B1G Ramblings | Page 16 | The Boneyard

B1G Ramblings

ZooCougar said:
I could see Utah as #20 for the B1G. But my guess is the spot is reserved for UNC.
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I would agree, but for UNC's public dalliance with the SEC.
 
One thing that everyone needs to realize is that the B1G & SEC are each playing a very long game. It could be fifteen, twenty years before each has completed their expansions, which I believe will leave both at 24 members.

I imagine that Utah will be in consideration at some point down the road and Arizona & Arizona St are also in slightly better positions than most of the remaining B-12. ND is going to hold things up as their run last season added a dozen years or so to their ability to remain independent in football. They aren't joining until they have no choice and the P2 can't close out everyone else until ND is in the P2.
 
Kolumbo said:
for many UConn fans and about 17 B1G programs. in all seriousness, it would be great to have rutgers in our future eastern conference, for us and for rutgers
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That's the great irony that has been evident for numerous schools.

We've been hurt by conference realignment, there's no doubt about that. But Rutgers has been hurt (richer, but hurt). Syracuse has been hurt. BC has been hurt, West Virginia has been hurt. And up until last year, Miami had been hurt.

These are schools that not only lowered their football prospects by leaving, but their other sports franchises as well in my opinion...
 
UConnDan97 said:
That's the great irony that has been evident for numerous schools.

We've been hurt by conference realignment, there's no doubt about that. But Rutgers has been hurt (richer, but hurt). Syracuse has been hurt. BC has been hurt, West Virginia has been hurt. And up until last year, Miami had been hurt.

These are schools that not only lowered their football prospects by leaving, but their other sports franchises as well in my opinion...
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I heard recently that Syracuse gutted their basketball NIL budget in favor of football.

It may not be accurate, but they don't have a prayer when it comes to getting to the same level of national prominence in football as their basketball could potentially. So cannibalizing basketball in this era just seems kind of foolish. I mean I am football first fan and even I can recognize the folly in that.

It's like that recent episode of South Park, the more money they make, the bigger their nut gets. They are going to grind themselves into irrelevance.

Rutgers should be swimming in money. They don't have any excuse. The place must be run by fools.
 
ZooCougar said:
I heard recently that Syracuse gutted their basketball NIL budget in favor of football.

It may not be accurate, but they don't have a prayer when it comes to getting to the same level of national prominence in football as their basketball could potentially. So cannibalizing basketball in this era just seems kind of foolish. I mean I am football first fan and even I can recognize the folly in that.

It's like that recent episode of South Park, the more money they make, the bigger their nut gets. They are going to grind themselves into irrelevance.

Rutgers should be swimming in money. They don't have any excuse. The place must be run by fools.
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You're correct that Syracuse almost certainly has more chance of resurrecting their basketball team to the top vs their football team. It's been a very long time since Jim Brown.

But Syracuse knows what every other college program also knows: any future realignment will be football-driven, in the same way that the last realignments were. And to that end, Syracuse is trying to make the "long term play".

Imagine if UConn was put on the same financial field as these other clowns?? It would be night and day...
 
UConnDan97 said:
But Syracuse knows what every other college program also knows: any future realignment will be football-driven, in the same way that the last realignments were. And to that end, Syracuse is trying to make the "long term play".
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That ship has sailed. For UConn and Syracuse. UConn should have invested like crazy people on football in the 2010s when it still would have done some good. Heck, we should have outright lied and cheated. Then they would have known we were serious. Instead we went into budget friendly mode and hired a cadaver, a clown and a loser to coach our team because they were "affordable".

Where Syracuse is is the highest they will ever get in the ladder. Maybe if the B1G expands to 30 they will have a chance.
 
ZooCougar said:
That ship has sailed. For UConn and Syracuse. UConn should have invested like crazy people on football in the 2010s when it still would have done some good. Heck, we should have outright lied and cheated. Then they would have known we were serious. Instead we went into budget friendly mode and hired a cadaver, a clown and a loser to coach our team because they were "affordable".

Where Syracuse is is the highest they will ever get in the ladder. Maybe if the B1G expands to 30 they will have a chance.
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That is if 4 becomes 2 (B1G and SEC).

If 4 becomes 3, then they're trying to ensure a better chance of survival than Wake, UCF, etc.

It's also why we're trying to invest in football; to try to get into the 4 over the next five years...
 
UConnDan97 said:
That is if 4 becomes 2 (B1G and SEC).

If 4 becomes 3, then they're trying to ensure a better chance of survival than Wake, UCF, etc.

It's also why we're trying to invest in football; to try to get into the 4 over the next five years...
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It's obviously going to be 2.
 
ZooCougar said:
It's obviously going to be 2.
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That's not obvious to me. At least not in the next 10 years. You can't plan past that, either.

