What is Wrong with this Picture

[ConnHuskBask]

The other part of me that likes the karma of all this because the ACC's demise will be directly linked to the colossally stupid decision by Swofford to add Pitt and Syracuse instead of UConn.

I think it would be more so taking Pitt instead of West Virginia.

Though, I think the argument could be made you could have taken West Virginia, Pitt, Syracuse and UConn/Rutgers and just in effect ended the Big East as a football conference entirely.

 

[jostar1]

This is just absurd. If it were Syracuse and UConn it would be no different. We even heard rumors that FSU didn't want UConn.

There were two articles from last October:
It has long been rumored that Connecticut and Rutgers are the leading candidates to fill the 15th and 16th slots in the conference. If the Big East does start to crumble due to the Big 12's expansion efforts, it is unlikely that these two schools would sit idly by. Instead, both would likely reach out to the ACC in hopes of receiving official invitations.

Even though Connecticut and Rutgers joining the ACC is a logical scenario should things play out as expected, some in the ACC may take exception to the addition of two more schools with relatively weak football programs. Florida State would be one of the schools that would probably object to the conference closing out its expansion efforts in this manner.

"Not particularly, no," Florida State Board of Trustees Chairman Andy Haggard said of whether he would be in favor of the conference adding Connecticut and Rutgers. "But I would have to hear more about it. I'd have to see where Connecticut is, and Connecticut is playing good football right now, and where Rutgers is football wise, basketball wise, TV exposure, the elements of the country that they are in and all that.

"It certainly wouldn't be my pick but it wouldn't be my decision; it would be Swofford's and the ACC presidents. But I've heard a lot of backlash against Connecticut and Rutgers coming in because it would make us more of a basketball (conference) not a football (conference). That's what I get from fans, alumni, boosters and so forth."
http://floridastate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1280822

Then there was this (sorry no link):

Stephen Voigt, a Florida State graduate living in Sarasota, wrote to Barron that he was fine with the league and perfectly happy with the addition of Pitt and Syracuse. But with rumors swirling that the ACC might continue its expansion into the Northeast by plucking Rutgers and Connecticut, Voigt implored Barron to convince the league to look elsewhere.

"The next two teams should not be weak northern teams like UConn or Rutgers," Voigt wrote. "That would dilute the football quality even further, and that will hurt FSU."

Barron did not specifically mention either school in his reply, but he explained that the options are limited. He noted that the members of the SEC and Big Ten -- two of the closest conferences geographically -- appear to be firmly entrenched.

"That means that in reality, the only path to a (16-team) super conference, were that to happen, is the Big East and the Big 12," Barron wrote. "And, the only way to have it be meaningful is if it opens up TV markets that net the conference money. Combined, these two factors mean that there are really very few universities out there that can even be considered."

 

[The Funster]

It makes one wonder just how knowledgable BOTs, boosters and fans of these big football schools really are. UConn for sure has played better football than Syracuse and Pitt and yet somehow no one associated with FSU knows this? How intelligent or well informed do you have to be to know that Syracuse has been the worst BE FB team in recent years and hasn't had much success at all since the 90s? If some of the geniuses are going to bring up "brand" or "perception" then I'd say they aren't very bright, are they? Are we to believe that these forward thinkers have determined that two moribund football "brands" are supposed to team up with the face-planted BC franchise and somehow revitalize all three programs? Really?

I'm conflicted by the idea that the ACC is our best hope and the fact that they were too ignorant to realize that UConn the best choice for them.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

This is just absurd. If it were Syracuse and UConn it would be no different. We even heard rumors that FSU didn't want UConn.

FSU would have taken Rice and UAB if it resulted in them getting $20MM/year/school. By a) raiding the Big East instead of merging into it, and b) taking two schools, Pitt and Syracuse, with limited market value, the ACC guaranteed the eventual departure of FSU. The ACC was behind the 8 ball with its TV deal in terms of keeping FSU because it had already locked up long-term with ESPN, but grabbing two useless programs guaranteed a bad answer from the worldwide leader.

