Yup. I'd take ASU before AZ. Better FB, same market.

Expansion will consider BB prowess, but the driver will be mostly FB status and market viewership. Anyway, my two cents in order of want Notre Dame - easily the biggest prize. NBC, who owns the ND rights through 2025, is making a huge push to outbid Fox and ESPN for the B10 rights expiring soon. Will ND forget about the history of B10 rejections, and Yost's lies? Oregon good in BB and FB softens the travel issues with USC and UCLA A Florida team. Don't care if it's FSU or Miami. Get the market. Get the fertile recruiting ground. Both have FB histories, and decent in BB. A Texas team TAMU left the big B12 to get away from UT. Now UT is joining. TAMU might be willing to jump from the SEC. Baylor - good in BB and FB. Get the market, get the recruiting geo, with either team. Helps with western footprint/travel too. Houston is dark horse. Good in BB, rising in FB, huge market. A Carolina team (don't care, UNC or Clemson) ASU - nice market, helps with the travel of other West teams Washington - nice market, helps with travel. Other comments Kansas stinks at FB. Horrid. And the market is just not huge. Louisville makes geo sense, decent FB at times, good BB, but the market is small. Cinci is kinda in the same space as Louisville. Stanford - BB and FB are declining. Fan enthusiasm is horrible, so not sure there's a big win in terms of market.

I mean, as long as we win them, I don't care . We've bitten off a lot with preseason blue bloods. I'd just prefer not to play one of the top 5 or 6 teams. Give me the bottom 8. I think IL will be better early than most think. But if we did play IL early, and win, I'd be very happy lol. My preference in red lol. Big Ten opponents Home: Nebraska, Ohio State, Wisconsin Away: Maryland, Minnesota, Penn State Home/Away: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers

There are some poor B10 teams. Perhaps cupcakes is not a great word, but they are B10 cupcakes lol.... We have 3 huge games (UNC, AZ, Kansas). We could lose all three and it wouldn't shock many. I don't think we will, but it's not far fetched. So what I don't want to happen, is we have two tough B10 foes mixed in early. I don't care about getting good teams early when we're in that 3 game stretch. I just want games that are considered likely wins, and I don't want a 5 game death spiral of opponents lol.

Per some of my WC buddies (mostly USC and Stanford fans), they've been thinking about this for a long long time. One of my USC pals predicted USC to the B10 2 or 3 years ago when there was a ton of chatter about the possibility. And all those schools literally pay folks to sit around and think about this stuff, and they've had committees for years looking at expansion, playoffs, and just the changing landscape. So IMO, nothing about this lacks thought. They've likely been overthinking about every possible outcome for years. And someone, or some group, finally hit the tipping point and made a call. I honestly don't like all the crap either. I don't like NIL, I don't like super teams or super conferences, I don't like bag men, I don't like big shoe/apparel deals... But screaming "get off my lawn" or getting frustrated isn't going to stop anything. It's been a business for a long time. Now, they're simply not trying to hide it anymore. I halfway thought, and hoped, that the big FB teams would just form their own league and leave the NCAA (basically leaving the Olympic sports out of the equation and unimpacted). Oh well, to late, lol. I still think it's likely we end up with 3 super conferences, maybe 4, and ultimately the FB side of that will abandon the NCAA and do their own thing.

I had it down to a science most trips, and I'm sure the schools will be even more structured in their approach. I've worked intl and multi time zone for 20 years, so perhaps I'm overly diminishing the impacts because I'm simply used to it. Regardless, just not really concerned. They'll adapt. Given they are the ones that instigated things, I'm sure they already have considered all angles and have plans in place to mitigate the issues. Optimal schedule, optimal game times, private planes, etc..

If they are sandwiched between the titans, then I want cupcakes.

lol

Dude, start where you want. Include whatever you want. Tell me how any of your complaints make the PAC system better than the B10 in terms of champs/runner ups. And tell me if there's a significant difference between the conferences in terms of top 15 draft picks the last 10 or so seasons (feel free to start wherever you want lol)... And what about Sean's team being arguably the best in the PAC since he's been there, given he's a Matta tree guy, and does a lot of what Izzo does?

Interesting article from about a year ago..... Talking about B10 expansion, and identifying "fits" https://saturdaytradition.com/big-ten-football/b1g-expansion-which-schools-make-the-most-sense-which-make-no-sense/

Thanks. Remove one of the Iowas, it adds up to 20, and 4 teams per division.

I'd go West - USC, UCLA, Oregon, Nebraska, Baylor East - Rutgers, Maryland, PSU, OSU, UNC or Clemson or FSU or Miami Great Lakes - Wisconsin, NW, MI, MSU, ND MW - Iowa, IU, PU, IL, MN

The numbers are the numbers. You can say the championships are a long ways back, but the runners up are not. It's not skewed. It is what it is. Sorry if that doesn't fit your narrative or preferred system. At the end of the day, AZ and Oregon have been the best two programs in the PAC the last 10 years. Sean Miller grew up under Matta, and does a lot of the same things Izzo does. So you could say he was B10ish in the PAC. Aside from his press, I don't know much about Altman at Oregon, so can't really say one way or another about system or style. But heck, if you want to talk about what recruits like, or don't like.... I'd be more interested in how many guys each conference goes in the top 10 or 15 (lottery-ish) each year in the draft. I'd guess if you look back in the last 10 years, not much difference. And I'd expect a lot of the PAC guys are from Miller's system.

My guess... For USC and UCLA, they spend a whole week, every other week in B10 territory, doing remote classes. For B10 teams going out, one week long trip each season to check both boxes, doing remote classes.

stuff is coming in hot lol... a lot of conflicting stuff too Finebaum said ND is a must get for the ACC, B10, and SEC. Said the ACC collapses with ND. Expects ND is getting bids for all 3 lol. His sidekick said Swarbuck said (last year) that for ND to join a conference, it would take at least one of three conditions. The need to secure a playoff path. The need to secure a TV partner. Or not joining would be a significant financial loss.