If it's only 2, then they either need a mechanism to freeze out large name-brand programs (FSU, Clemson, Baylor, etc.), or they need to find a mechanism to freeze out existing members (Vandy, Northwestern, Mississippi State, Rutgers, etc)...
 
ZooCougar said:
That ship has sailed. For UConn and Syracuse. UConn should have invested like crazy people on football in the 2010s when it still would have done some good. Heck, we should have outright lied and cheated. Then they would have known we were serious. Instead we went into budget friendly mode and hired a cadaver, a clown and a loser to coach our team because they were "affordable".

Where Syracuse is is the highest they will ever get in the ladder. Maybe if the B1G expands to 30 they will have a chance.
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I feel like that was probably already too late in the investment needed to be no later than the 1990s.
 
@Rufus you seem to have the pulse of the BIG, what can you tell us of this plan the BIG has:
big-ten-full-expansion-plan-leaked-v0-rnl4vfkiwdjf1.png

I'm beyond stoked that the Whalers are coming back but come on, adding Area51...man, we can't compete with otherworldly money. 😅
 
KryHavok said:
@Rufus you seem to have the pulse of the BIG, what can you tell us of this plan the BIG has:
big-ten-full-expansion-plan-leaked-v0-rnl4vfkiwdjf1.png

I'm beyond stoked that the Whalers are coming back but come on, adding Area51...man, we can't compete with otherworldly money. 😅
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That Monsters U v. Faber College Clash is going to do big ratings.
 
KryHavok said:
@Rufus you seem to have the pulse of the BIG, what can you tell us of this plan the BIG has:
big-ten-full-expansion-plan-leaked-v0-rnl4vfkiwdjf1.png

I'm beyond stoked that the Whalers are coming back but come on, adding Area51...man, we can't compete with otherworldly money. 😅
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Saying that "we can't compete with otherwordly money" while we're also bringing the New York Cosmos along means that you just don't have a large enough vision of the project (try the Hubbell view)...
 
Interesting article about Nebraska. The title is misleading of course, I highly doubt it would leave the Big Ten and go to the SEC. With the addition of the old PAC members though, the Huskers seem even more out of place and less likely to succeed. I do wonder if we will see a program switch between the Cartel 2. The Big 12 actually seems like the best spot for Nebraska with much closer rivals and playing a boatload of games in Texas and Oklahoma and also neighboring Kansas and Colorado. That region is really in Nebraska's dna

fanrecap.com

Nebraska Linked to Major Conference Shakeup During Bye Week | Fanrecap.com

Is Nebraska Still a Fit in the Big Ten? A Cultural Disconnect That Keeps Drawing Attention It’s bye week in Lincoln, and while the Nebraska football team hits pause before...
fanrecap.com fanrecap.com
 
Kolumbo said:
Interesting article about Nebraska. The title is misleading of course, I highly doubt it would leave the Big Ten and go to the SEC. With the addition of the old PAC members though, the Huskers seem even more out of place and less likely to succeed. I do wonder if we will see a program switch between the Cartel 2. The Big 12 actually seems like the best spot for Nebraska with much closer rivals and playing a boatload of games in Texas and Oklahoma and also neighboring Kansas and Colorado. That region is really in Nebraska's dna

fanrecap.com

Nebraska Linked to Major Conference Shakeup During Bye Week | Fanrecap.com

Is Nebraska Still a Fit in the Big Ten? A Cultural Disconnect That Keeps Drawing Attention It’s bye week in Lincoln, and while the Nebraska football team hits pause before...
fanrecap.com fanrecap.com
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Nebraska’s issue is that they have struggled mightily on the football field over the last decade plus. You can chalk it up more to bad hires and declining relevance than to any conference affiliation.

The author claims that Nebraska misses Texas? The same team that they ran away from in 2010? A&M? No. Arkansas? LOL. Missouri? Maybe. OU? Definitely. Maybe more access to the South would cause an uptick in recruiting, but Southern Kids aren’t heading to Lincoln over any SEC Power without a substantial financial offer.

The truth is that they need to hit on a coach and a QB to jumpstart things. Getting their teeth kicked in every week in Athens, Baton Rouge, and Knoxville isn’t reviving their program, it’s burying it. If they move anywhere it should be back to The Big 12. There are no heavyweights there to keep them from potentially competing for a league title in short order.
 
Ldandy said:
Nebraska’s issue is that they have struggled mightily on the football field over the last decade plus. You can chalk it up more to bad hires and declining relevance than to any conference affiliation.

The author claims that Nebraska misses Texas? The same team that they ran away from in 2010? A&M? No. Arkansas? LOL. Missouri? Maybe. OU? Definitely. Maybe more access to the South would cause an uptick in recruiting, but Southern Kids aren’t heading to Lincoln over any SEC Power without a substantial financial offer.

