Must .. drink .. Kool-Aid

By
Pat Dooley
-
32
217

I’m freaking out.

Because I care.

College football, as I wrote a month ago, is about to have a revolution.

“But if you go carryin’ pictures of Chairman Mao/You ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow.”

But I digress.

Because I’m freaking out.

They are talking about a 16-team Big Ten now with four pods and a playoff involving four teams in semis and then a championship game. Uh, student athletes, how ya feeling about this?

And the SEC will follow suit. You know the best conference in football isn’t going to go with the status quo and just say, “Sure, Big Ten, er, Big 16, uh, what do you want to be called again? Whatever, take the markets and enjoy. We’ll just stay provincial. Boiled peanuts?”

And we will all go along with it because we like our Kool-Aid sweetened with atmosphere.

So let’s relax and enjoy the inevitable and look at the new SEC. (Since it won’t be all Southeastern teams, do we revert back to the old Southern Conference moniker? Stay tuned.)

SEC West

Alabama

Auburn

Arkansas

LSU

Mississippi

Mississippi State

Texas

Texas A&M

Nobody’s going unbeaten in this division. And it’s no picnic in hoops.

SEC East

Florida

Florida State

Georgia

Georgia Tech

Kentucky

South Carolina

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

Brutal, but the West is tougher.

I think this all hinges on whether or not the Big Ten convinces Nebraska to come aboard. And from what I’m hearing, it’s likely.

Revolution.

“We all want to change the world.”

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32 COMMENTS

  1. Would be quite the coup to bring the Texas marketplace into the SEC coffer, but what new markets does your eastern conference proposal open? The Florida market is already in play such that an FSU entry would allow only marginal increases in veiwership. Addtionally, the Atlanta area is already dominated by UGa and other SEC teams. Tech only has a small slice of the Atlanta marketplace.

    How ’bout North Carolina instead of one of the two teams you propose. They would bring much more to the table then either FSU or Tech. They were also a member of the old pre-SEC SoCon. Not only do they bring an entire growing state into the SEC mix, but one of the most successful, tradition-rich basketball programs in the country.

  2. For what it is worth, the Southern Conference moniker currently resides with.. the Southern Conference, of which my alma mater, Davidson College is a member. You can poach teams from the Big 12 and ACC, but it would be a little more difficult to post a name.

  5. quadrants would be necessary. There would be no continuity of intraconference play. would we only play east teams with one west team rotating year to year, or a home and away series with one west team at time? so every 14 yrs we see bama 2 yrs in a row, for example. This sounds like it is just diluting the conference and although the teams you propose are primarily high profile, there is a lot of history being changed for a team like texas jumping ship…..would they even consider it? I don’t know, that is why I ask.

  8. The Big Ten just needs to pick up Notre Dame and use the format the SEC uses.

    The Pac Ten needs to pick up Utah and Boise State and use the same format.

    This would cause fewer undefeated teams at the end of the season and less talk about playoffs.

  9. no quadrants. only allow 1 OOC game every year. Texas keeps OU on the schedule, etc. Then play all 7 from your side, 2 from the other side every year (LSU and Auburn for us) then rotate the other 6 home and home to meet every 6 years. NO MORE PATSIES!!

    UNC won’t leave the ACC. More likely to get NCState or Clemson. Wondering if we could take Miami and VT…….

  10. Pat, this is a great theory, but it seems odd that we look at our conference as the “rock”. Nobody will ever leave it , but everyone else wants to join us. I am having primal doubts that a team like Texas will leave their conference , leave those magical rivalries with Oklahoma, Nebraska, TCU, etc., and all in the name of a few extra bucks. Besides, the season is long enough ( regular season ending after Thanksgiving ). Then a conference semi-final the first week in December, the conference final in the second week in December, and for some teams a bowl game in the third or fourth week in December. Forget the “ student-athlete” and just call them “student whipping boys”.