 

[06029]

It makes one wonder just how knowledgable BOTs, boosters and fans of these big football schools really are. UConn for sure has played better football than Syracuse and Pitt and yet somehow no one associated with FSU knows this? How intelligent or well informed do you have to be to know that Syracuse has been the worst BE FB team in recent years and hasn't had much success at all since the 90s? If some of the geniuses are going to bring up "brand" or "perception" then I'd say they aren't very bright, are they? Are we to believe that these forward thinkers have determined that two moribund football "brands" are supposed to team up with the face-planted BC franchise and somehow revitalize all three programs? Really?

I'm conflicted by the idea that the ACC is our best hope and the fact that they were too ignorant to realize that UConn the best choice for them.

Name Uconn's 3 best players all time.
Name Pitt's 3 best players all time.
Name Cuse's 3 best players all time.
Name WVU's 3 best players all time.

Compare the answers.

The truth is that someone in FL, TX, CA and anywhere else can name at least 2 of the 3 best players from WVU, Pitt and Cuse but not Uconn. Ask someone about remembering a Pitt, WVU and Cuse FB game and they will come up with some games but might remember only that Uconn lost big to OK in the Fiesta Bowl. The name and history actually does matter to the BOT, influential boosters and the people in charge.

Success is cyclical and can fall very quickly when a successful coach is replaced by a mediocre or flat out bad coach. That Uconn has a better record over the last 5 to 7 years versus Pitt and Cuse is a plus but is and was not a big enough plus.

What irks me are that programs like Louisville and Cinci are considered very attractive expansion candidates when they were C-USA a very short time ago. While Lville was competitive in C-USA, Cinci was a middle of the pack team and was added to BE as much for BB as FB. Those schools are not superior to Uconn in any way, shape or form in terms of success, TV markets and fan support. And at this point, if one or either of them leave, the BE will have morphed from BCS to C-USA. And they only get to leave because the BE provided them the base to grow. Every other school that left was the base that allowed the BE to grow.

 

[The Funster]

Name Uconn's 3 best players all time.
Name Pitt's 3 best players all time.
Name Cuse's 3 best players all time.
Name WVU's 3 best players all time.

Compare the answers.

The truth is that someone in FL, TX, CA and anywhere else can name at least 2 of the 3 best players from WVU, Pitt and Cuse but not Uconn. Ask someone about remembering a Pitt, WVU and Cuse FB game and they will come up with some games but might remember only that Uconn lost big to OK in the Fiesta Bowl. The name and history actually does matter to the BOT, influential boosters and the people in charge.

Success is cyclical and can fall very quickly when a successful coach is replaced by a mediocre or flat out bad coach. That Uconn has a better record over the last 5 to 7 years versus Pitt and Cuse is a plus but is and was not a big enough plus.

What irks me are that programs like Louisville and Cinci are considered very attractive expansion candidates when they were C-USA a very short time ago. While Lville was competitive in C-USA, Cinci was a middle of the pack team and was added to BE as much for BB as FB. Those schools are not superior to Uconn in any way, shape or form in terms of success, TV markets and fan support. And at this point, if one or either of them leave, the BE will have morphed from BCS to C-USA. And they only get to leave because the BE provided them the base to grow. Every other school that left was the base that allowed the BE to grow.

Pitt's best players were 25+ years ago. Syracuse's might be as little as 15 years ago. I didn't include WVU because they have recent relevance. I'm sorry, if it's all cyclical, Pitt and Cuse are on some pretty darn long cycles. If being able to name some players from the past as opposed to looking at facilities and evaluating recent trends tops the list of important criteria then you've only underlined my point. I mean, Flutie is still doing wonders for BC, right?

Cinci and Lousiville are more centrally located than UConn and for that reason are more desirable than UConn. Which, if you think about it, kind of shoots the whole "well once you get on the plane distance doesn't matter so much" theory out of the water.

We don't have conferences so much as we have little fiefdoms populated by greedy, short-sighted and somewhat inept decision makers and followed by impulsive, even more short-sighted fans. Most aren't making decisions based on logic. They are being made by $ and emotion. Maybe the only exclsuion is the B1G, which is accused of moving at a glacier's pace but in reality, may be the best run, most forward thinking of all.