The truth is that they need to hit on a coach and a QB to jumpstart things. Getting their teeth kicked in every week in Athens, Baton Rouge, and Knoxville isn’t reviving their program, it’s burying it. If they move anywhere it should be back to The Big 12. There are no heavyweights there to keep them from potentially competing for a league title in short order.
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As people have stated, no middle of the pack program is going to have much success in the P2. ..."bad hires and declining relevance..." I think declining relevance is also related to being in the Big Ten. But I agree with the Big 12. At least Nebraska could win that conference and compete on the recruiting trail. Even if not winning the conference, it should return to going bowling every year. As for Texas and TAMU, a lot has changed in the last 15 years. Even Nebraska must realize they'd be better off with Texas, especially with Texas no longer calling all the shots, but I don't see the SEC as an option.
 
Kolumbo said:
As people have stated, no middle of the pack program is going to have much success in the P2. ..."bad hires and declining relevance..." I think declining relevance is also related to being in the Big Ten. But I agree with the Big 12. At least Nebraska could win that conference and compete on the recruiting trail. Even if not winning the conference, it should return to going bowling every year. As for Texas and TAMU, a lot has changed in the last 15 years. Even Nebraska must realize they'd be better off with Texas, especially with Texas no longer calling all the shots, but I don't see the SEC as an option.
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I agree with the article that The Huskers would benefit from better access to Texas Recruiting. However, the writer framed much of the reason that UNL has struggled was because they missed their rivalries with the programs that he listed in the article. Nebraska misses their rivalries with The Big 8 full stop. The old Big 12 was always a shot gun marriage that had them go from conference kingpin to second class citizen is short order. The depth of football powers in The SEC would render them completely irrelevant for eternity.

The reason they've struggled so mightily IMO comes down primarily to bad decisions made by those in charge of their football program. Firing Solich was a shortsighted move. They tried to break from the past and go in a fresh offensive direction. This failed spectacularly. Later Pelini got things moving in the right direction again, winning at a good clip, but this wasn't enough. Being an Iowa Type Program was beneath their ambition. Frost would be the answer to their program's prayers until he wasn't. Now it's Rhule's Turn. JMO, but their goals far exceed their reach.

They can be a competitive program in The B1G that makes bowl games every year and occasionally competes for a playoff spot with the right QB and schedule. That needs to be enough for their fans. They'll never leave the B1G due to money and association, but a return to The Big 12 and its very even playing field would do wonders for their program. I could see them going 10-2 and competing for a conference title every year. Ohio State, Penn State, UM, USC, and Oregon is a mountain too high for them to climb. The competition in The SEC is not even worth discussing. They would be relegated to a floor of Kentucky with a ceiling of Missouri. Not exactly a tempting reason to start chanting S-E-C over.
 
Ldandy said:
I agree with the article that The Huskers would benefit from better access to Texas Recruiting. However, the writer framed much of the reason that UNL has struggled was because they missed their rivalries with the programs that he listed in the article. Nebraska misses their rivalries with The Big 8 full stop. The old Big 12 was always a shot gun marriage that had them go from conference kingpin to second class citizen is short order. The depth of football powers in The SEC would render them completely irrelevant for eternity.

The reason they've struggled so mightily IMO comes down primarily to bad decisions made by those in charge of their football program. Firing Solich was a shortsighted move. They tried to break from the past and go in a fresh offensive direction. This failed spectacularly. Later Pelini got things moving in the right direction again, winning at a good clip, but this wasn't enough. Being an Iowa Type Program was beneath their ambition. Frost would be the answer to their program's prayers until he wasn't. Now it's Rhule's Turn. JMO, but their goals far exceed their reach.

They can be a competitive program in The B1G that makes bowl games every year and occasionally competes for a playoff spot with the right QB and schedule. That needs to be enough for their fans. They'll never leave the B1G due to money and association, but a return to The Big 12 and its very even playing field would do wonders for their program. I could see them going 10-2 and competing for a conference title every year. Ohio State, Penn State, UM, USC, and Oregon is a mountain too high for them to climb. The competition in The SEC is not even worth discussing. They would be relegated to a floor of Kentucky with a ceiling of Missouri. Not exactly a tempting reason to start chanting S-E-C over.
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In 2024 the Big Ten had 8 teams finish above .500 and 10 teams finish below .500 in conference standings. I guess 12 teams went bowling? Rutgers, USC, Washington, Nebraska (3-6) finished below .500 and bowled. All of this consolidation is bad for programs and I think it's even bad for networks, big picture. Having more conferences with fewer members means more conference champions. I guess fans should be happy finishing .500 in your conference and making a bowl, but it seems to me more and more fans will eventually get bored or frustrated having a great team finish .500.
 
I wonder if any Nebraska fans are debating the merits of UConn's conference and coaching choices, its status, and its bowl and football championship prospects? Probably not. Neither are USF fans speculating about UConn's future. They just don't care.
 

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