    Tom

  11. I live in raleigh, I can tell you I see no possible way UNC leaves the ACC behind. This was the school (along with Duke) that fought the last wave of expansion because they value their historical rivalries. It would be a great addition for the SEC, but it’s not happening. florida is a big enough state that adding FSU does have merit, but GT is a stretch. A darkhorse – W. Virginia. Not a huge market, but a successful program (in hoops too obviously) with a rabid fanbase that will travel well and help fill tournament seats. If the SEC controls the Texas and FL markets they may not be overly concerned with the TV market of the other entry, more with securing ticket interest. GT isn’t well known for that, WVU is.

  12. Forget Texas A&M and bring in Oklahoma and then we will see if the Big Ten can compete with the ratings of New SEC. The ACC and the Big East should fuse and the Pac 10 would have to expand. Then we will have 4 super conferences, just call them North, South, East and West and let the champions of all 4 conferences play semis and then the final. What a glorious day that would be when a true National Champion will be crown on the field! Kudos for the Big Ten to start a revolution in College Football. This is exactly what the sport needs, a true playoff system.

  15. Maybe I didn’t catch the part where all of this change would lead to a playoff system for college football. So the “big 16” will add a few more teams and a semi-final game to decide the conference…big deal. Otherwise, this proposal to “consolidate” will do nothing more than generate more $$$revenue$$$ for the participating conferences and well, that’s about it.

  18. The SEC could go to a 15 team, 3 division conference where 3 division champs and the best non-division winner plays in a SEC championship series as a WILD CARD!!! Think about it. Teams that lose 2 or 3 SEC games are still going to be in the playoff picture as a wild card and that factor alone will jack up overall quality of play, fan interest, game attendance, TV ratings, and revenue. Seed the playoff teams and have the first round games rotate between various sites within SEC country and the SEC Championship remaining in Atlanta. Bring back GT. Their old hated SEC rivals are Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Georgia. Grab a Big 12 team from Texas like UT. Then go up the East Coast and pull in either Clemson or North Carolina. There you go, Fottball and Basketball are both greatly enhanced and who becomes the wild card participant in football might go down to the wire most years and will add a tremendous amount of suspense and drama. That translates into mega TV exposure, fan interest and revenue.

  19. Hey, if they were pro teams they’d be moving to a different city, changing their names, etc. But they’re college teams. They can’t just pack up and move the team, so what else can they do to fill this urge every football teams seems to feel is their natural right (and tied to the promise of more revenue)? Change leagues.

    IMHO, leave the SEC as it is. Let the others flop in thier oversized, clumsy “new and improved” format. You really can get too big for your britches.

  22. I am a Florida native and a Gator with many family ties to both FSU and Ga. Tech. I agree with Tamapa Dave overall; Don’t do it. However if it must be done, I beleive that Crusher is correct in that adding FSU and Ga Tech brings little value to the SEC. I’ve only lived in Charlotte for about a year, and while NC is certainly not a football hot bed, the overall academic and athletic qualities of UNC and NC State, combined with the strong population and media growth of the Carolinas would make these schools a much stronger addition.
    Still, to quote MY favotite Beatles tune: “Let it be, let it be. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be”.

  23. What will happen to the out of conference part of the regular season schedule? It seems there would be no room for cross-sectional rivalry games.

    And what happens with Notre Dame? They seem to play as many Big 10 teams as they do Pac 10, so do they join one of those, perhaps another even, or do they remain independent?

  30. Pat, while I was enjoying my kool-aid I wondered how a team with long term NCAA problems, like fsu, would fit with Commissioner Slive’s stated objective of getting and keeping schools off probation. The kool-aid couldn’t provide the answer to that question. Would you like to take a bite at that apple?

  32. I hope the day never comes where we see 16-team conferences because it will just be harder on the SEC / Big 12 and Big 10 to win a NC and easier on the Boise State’s of the world (or PAC10 for that matter). My vote is to add the teams in the region first (forget Texas or Oklahoma):

    1. Miami
    2. FSU
    3. Clemson
    4. Georgia Tech

    Leave the ACC to the North Carolina schools. It isn’t about viewership, it is about rivalries.