WANTED!!! 12th team to join America's premier college football conference

JoePa waxes philosophically in this excellent read.http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4118848 Fascinating insight. I wonder what Big Ten honchos he's talking about?

may have been the Pac-10 :shrug: either way they are reluctant to making that change it appears

btw I love the 11 hidden in the Big Ten logo

I believe they were 1-6 last year. Currently, the Big Ten is not much more than a mid major...if Paterno truly wants a level playing field, he should work to get Appalachian State or Bowling Green to join the conference.

Why the hate?

the Big Ten's fall has become a common subject, seemingly at the end of every bowl season...For over the last 4 years, the conference has a combined bowl record of 9-20. This of course includes several humiliations in BCS National Championship games. They haven't had a winning bowl season since 2002. Only the Big Ten's most ardent supporters have the audacity to still consider them an elite football conference.

When the Big Ten starts carrying it's own weight and lives up to that inflated rep of theirs, you won't hear a peep from me. Until then, the Big Ten's detractors will just get louder.

I'll explain. It was early in our marriage. We were living in Savannah, GA, Condem working as a sportswriter and ad rep for a small newspaper and I had a job at a bookstore. Talk arose of pursuing my doctorate in Creative Literature in the south. I am A UGA grad, so Ole Miss seemed the perfect fit. One night, I awoke to find my husband in conversation with an apparition. The ghost wore a red warm-up jacket, black shoes and those thick rimmed glasses so common in the 60's. His baseball cap was dark and it had a huge red O on the front. This spook was none too happy. Penn State had just joined the Big Ten & the spectre remarked that the tradition of the Big Ten was in severe jeopardy. I feigned the sleep of death but listened on. The spook told Condem, " boy, you are from that shithole state of Michigan and I wouldn't buy a gallon of gas there, however, you need to get your ass out of this hillbilly hellhole and get your shit back to where it belongs. The Big Ten needs you. From here on, you will be THE protector of Big Ten values and the guardian of homeless felines. If anyone has a problem you give 'em one of these, like I gave that Clemson fella, Charlie Bauman"! With that, he gave my husband a forearm shiver that knocked him ten feet back on the bed. With that, the phantom was gone. My husband remembers none of it. The next morning I applied to the University of Iowa and the rest is herstory! So when you knock the Big Ten remember who you're up against.

Though I'm sure it will go over upton's head!!

BTW, you are Condem's better half? Welcome to the sports forum!!

So who is the ghost? Being from the south and eight years younger than Condem I have NO idea who he is. Thank you! I'm Condem's much better half, LOL. I lurk around but usually just post on his threads. MY first try. Always admired your posts. You're one of the mainstays, here.

But he did say, "I'm sure as shit not that little prick from Meeeechigan"!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4141080 Thanks, but no thanks, Joe.

Problem 1:

Who will be the 12th? You need a team that will make the whole conference better. So adding another Indiana (sorry guys) will not help your conference. You will need a team that is essentially "midwestern" in flavor and geography and you will need one large enough to make an impact and be competitive. Our findings include West Virginia, Missouri (which will not happen), Pitt, and Notre Dame (which contractually will not happen). Thats about it. We can't add any MAC teams or Cinci because they just don't have enough punch or market.

Problem 2:

The Game. tOSU and scUM must play against each other in the last regular season game of the year. If you have 12 teams, that means 2 conferences. If you put tOSU and scUM in the same conference, the other conference will be too weak. If you put tOSU and scUM in separate conferences, you could have the unenviable scenario where they would play The Game one week, then the next week play again for the conference championship. Or, you could have a situation where one of the two teams has the division locked up so they sit guys out to rest for the conference championship game, thus making The Game less important. Yucky.

Notre Dame would be the no-brainer choice but ol' Hypocrite U won't give up the Independent $$$$. Plus, they want no part of the death march Big Ten schedule. "We'll just keep playing our Navys and Air Force's, thank you very much". Out of those mentioned, Pitt is the most logical choice but do they want to leave the Big East in hoop? Another possibility is prying Iowa State from the Big 12. But if they can't do anyting in THAT conference how could they possibly compete in The Big Ten? All in all, it's a question of when it will happen, not if. Paterno's absolutely right. The Big Ten has to adjust to the times. If we get a true playoff system, forget the argument. The conferences will eliminate the championships.

Given they're poor showings over the last few years, would it be possible the major networks will push them towards joining a conference, as they have done in basketball. Don't they already play 3 or 4 of the Big Ten teams already? How much longer is NBC going to want to relegate itself to televising a team that can only be competitive against the mid-majors.

