The Pac-12 stays at 12, and the mad shuffle is near its end
Don't mess with ... well, you know how it goes. (AJC file photo)
Found: The one conference that has decided it likes itself as is.
That’d be the Pac-12, which issued a statement Tuesday night saying it isn’t going to expand. But this might not have been quite so high-minded as it sounds. Where conference realignment is concerned, nothing ever is.
Reports suggest that the Pac-12 didn’t believe its membership would be able to co-exist with the Longhorn Network, which is why this round of reshuffling began last month. Nobody is crazy about the idea of sharing a league with Texas, which means …
This round of reshuffling is near its end.
The SEC appears bent on adding Missouri and the Big East will have to do some major damage control, but the Big 12 has lived to play another day. Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State won’t be headed to the Pac-12, at least not this month, and there’s no other conference that could accommodate all three. (Accommodating Texas has always been the tough part, but Oklahoma’s insistence that Oklahoma State ride along has made the Sooners a bit less attractive.)
If the SEC adds Missouri to go with Texas A&M and stops there, the biggest football league will have gotten bigger but not elephantine. If the Pac-12 stays with 12 members and the ACC, with Syracuse and Pittsburgh en route, at 14, there would seem no crying need to answer. The biggest question a 14-school SEC would face: Who’s going to move to the East? (Early suggestions point to Auburn, which is the easternmost outpost in the SEC West. Which would mean separating Auburn and Alabama.)
Assuming there’s no late flurry of mind-changing, the winner this time around would be the ACC. It has fought off expected incursions from the Big East, the Big Ten and the SEC, and it has again made itself the best basketball league by some distance. It’s still possible the SEC could make a run at Virginia Tech (even with the ACC-mandated $20 million exit fee), but the SEC has adopted a stance of, “You come to us; we won’t come to you.” And Virginia Tech couldn’t be construed as desperate to go anywhere — as opposed, say, to Texas A&M.
That’s how this all started. Texas A&M got mad over the Longhorn Network and stomped out the nearest door. You’d have to believe the Big 12 schools who were ready to sue the Aggies will be less truculent with Texas and the two Oklahomas staying and the Big 12 still be a viable (if diminished) conference. You’d have to believe that the daily — heck, hourly — round of who’s-going-where updates are about to subside.
UConn is already making eyes at the ACC, but it’s unclear if that league would want to add a 15th school without a 16th, and no obvious 16th candidate has arisen. West Virginia might still leave the Big East, but it’s not certain the SEC would want it. Oklahoma has demanded that Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe be replaced — Beebe’s apparent sin is his inability to rein in Texas — but that’s an in-house matter. In sum, what’s left this time are tweaks, as opposed to wholesale change. Until next summer, when …
Texas decides to print its own currency — Bevo Bucks. And there we’ll go again.
By Mark Bradley
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219 comments Add your comment
BP
September 21st, 2011
12:30 pm
Btw, I love how you stick up for yeah right’s idiotic statement. I guess a state being a few miles from the ocean is insane to be part of the Atlantic Coast Conf, but Utah and Coloradom, which are over a thousand miles from the Pacific make perfect sense!! Of course one could scoff at the sec having arkysaw in it being it’s not in the SE usa!
Yeah..Right
September 21st, 2011
12:31 pm
Houston can be a coastal city because it is within the boundaries of a coastal state.
See how that works?
DP
September 21st, 2011
12:32 pm
Yeah, that SEC is some overrated conference with 5 consecutive BCS championships and 5 different schools that have won a championship since the BCS was originated. The SEC record in BCS bowl games is 15-6, the ACC’s is 2-13.
My favorite ACC championship game was in 2009, Georgia Tech versus Clemson the week after middle of the pack SEC teams Georgia and South Carolina had whipped them, running the ball down their throats.
Ernest T. Bass
September 21st, 2011
12:33 pm
Clemson 38
Auburn 24
Miami blows out Ohio St
Gt blows out Kansas.
Fsu tied with #1 team in the 4th qtr.
and sec people talkin crap about the acc this morning.
Dont you love when people take the exceptions and make them the rule.
