The Sunshine Empire

Biggus: Nebraska is supposed to make an official announcement of their move to the Big 10 today.
me: oh damn
with just one going, does the big 12 just grab TCU?
or Boise State?
Biggus: Missouri will also probably jump.
They just haven’t said anything yet.
Or hadn’t as of yesterday when I heard the Nebraska story.
me: this may sound weird, but for some reason I’ve always considered Missouri a Big ten type of team
Biggus: They’re Midwestern, and they have that Illinois rivalry.
The next week or two will probably take care of all the speculation as the Big 12′s future and any moves made by the other conferences will probably be over with by then.
me: Colorado already has received an invitation to join the Pac-whatever
me: if it dissolves, what happens to the automatic bid? for NCAA and BCS?
Biggus: If all of this shit does go down, I think 2012 will see four 16-team power conferences and there will be a delineation between those conferences and the smaller ones.
me: This whole college realignment thing has me excited
So does this move the SEC to expand? and don’t the most logical candidates presuppose a raid of the ACC?
Clemson and Florida State, and maybe Miami and GT maybe?
Biggus: The problem for the SEC is that any suitable Western additions will be gobbled up by the Pac-10 if that deal goes through.
And they don’t really need to expand, so I’d say they stand pat and see what happens down the road.
me: I know it wont happen, but damn, if Texas was in the SEC
Biggus: The west would have Texas, LSU and Alabama, with Auburn and Arkansas another notch down. That would be brutal and rival the East at its peak.
me: Texas and Oklahoma in the West, Clemson and FSU in the East
Biggus: That would be cool. I do kind of think that either having no permanent rival from the west or no variation in opponent would kind of suck though.
I guess they could go to nine conference games with one permanent and one rotating inter-divisional game.
me: A mythical last weekend of the season game between FSU and UF for the right to go to Atlanta
A Texas-Alabama rivalry
Georgia-Oklahoma twice every four years
Biggus: The problem with that scenario is that the Pac-10 is supposedly about to invite Texas, A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and OK State to join along with Colorado.
me: oh that’s why I said it wouldn’t happen. I’m just saying if that wasn’t in place that idea would be awesome
Biggus: The six Big 12 teams would then form a division with Arizona and Arizona State.
me: Do they drop the “Pac”
Biggus: It would make the SEC fucking unbearably difficult.
I would call it the Big West.
Or if they wanted something more hip, the Wild Wild West.
me: That television contract would rival NFL money
Biggus: They’d share about the same per team as the SEC and Big 10 according to the report I read.
$20 million or so.
me: RIP Big 12
Biggus: The SEC shared $17 million per and the Big 10 $22 million.
The theory is also that the Big 10 will stand pat with Nebraska and go to the 12-team/championship game format.
me: if they are doing that then there’s no reason for the SEC to add
I was thinking that both the Pac-10 and Big-10 were thinking of going beyond 12
if you have the SEC, ACC, and Big-10 going to that level
if the Big 12 dissolves, could the big ten become the new big 12?
Biggus: I don’t think the SEC has any major benefit from whatever expansion they might do. They already control southern TV markets, and Clemson and FSU don’t bring anything additive to academics or athletics.
Neither is as good at football traditionally, though Clemson does have an SEC-esque fan-base. They’re both good at baseball and average at basketball.
me: alright you win
no FSU and Clemson
we’ll go with Wake Forest and Boston College
Biggus: My point was to not expand for the sake of expansion. If somewhere down the line the whole 64-team, four Super Conference, I-A+ thing happens, FSU and Clemson would be logical additions.
They’d probably get stuck taking Georgia Tech and someone like North Carolina.
In addition to the obvious two.
Meaning you’d have to revamp the divisions.
Throw UT and Kentucky into the West.
me: I hear you
Biggus: I still think the Big 12 will exist after all of this. I just can’t see Kansas with all of their basketball tradition being left in the lurch.