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Message: [QUOTE="Dooley, post: 1106014, member: 2920"] The B12 is in serious jeopardy, in my opinion. For example, if the ACC were to lose FSU and/or Clemson, it could survive as a modern day Big East/ACC combination. It would still have a niche as the best basketball conference in the country and still cover enough ground to make money in large TV markets and allow schools to mine for football and basketball recruits within their own footprint. The best replacement options that are stuck in G5 purgatory (UCONN, UCF, Cincinnati), also fall within their footprint making finding replacements much easier. If the B12 lost Texas and/or OU, they are in a world of hurt. I suppose they could try to replace those schools from the same list available to the ACC but that only means that their borders are even larger for travel purposes. I also don't think their round robin style is going to be the preferred method of electing a conference champion for purposes of determining playoff participants, even when the field grows to 8 like we all think. Who's to say who is the best team from the B12 if OU beats WVU who beats Baylor who beats TCU who beats OU who loses to Kansas State who loses to TCU who loses to WVU...and all have identical records? I can see the tremendous panel of "experts" coming together and instead of making a choice from that group, choose to not make that choice and instead make a "safe" pick with a 1-loss, non-champion SEC team in the B12's place. Yes, I suppose a Duke could upset a FSU once every few decades or so in a CG, but on most years, the conference champion is truly decided [I]on the field[/I]. Thus, the decision for the "expert" panel is [B]easier and[/B] [B]safer[/B]. The B12 is certainly bucking the trend by staying at 10, going with a round robin to determine their conference champion, and opting to not explore a Network deal whatsoever. To me, that reeks of insecurity to try to appease the top kings of the conference: OU and Texas. Make them share any more revenue with the plethora of bottom feeders that that conference already has will surely cause them to explore "other options". [/QUOTE]

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