 

[Marty Jackson]

Not sure I understand your point. But, obviously equating Temple and UMASS with Cuse or Pitt or BC for that matter is a stretch in my mind. And it matters very much who is in the conference.

Your point was that you want to play regional schools. we are playing Temple, MD, rutgers, and Umass...

 

[Rondogg]

The reason I am hoping for ACC defections is because I really want to be in a league with the remaining ACC. Then the ACC would own the entire East Coast from NC to MA. No way the legislators would allow them to lose a place at the table. Defections = change and I feel confident we are the next domino to be picked up. Hoping that nobody changes conferences from now on is short sighted. Hoping that the ACC will pick us up without defections is silly. I do not want to get used to the NNBE. I want to play NC and BC and Pitt and Syr and Duke and Maryland, etc.

The road trips would be Epic.

 

[jostar1]

Karma Catching Up With ACC?

Painful as it may be for ACC adherents, there’s another storyline here, surely clear from a distance. Listening to university leaders talk openly of leaving the league for supposedly greener pastures, we should acknowledge the peculiar, almost biblical tang of the moment.
The ACC is reaping what it sowed.

But whatever happens, you’ve got to admit there’s a certain poetic justice in watching the ACC suffer the same sort of uncertainty it so readily inflicted on others.

http://www.accsports.com/articles/2012060412900/jacobs-karma-catching-up-with-acc.php

 

[UConnDan97]

Karma Catching Up With ACC?

Painful as it may be for ACC adherents, there’s another storyline here, surely clear from a distance. Listening to university leaders talk openly of leaving the league for supposedly greener pastures, we should acknowledge the peculiar, almost biblical tang of the moment.
The ACC is reaping what it sowed.

But whatever happens, you’ve got to admit there’s a certain poetic justice in watching the ACC suffer the same sort of uncertainty it so readily inflicted on others.

http://www.accsports.com/articles/2012060412900/jacobs-karma-catching-up-with-acc.php

I share your sentiment of "F those motherf'ers" over there in the ACC. However, with every war, there is collateral damage. Be careful what you wish for sometimes. It's not clear to me that a destroyed ACC is good for UConn or for the NBE.

 

[Vowelguy]

Seriously, do you people not "get" it? There is glee that the ACC is being squeezed out towards second tier status? Seriously? How dumb are we as a board?

If the ACC becomes a 2d tier league,

The ACC is not going to be squeezed out. There would be too much of an uproar if NC, Duke, VA, Maryland, Miami were left out.

In contrast, a decade ago, the BE had 0 good BCS FB teams, and just one major-conference BB power (UConn). They've been the have-nots before; I suspect most people would say "c'est la vie" about sending those teams back to mid-major status.

If the ACC gets weaker, it becomes harder to exclude the BE, since the two would be close in terms of strength.

 

[Husky68]

If Uconn is good enough to compete for a national championship, the demise of the ACC to second tier status will have no impact. Not saying good enough to go 11-1 and win some squeakers and be one of 10 teams with 1 loss and with the eye test not nearly one of top 2 or 4 teams. As you said "good enough to compete for a national championship", for next year with this schedule means wack the ACC crew, and beating a 10-0 Louisville team at their place on our way to 12-0.
Uconn needs to lift its own socks, play in the NBE, get a good contract signed for 2013. I for one, don't want to join BC, Miami, Syracuse and Pitt - I'd rather SMU, Houston, SDS, Boise, UCF and Navy. Even Temple and Memphis are not much of a step down from Syracuse or Pitt. I like playing BB against Providence, St. Johns and Georgetown.

Rankings for BE and ACC in 2011 and 2010 for NBE teams and ACC minus Clemson and FSU.

2011 8.BS, 18. Houston, 25 Cin, 31 Rutgers vs. 21 VT and 34 Virginia

2010 9 BS, 21 UCF, 28 SDS, 34 Ct, 36 Navy vs. 26 VT, 23 Maryland, 25 NCS

duckk the ACC and their weak football. The new BE will challenge the former BCS conferences not named the SEC on the field in 2013 and forward. The football elitest (kind of like lawyers who instead of measuring their dicks, measure their law schools) don't want the unwashed, recent additions in the club. We get in by play on the field.