ACC in BCS Games 2-11
SEC in BCS games 15-6
Yes the ACC will win a game here or there.
Just not many.
CarolinaStewPie
September 21st, 2011
12:34 pm
ACC is still mediocre at football, but slowly getting better, and they seem to be catching up to the bigtime conferences, at least in NCAA sanctions!:)
Adding Pitt and Syracuse strengthened the ‘brand’, and these days it’s all about the ‘brand’ boys and girls. ‘Cuse wanted in desperately 5 years ago. Those guys hate losing their hoops buddies from Seton Hall, St. John’s, Geo’town and ‘Nova, but they love having Duke and Carolina comin’ to town now!
DP
September 21st, 2011
12:34 pm
Who knows how the ACC will reconfigure its divisions (football only)? Who knows how they’ve been configured?
CarolinaStewPie
September 21st, 2011
12:35 pm
@Gatorn…VT busted their behinds to get in the ACC and aren’t going anywhere. I’m sure the SEC already made that call.
NYC is now a huge ACC market, and they’ll covet ND for awhile, and maybe even PSU. Likely they’ll settle for UConn and Rutgers and the Big East football will have to grab Marshall and ECU and UCF.
No way this is over after that midnight special deal bringing Pitt and Syracuse in. It might be a little about hoops, too.
Ernest T. Bass
September 21st, 2011
12:35 pm
Seeing SC struggle to beat Navy was a laugher.
So was seeing Tech lose to Kansas last year.
And Georgia every year.
Ernest T. Bass
September 21st, 2011
12:36 pm
How many years before Tech gets off probation for cheating this time?
CarolinaStewPie
September 21st, 2011
12:36 pm
@Gatorn…VT busted their behinds to get in the ACC and aren’t going anywhere. I’m sure the SEC already made that call.
NYC is now a huge ACC market, and they’ll covet ND for awhile, and maybe even PSU. Likely they’ll settle for UConn and Rutgers and the Big East football will have to grab Marshall and ECU and UCF.
No way this is over after that midnight special deal bringing Pitt and Syracuse in. It might be a little about hoops, too. ACC hoops is clearly top of the heap now.
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:36 pm
If we stay with 14 the conferences should be changed to North and South and look like this.
North
VT, CLEMSON, PITT, MARYLAND, VIRGINIA, BC, CUSE
South
MIAMI, FSU, GT, UNC, NCST, DUKE, WAKE
The only School out of place would be Clemson and NCST. It keeps the 4 NC schools in the same conference and balances out the football a little better with VT, CLEMSON, PITT and MARYLAND in the North and FSU, MIAMI, GT and UNC in the south. Also gives both conferences a couple of traditionally BAD football schools. (CUSE and DUKE)
really???
September 21st, 2011
12:36 pm
Joe Bob -
I could see the SEC add OU, OK State, Mizzou, and A&M if those schools came calling. I’m actually pretty sure any conference would welcome those schools. The word I keep hearing is that when we do achieve the 16-team superconference level, the NCAA will be shunned in favor of a playoff decided by the conferences. It’ll end the bowl system, but it’ll make conference play that much more important.
And to the people who say that you cannot be a true conference champion unless you play everyone in your conference, well, unless they go to a 15-game regular season of only conference games, I doubt that will matter. To use the NFL as a enxample, should we not crown Green Bay champion for what they did last year? I mean, they only played 19 total games against 15 different opponents. That surely is not enough to claim the championship in the NFL, right?
Yeah..Right
September 21st, 2011
12:37 pm
Clemson 38
Auburn 24
Credit where due. Too bad they couldn’t do it last year, when Auburn actually had a team.
Miami blows out Ohio St In the IneligiBowl
Gt blows out Kansas. Kansas? Really?
Fsu tied with #1 team in the 4th qtr. Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda
CarolinaStewPie
September 21st, 2011
12:39 pm
@Gatorn…VT busted their behinds to get in the ACC and aren’t going anywhere. I’m sure the SEC already made that call.
NYC is now a huge ACC market, and they’ll covet ND for awhile, and maybe even PSU. Likely they’ll settle for UConn and Rutgers and the Big East football will have to grab Marshall and ECU and UCF.
