Realignment Carousel Spins Up again (USC and UCLA to Big 10)

[Maizerunner08]

So Washington State and Oregon State are either going to the American or MWC.

[Maizerunner08]

Memphis is probably crying right now.

[WuDrWu]

I don't doubt the wealth of SMU (and their donors) but 7 years no media revenue in addition to the expense of leaving the AAC, with a promise of what? What did college athletics look like 7 years in the past? It's not like the people that are going to carry SMU for most of the next decade are going to get reimbursed....I wish them luck, but it seems like an expensive price to pay to be a whipping boy forever.

[ShockerFever]

Desperate doesn’t even begin to describe it.

[ShockBand]

Is it terrible for me to hope that SMU has this turn into a financial bloodbath for them over the next several years?

[WuDrWu]

Is it terrible for me to hope that SMU has this turn into a financial bloodbath for them over the next several years?

No.

[Ashockalypse]

The bloodbath is now. They pay an exit fee, no revenue for 7 years and the pay players to keep up with the P4 and they lose anyway! What do you want? Those donors didn’t get rich making those kind of decisions. And the realigning of the ACC isn’t over. Just as it isn’t for the AAC. Meanwhile the NCAA has become a Junior High Cliquefest.

[C0|dB|00ded]

Every single one of us would trade our first born to be a member of the ACC. Good for SMU. This will be GREAT for the future of their institution.

[C0|dB|00ded]

So Washington State and Oregon State are either going to the American or MWC.

MWC. They make no sense for us geographically. The east coast schools would suffer enormously. And they're going to bounce the second they get an offer from anyone.

[Ashockalypse]

Every single one of us would trade our first born to be a member of the ACC. Good for SMU. This will be GREAT for the future of their institution.

I might trade your offspring.

[C0|dB|00ded]

The biggest mistake ever to give up football.

We're actually VERY lucky to even be in the AAC (Thank you Gregg Marshall).

Unfortunately, the AAC is now a **** conference.

[Maizerunner08]

It goes without saying but geography seems to be a non-factor now. Olympic sports be damned.

Maybe it's just the nostalgia in me, but there was some special about regional conferences. Now it's just a bunch of schools that have no ties.

[Kel Varnsen]

[Kel Varnsen]

It goes without saying but geography seems to be a non-factor now. Olympic sports be damned.

Maybe it's just the nostalgia in me, but there was some special about regional conferences. Now it's just a bunch of schools that have no ties.

The Big 8/12 was fun...it was geographical and had rivalries that had existed for nearly a century. Nebraska-Missouri, Nebraska-Colorado, Oklahoma-Nebraska, Oklahoma-Oklahoma St, Kansas-Missouri, and many other matchups have all been torn asunder. Once OU and Texas join the SEC next year, none of the departed or the original Big 12 football programs will be in a better competitive shape compared to the national landscape than they were in 2009. Not one. Nebraska can't even beat middling B1G teams, Missouri and Texas A&M will likely never compete for a playoff spot while in the SEC, OU/Texas will have to play in the SEC instead of being the big dog in the Big 12, and to top it all off...fans don't get to enjoy the rivalries and matchups they've relished for years.

As much of a capitalist as I am, the pursuit of money has changed college athletics, and not for the better.

[ShockBand]

The Gordon Gekko approach. That said, college athletics may well start to lose some of its appeal to me.