I would doubt Pitt or ISU would bolt their leagues. I don't know about West Virginia.

ratings.

Need the right man to awaken them. Some century, it'll happen. I wouldn't want those hillbillies of WVU anywhere near the Big Ten.

As long as they have their big$$$$ TV contract with NBC they aren't going anywhere. Unbelievable but true, they have as much or more power than the Major conferences when it comes to the BCS. They're one of the major factors holding up a true playoff. "Give us our $$$, but don't let Obama speak on our hallowed grounds. Beyond belief!

if I am not mistaken they also have an automatic berth to a BCS game if they win so many games/finish in the BCS poll.

By the way, Shonn Greene to the J-E-T-S in the 3rd round. I thought he would go higher.

With their schedule this year, ND has a pretty good shot at it. Sad, but true. Greene to the Jets is a good spot for him. With Jones a holdout he might see some significant playing time. By the by, I root for any NFL team that has former Hawks on the roster. Is that proper decorum in the righteous Sports Forum rules??

will get playing time now that James is gone. But I am worried about the turf and his ankle.

See you guys in Columbus on Nov. 14 this year.

I like next years sked a whole lot better. We've got you here. We do all right in Ann Arbor. But never well in Columbus.

I think Bieliema might be in over his head at Whisky. I say that, despite the hawkeye tatooed on his calf. MSU is on the upswing. How in the hell did we get them on the road two years in a row??? Purdue- down. Fitzgerald has NW formidable, again. PSU will be tough. Athletes.The big mystery is Michigan. I have NO idea how they'll perform this year under R-Rod. Maybe one of the Michigan forumites can enlighten us. I can tell you this, Capt. I hate to push time but I ALWAYS look forward to College Football. Nothing even close to it. Especially, when you reside in a place that lives and breathes for it.

Might even squeeze into a bowl game, thus beginning another streak that could become the nation's longest again. I say, though, that we are probably still a year away from the Top Ten.

I work with someone who is a gigantic Ohio State fan. His father played for Woody Hayes in 1962. The guy bleeds scarlet and gray. He says that when Michigan gets Rodriguez' system down -- in about another year -- we will be unbeatable in the Big Ten at the very least.

This from a Buckeye, not me.

Just sayin'

October 10th. Night game. National TV. Kinnick Stadium. Be there or be square. Hey, Upton! Give us a rundown on the Pac 10. Cboy or anyone else- The SEC. mad, how bout the ACC?

Lifelong Buckeye Fan here. Even still have a book by the God, Woody Hayes from the early 70's!!

ACC? Maryland will finish 5-6 or 6-5. It's a joke!

I used to put my posts in GD. Do you believe that? They'd be going strong and then POOF - gone. Never knew they ended up here. How did you become a Buckeye fan? I lived in Birmingham MI til I was 9. A huge Wolverine fan. Those OSU-Mich. contests in the 60's and 70's were my life. The Big Two and the Little Eight.

Lima, Ohio area. Yeah, the epic battle in the late 60's and 70's. Hayes vs. Schembechler (sp?)

I had forgotten the BIG TWO and "little eight" :rofl:

Now it all makes sense. Dated a girl from Eaton at UD. Near Lima, I think. The old saying - " I don't know whether I'm dating a girl from Eaton or Eaton a girl.....nevermind!

:rofl:

Where athletes don't get paid to play!

Of this, I'm sure. One honest man.

Their history with Iowa goes way back. http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2008/06/25/weird-moments-in-big-ten-football-history-2-faint-faint-for-o/ The Fainting Irish. How appropriate!

live in SB, and they got me the ticket. I also watched the Blue lose in Columbus in the same year. Mmmmm, never gets old watching the Blue lose.

Why all the animosity towards Michigan? I thought you folks respected each other. I guess not.

Until the hatred started to swell in Columbus. It's not as bad here in Ann Arbor but it's so bad in Columbus (they have a 'hate Michigan week' for God's sake) that the University actually advised students to rent cars with out of state license plates when they went to the game in Columbus, for their own safety.

I can't put my finger on when it turned and I wish it hadn't. I liked the mutual respect rivalry and I hope it comes back some day.

language can get.

Have you seen the posts around here?

While I'd love to see Pitt in the Big 10 for football just so they can play Penn State again regularly, I doubt they'd ever leave the Big East because of Basketball.

I think West Virginia would be more likely, they're more football oriented and I think they'd have more of a draw to it.