No way this is over after that midnight special deal bringing Pitt and Syracuse in. It might be a little about hoops, too. ACC hoops is far and away the best conference now.
Atlanta Gator
September 21st, 2011
12:40 pm
“You could potentially have 9 conference games in a 16-team Super Conference. Texas may be left playing most of their competition against BYU, Notre Dame, Army, and Navy or non “BCS” schools.”
You’re also quite likely to see a 9-game conference schedule in a 14-team SEC. And I don’t have a problem with that. From the perspective of a Florida alumnus and a college football fan, I think all of the SEC teams could do with one fewer Charleston Southern, Kent State, North Texas, Louisiana Tech, etc., on their 12-games schedules. I, for one, will not pay to watch the Gators beat the crap out of some mid-major or FCS team, nor will I even bother to watch it on TV. Early season games like UAB-UF may serve a legitimate purpose as a pre-SEC warm-up, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to watch it.
BP
September 21st, 2011
12:40 pm
Part of the East coast is ACC land morons
East Coast of the United StatesFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
A map of the East Coast of the United States. Vermont, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia (maroon) do not include any actual coastline, but are generally considered to be part of the Eastern Seaboard region.The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S. states of (from north to south): Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Although they do not border the Atlantic Ocean itself, Pennsylvania, which borders on the tidal southern reaches of the Delaware river; Connecticut, which borders Long Island Sound, but is bounded to the east at sea by New York and Rhode Island; and Vermont, claimed before statehood by New Hampshire and in 1764 declared by King George III a part of New York state,[1] are normally included in this grouping.[2]
Paul in NH (formerly RDU)
September 21st, 2011
12:40 pm
I am not so sure that the conference realignment is over. Jim Calhoun has all but yelled that he wants in the ACC. The Hartford Courant is running a poll (unscientific, of course) – with joining the ACC well out in the lead.
http://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-uconn-future-poll,0,3709676,post.poll
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:40 pm
North
VT, CLEMSON, PITT, MARYLAND, VIRGINIA, BC, CUSE
South
MIAMI, FSU, GT, UNC, NCST, DUKE, WAKE
The only School out of place would be Clemson and NCST. It keeps the 4 NC schools in the same Division and balances out the football a little better with VT, CLEMSON, PITT and MARYLAND in the North and FSU, MIAMI, GT and UNC in the south. Also gives both divisions a couple of traditionally BAD football schools. (CUSE and DUKE)
Mike
September 21st, 2011
12:41 pm
I’m not sure this is done, Mark. Texas’ Jupiter sized ego and audacity took a big hit this round. The reality is, no one with options wants to be in a conference with Texas right now. The Texas President has started to look at revenue sharing options as a result. If they give in, the wheel will spin back up. For now, the SEC might not be able to get Missouri with the Big 12 staying put. Does that mean they go ahead and grab WVU or wait to see if this was just a tremor before the quake that takes out the Big 12?
Another interesting question is, what would happen if the Big East decided to go ahead and offer the schools like Baylor, Iowa St., Kansas, Kansas St. and Missouri to make a western division with TCU? Those schools seem to have more options right now than we thought. They might jump at that if they feel the Big 12 is on borrowed time. The Big east would be:
East: UConn, Louisville, USF, Rutgers, WVU, Cincinnati
West: TCU, Missouri, Iowa St., Kansas, Kansas St., Baylor
If any schools were lost on either side, they could back fill with schools from Conference USA like Houston, UCF, East Carolina, or Memphis. Conference USA would lose its championship game, but would likely produce one with the MWC winner for an ACQ. Everyone has options right now, so anything really is possible.
Yeah..Right
September 21st, 2011
12:42 pm
@really???
A single elimination, tournament style playoff system is even more arbitrary than an opinion poll. Such a system would ruin the college football regular season, and I don’t see what would be gained from it.
If you don’t like the NCAA, then go ahead and get rid of it and form a different organization — it will be just as “corrupt” as it’s predecessor, so long as it is run by humans.
Atlanta Gator
September 21st, 2011
12:43 pm
“I could see the SEC add OU, OK State, Mizzou, and A&M if those schools came calling.”
