ACC/Big Ten conf realignment
- Thread starter BigNUFan51
- Start date
I think at the very least trading Maryland for Pitt would make a lot of sense.
No disrespect to Maryland either. I think their fan base misses the ACC.
No disrespect to Maryland either. I think their fan base misses the ACC.
Yep, makes sense. And the Pitt-PSU rivalry would add spice to the B1G. Right now PSU has no real rival. Pitt and PSU alums dislike each other, although not as much as Pitt and WVA.
There was some bitterness among eastern schools years back, which caused some of the other schools to basically freeze Penn State out of the Big East for football. It was really a shortsighted move as an eastern football conference without Penn State didn't make much sense. It was a good basketball league, but never did get much of a football identity.
No television markets. I'd keep Maryland. Including for basketball value.
The mistake was going with Maryland and Rutgers to begin with. Shoulda gone south. Texas and OU if we could have gotten them. Or TAMU or Mizzou before they jumped to the SEC.
I think Maryland fans will warm to the B1G the longer they're in it. They miss some of the ACC basketball rivalries, but they were always sort of the poor stepchild to the Carolina schools in that league. They've obviously been very respectable in men's and women's basketball, lacrosse, and some of the other sports. Syracuse and Boston College seem like strange ducks in the ACC pond to me.
Huh?
Pitt brings no new markets and being in a pro-town, their attendance sucks (not that we are in any better of a position); and their BB program has fallen off.
Louisville is an academic/ethical cesspool and would never pass muster.
UMD has been fine as an addition, but think the powers-that-be would gladly trade RU for UVA.
PSU fans don't really see Pitt as a rival, altho, there is a lot of smack talk btwn the 2 fan bases.
That being said, there's also a good amount btwn the PSU fanbase and the UMD and RU fanbases.
PSU could definitely develop a rivalry w/ UMD and UVA (those schools would just have to start winning some games against the Nits).
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Both UMD and UVA are basketball first athletic programs. I don’t see a rivalry brewing with a blue blood like PSU.
Geographically I fail to see how either UMD or Rutgers move the needle in their respective markets.
I believe Rutgers and Maryland were brought in partly to get BTN on basic cable in NYC, Baltimore and Washington. Of course, things have changed a lot in the TV world since then, but BTN, I believe, is by far the most successful conference network.
Well, you know Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota, Iowa, and Michigan State would all love for us to be out of the conference. Or at least out of the division.
Missouri is an SEC program and rightfully so. Not a good B1G fit.
Maryland and Rutgers are as good at it gets.
A tongue in cheek comment. Generally speaking, I don't think we get the credit or respect we have earned.
As for going onto other forums, I am on retainer from Brian Colangelo to say nice things about him.
I certainly did for this article: https://purdue.rivals.com/news/purd...-2019-vanderbilt-copy-9334-copy-837-copy-1215
My comment was based on a perceived lack of respect we get around the conference. Based on this article, it seems Purdue has come around on that point. That said, the URL reads Vanderbilt, not Northwestern so we may still have a ways to go.
The great thing about conferences is you feel something about the teams. I feel absolutely nothing about Rutgers. Feels the same as UMass.
Ghost - I’m too lazy to check myself...Within the discussions on other boards, what is the basis for expelling NU?
No actual basis. Just a tongue in cheek response based on my perceived lack of respect given to us by others in the B1G. I don't actually peruse other sites unless I'm bored and want to find photos of Archie Miller's wife.
MSU is also a BB school and yet, they are UM's 2nd rival after dOSU.
As a UM coach - you can't lose to dOSU and MSU in that order.
The USC-Stanford series has developed into a pretty good rivalry (tho, I'm sure many arrogant USC fans still wouldn't deem Stanford to be worth their salt), but Stanford's recent success against the Trojans has made that a rivalry (despite being in the other division).
There is potential for a rivalry to develop w/ UMD and/or UVA has both Maryland and Virginia have served as rich recruiting grounds for PSU football, and there is also smack talk/hurt feelings over that.
And even as lowly the Rutgers football program has been, PSU fans seem to save a big chunk of their vitriol for RU and vice versa.
Nah - academics and culture-wise, those schools have more in common w/ the B1G schools than the former Southwest Conf. schools.
Peruse the general Rivals FB board from time to time and when discussions of whom would you kick out (of your respective conf,) arise - NU rarely comes up now in discussions for the B1G.
Im a big fan of geographical/border matchups. Texas and OU never made much sense to me in a Midwestern centric conference.
PSU and Notre Dame are the only two schools that will truly give the conference exposure on the east coast. The idea that Rutgers and Maryland were going to open up a new revenue stream was always misguided.
Rutgers is a terrific academic school, but their athletic department has been a mess over the years. Nonetheless it’s an enormous financial win for them to join the conference-I don’t see them leaving anytime soon.
UMD is another story. I can’t imagine their alumni/donors are all that thrilled with the arrangement.
Instead of road games fans/players can travel to by bus against long time rivals they are forced to fly out to the corn fields in order to see their team on the road. In addition they are stuck in a division/conference with a number of a blue bloods making it incredibly hard to compete.
Maryland has gotten a lot more money from the arrangement, and I don't think the school is complaining about that. Their drop in attendance last year can probably be attributed to the turmoil around the program and the general decline in college football attendance. A winning team would certainly help, and the Terps have not had that since joining the B1G. As far as traveling to games, they are in the Eastern division of the B1G and most of their road trips, especially to venues such as Penn State, Ohio State and Rutgers, are really not much worse than going to a lot of the ACC venues.
Apples and oranges, but DIII St. Thomas, a founding member of the MIAC, was recently voted out of the conference.
Nebraska, Notre Dame and Penn State would all three be great fits in the Big Ten, for obvious reason.
The Nebraska - Northwestern game in football has been one of the best series, since the Huskers arrived in 2011.
The Red River Shout Out/Rivalry is huge for those two programs. At one time, the Oklahoma - Nebraska series was huge. Those days are history, though for the Huskers, though they will play again.
Esp. as UMD was in the Atlantic division (both VA schools and UNC and Dook are in the Coastal), so they had to go all the way down to FL (FSU) and all the up to MA (BC) w/ Clemson also being a pretty lengthy trip.
PSU, RU, dOSU and even UM and IU are closer than FSU and BC (w/ Clemson being roughly the same distance as the latter 2).
And ND would be on the rotation, as well as 'Cuse, GTech and Miami if UMD had stayed in the ACC.