College Football

Krieg said:
Any idea on what plans SU is making to weather the post Big East break-up storm?
The Big East 2.0 isn't all that bad of a football conference. Pitt's clearly the best college team in Pennsylvania. West Virginia's pretty good. If the Orange get a real coach again, they'll be okay. L'ville, Cinci, and USF are rather good for mid-majors. UConn's making a nice transition to I-A. And even Rutgers is getting better.

Probably the most elegant fix long-term (because it's pretty much a given that the 'Bigger East' splits in two in 2010) would be for Notre Dame to join in football (they're already in the Big East for everything else), but that would require the Irish to swallow their pride and admit that playing in a conference would give them a much better chance at a major bowl.

Krieg said:
BTW you're welcome for Walter Reyes, a home-grown Youngstown boy.
You guys grabbed the wrong Clarett cousin. I have to pull for his backup, though; Damien Rhodes went to my high school.
 
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Allow me to say.....HOW ABOUT THEM VOLS!

Miami. Psssht.

Actually, I was at the Swamp this weekend watching Florida play Vandy and I was pleasently surprised at how many Florida fans were cheering at your victory. The Gators may not like the Vols, but we sure hate Miami after that 4th quarter comeback earlier on in our season. Bah, and they have that traitor quarterback.
 
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drothgery said:
Probably the most elegant fix long-term (because it's pretty much a given that the 'Bigger East' splits in two in 2010) would be for Notre Dame to join in football (they're already in the Big East for everything else), but that would require the Irish to swallow their pride and admit that playing in a conference would give them a much better chance at a major bowl.

If Notre Dame ever decided to join a conference for football expect a strong offer by the Big 10/11 to get them to join with them. Part of the Big Ten's reluctance in wooing them so far is they expect everyone to join for all sports. Given a choice the Big Ten is far stronger, it has 3 traditional Rivals (Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State) plus a couple of other traditionally very strong teams (Ohio State and Penn State) and it would give the Big Ten a championship game which would pull big TV ratings. I suppose in your last point the Big East has a stronger case since it would be far easier to post a 12-0 or 11-1 record in the Big East consistantly.
 


Brown Jenkin said:
If Notre Dame ever decided to join a conference for football expect a strong offer by the Big 10/11 to get them to join with them. Part of the Big Ten's reluctance in wooing them so far is they expect everyone to join for all sports. Given a choice the Big Ten is far stronger, it has 3 traditional Rivals (Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State) plus a couple of other traditionally very strong teams (Ohio State and Penn State) and it would give the Big Ten a championship game which would pull big TV ratings. I suppose in your last point the Big East has a stronger case since it would be far easier to post a 12-0 or 11-1 record in the Big East consistantly.
I think Notre Dame would be insane to join a conference. They always play tough enough opponents that if they're team is good enough, they can land the larger bowls. And because they're not in a conference, the school keeps 100% of their check from the bowl game, rather than having to split it with the other teams in the conference. That, and they make good money with their TV deals. The only downside is when they have a bad team, like now. But that never lasts long with Notre Dame.
 
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Notre Dame should be in the Big Ten. In the 1930's they were invited, except Michigian kept them out becaue they lost to them or something like that. The Irish have great rivalries with three Big Ten teams, and they are in the middle of Big Ten country!! But if they would join the Big Ten I hope the Big Ten chooses to not have a conference championship game.
 

Dimwhit said:
I think Notre Dame would be insane to join a conference. They always play tough enough opponents that if they're team is good enough, they can land the larger bowls.
Eh. Anyone but USC or Oklahoma would have had a hard time going 8-4 on the schedule Notre Dame played this year (and USC would get a major break there because they can't play themselves). In most conferences, with a non-suicidal non-conf schedule, this year's Irish would be a game or two above .500 and would have a shot a bowl. They've played about as well as any of the #25-#40 teams that end up in 2nd and 3rd tier bowls. But they're 2-6 because of their schedule.

Dimwhit said:
And because they're not in a conference, the school keeps 100% of their check from the bowl game, rather than having to split it with the other teams in the conference. That, and they make good money with their TV deals. The only downside is when they have a bad team, like now. But that never lasts long with Notre Dame.
Err... there's only been one really good Notre Dame team since I started following college football in the mid-90s. They're on their third coach. Heck, my Orange have fielded more top-15 teams in that timespan -- and they've struggled terribly since McNabb graduated.
 

drothgery said:
You guys grabbed the wrong Clarett cousin. I have to pull for his backup, though; Damien Rhodes went to my high school.

LOL...not many people know that they're related. FWIW Reyes was a Buckeye fan growing up, he just got caught up in a numbers game. While it's great having Ohio State as the only big time Football school in a talent rich state...it means that a lot of really good kids end up going elsewhere.

FWIW A big part of why ND didn't join the Big 10 this last go around is because they didn't want to pony up the money to become academically competive with the rest of the conference. While ND is a great undergrad school, their grad programs are virtually non-existent. It would have cost them quite a bit upgrade their graduate programs & research facilities to get up to par.

People tend to forget that the Big10 revolved around research, even more so than major college athletics, that's why the University of Chicago is still a nominal member.

ND isn't going to go anywhere unless they lose the NBC cash cow. If that happens they'll jump through hoops to find a conference. The Big East would certainly be a competitive offer for them. ND would find the FB fields much easier to navigate than in the Big10 & it would make their massive east coast alum base ecstatic.
 

Krieg said:
FWIW A big part of why ND didn't join the Big 10 this last go around is because they didn't want to pony up the money to become academically competive with the rest of the conference. While ND is a great undergrad school, their grad programs are virtually non-existent. It would have cost them quite a bit upgrade their graduate programs & research facilities to get up to par.

People tend to forget that the Big10 revolved around research, even more so than major college athletics, that's why the University of Chicago is still a nominal member.

The Big Ten is certainly a major research confrence, but I am confused by the University of Chicago reference. I grew up at Purdue and did my Undergrad at the U of Illinois and the University of Chicago was never so much as mentioned in the same breath as the Big Ten. This is nothing against the U of Chicago, they are a great institution with some of the best programs in the country, but they have nothing to do with the Big Ten. Are you prehaps refering to the Big Ten's only private institution which is also located in Chicago - Northwestern.
 

Brown Jenkin said:
The Big Ten is certainly a major research confrence, but I am confused by the University of Chicago reference. I grew up at Purdue and did my Undergrad at the U of Illinois and the University of Chicago was never so much as mentioned in the same breath as the Big Ten. This is nothing against the U of Chicago, they are a great institution with some of the best programs in the country, but they have nothing to do with the Big Ten. Are you prehaps refering to the Big Ten's only private institution which is also located in Chicago - Northwestern.
The U of Chicago was one of the original members of the Big 10. When major college athletics starting becoming major college athletics, Chicago gave up on playing that game. But the academic affilition with the other Big 10 schools still stands.
 

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