If I’m not mistaken, Texas A&M has asked, and the SEC has issued the invitation to join, subject to some legal housekeeping. I hope Baylor doesn’t expect to be invited to any more SEC homecomings. LOL
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:44 pm
If we stay with 14 the conferences should be changed to North and South and look like this.
North
VT, CLEMSON, PITT, MARYLAND, VIRGINIA, BC, CUSE
South
MIAMI, FSU, GT, UNC, NCST, DUKE, WAKE
The only School out of place would be Clemson and NCST. It keeps the 4 NC schools in the same conference and balances out the football a little better with VT, CLEMSON, PITT and MARYLAND in the North and FSU, MIAMI, GT and UNC in the south. Also gives both conferences a couple of traditionally BAD football schools. (CUSE and DUKE)
BP
September 21st, 2011
12:45 pm
Ah but they came closest to any team to beat Auburn last year. And let’s see Auburn beats Miss st. Miss st hangs with Lsu for 3 quarters. Yeah I’d say the sec is about even with the acc this year if clemson blows out a team that beat Miss st. But we’ll know more in a few weeks. SEC is 3 teams anyway and maybe 2 unless Will M can prove his worth.
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:45 pm
Enter your comments here
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:46 pm
If we stay with 14 the conferences should be changed to North and South and look like this.
North
VT, CLEMSON, PITT, MARYLAND, VIRGINIA, BC, CUSE
South
MIAMI, FSU, GT, UNC, NCST, DUKE, WAKE
Atlanta Gator
September 21st, 2011
12:46 pm
“Part of the East coast is ACC land morons.”
Lighten up, Francis.
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:46 pm
The only School out of place would be Clemson and NCST. It keeps the 4 NC schools in the same division and balances out the football a little better with VT, CLEMSON, PITT and MARYLAND in the North and FSU, MIAMI, GT and UNC in the south. Also gives both conferences a couple of traditionally BAD football schools. (CUSE and DUKE)
Miles
September 21st, 2011
12:48 pm
Wow the sec fans cannot stand the fact the acc got stronger in both football and basketball. And after seeing clemson whip up on auburn, i’d say the tide is definitely reversing. Last decade was the decade of the sec. Times are changing now. Fsu clemson gt vt miami unc all are doing well while SC struggles to beat Navy and Auburn gets blown out by Clemson!
Paul in NH (formerly RDU)
September 21st, 2011
12:48 pm
In my atlas Clemson is in South Carolina and UNC, NCSU, Duke and Wake are in North Carolina
Yeah..Right
September 21st, 2011
12:49 pm
@BP
September 21st, 2011
12:45 pm
Ah but they came closest to any team to beat Auburn last year.
Not really. Alabama blew a 3+ TD lead at halftime to lose by 1 point. MSU played them about as close as did Clemson, but both of those games were early in the season, when Auburn was still a little shaky. South Carolina almost beat them in their first game, but they were demolished by Auburn in December.
Clemson’s pretty good. Doesn’t hurt to have a HC from the University of Alabama.
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:49 pm
The only School out of place would be Clemson. It keeps the 4 NC schools in the same division and balances out the football a little all while getting rid of the stupid Atlantic and Costal division thing!!
Jason
September 21st, 2011
12:51 pm
I don’t think for a second that this is all over. This is like saying that everything was over when Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and others all moved. The root cause of the whole thing has not been resolved. Texas is still infuriating members of the Big 12. In fact, we can see how much animosity existed in that conference BEFORE the Longhorn network was created, and then we see that Texas had no sensitivity towards the rest of their conference and just pushed more colleges out the conference door. Changing the Big 12 Commisioner will NOT resolve the issue. Its just a matter of time before one of those other Big 12 schools decides that enough is enough.
When you add all this into the mix of uncertainty that conferences and schools face, then I find it highly likely that we’ll see someone else make a move because they think that it will provide the best protection for their athletic program. Schools in the Big East have got to be nervous. Its obvious that the ACC was concerned. These conferences will be proactive to do their best to buy certainty for their athletic programs. Getting stuck as an independent in an environment where there are a bunch of strong conferences could have a huge impact on schools including their ability to get non-athletes to attend their schools.
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:51 pm
Paul in NH
No crap!!! I put Clemson in the North to balance out the football powers while keeping the NC schools in the same division!!
BP
September 21st, 2011
12:51 pm
Atl gator, How does it feel to be in a crappy academic conference? You must feel like the lawyer who lives in a major city while at a family reunion in Dothan. yee haw
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:53 pm
Clemson in north makes the football more even and keeps all the North Carolina schools in the same division. Thats why I did that!
Pitbull
September 21st, 2011
12:53 pm
You can’t spell CHEAT without the letters TECH.
And tell Bill Curry the cheaters have been brought to their knees again. Only its his alma mater.
That makes 2 ACC championships in the past 20 years for Tech and both have been taken away by the NCAA for cheating. But Tech did get the first one back by promising they wouldn’t cheat again – which they did before the probation for the first cheating incident had even expired.
CHEATING – a proud Tech tradition.
Atlanta Gator
September 21st, 2011
12:54 pm
“If the Big 12 got rid of Texas and the LHN I think Texas A&M would stay and all the other schools in the confrence would be happy.”
No, I think that psychological bridge has already been crossed, or more appropriately, that bridge has already been burned. Texas A&M wants to forge their own national sports destiny, and they want to do it in the SEC. Be flattered: A&M is a top-10 football program this year, ranks ahead of all SEC all-sports programs but one, and surpasses all but two of the existing SEC members in academics and national ratings. Oh, and did I mention that the addition of the Texas TV markets will lead to bigger shares of TV revenues for all 13 SEC members?
Personally, I think the Aggies are a great fit.
Yeah..Right
September 21st, 2011
12:54 pm
@Jason
Texas doesn’t have to worry about being an independent. They’ll always have a home waiting for them in the BMC if they get desperate!
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:54 pm
Clemson in the north makes the football more even.
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:55 pm
And keeps the NC schools together!
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
12:56 pm
Also gets rid of the stupid Atlantic and Costal divison names!
Flounder
September 21st, 2011
12:57 pm
“… Was it over when the … when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?? H3LL NO!!!!”
Atlanta Gator
September 21st, 2011
12:58 pm
“Atl gator, How does it feel to be in a crappy academic conference?”
BP, I feel pretty darn comfortable with our 11 Southern sisters in an athletic conference that the Florida president was instrumental in founding in 1932. As for academic standing, my alma mater does more than its share to pull up the SEC’s academic averages, standards and credentials. Okey-dokey?
Atlanta Gator
September 21st, 2011
1:00 pm
“You can’t spell CHEAT without the letters TECH.”
True. But you can’t spell SUGAR without UGA, and that hasn’t been terribly relevant lately, either.
Atlanta Gator
September 21st, 2011
1:02 pm
“Clemson’s pretty good. Doesn’t hurt to have a HC from the University of Alabama.”
Or one from Florida. Just ask Auburn and South Carolina. LOL
Flounder
September 21st, 2011
1:04 pm
ACC North:
(1) Boston College
(2) Syracuse
(3) Pitt
(4) Maryland
(5) Virginia
(6) VA Tech
(7) NC State
ACC South:
(1) Miami
(2) FL State
(3) Clemson
(4) Wake F.
(5) Duke
(6) GA Tech
(7) UNC
matching #’s = designated cross-divisional rivals.
Just a thought …
Paul in NH (formerly RDU)
September 21st, 2011
1:06 pm
PureEvil – I hadn’t seen you other posts when I posted. Posting seem to be coming up in random order at tiumes
Flounder
September 21st, 2011
1:06 pm
… we’d have to ignore the Mason Dixon Line, of course.
PureEvil
September 21st, 2011
1:06 pm
As an ACC fan I’m glad they care about the academics, but if they want to have 16 teams I’d rather get someone that can actually play football or just stay at 14. I’m OK with getting UCONN and a football school just NOT Rutgers.
Sorry about the duplicate posts not sure why they originally didn’t post… crappy AJC!!
Stinkin' Dawg
September 21st, 2011
1:07 pm
Notre Dame to the SEC