I'll start off with the fact that I, like most Hokies, have a hatred of Louisville dating back to their shady dealings in the Metro. Since their AD mentioned trying to get into the B12 or ACC though I've been thinking, all feelings aside, they are a better athletic program than Rutgers and UConn.

Average football attendance last year:
Louisville: 48,500
Rutgers: 43,800
UConn: 36,700
Notre Dame: 80,800
ACC average: 50,025

BCS computer average last year:
Louisville: 49
Rutgers: 46
UConn: 80
Notre Dame: 28
ACC average: 56

Directors Cup standings as of now:
Louisville: 19
Rutgers: 79
UConn: 42
Notre Dame: 14

Academics:
Louisville: 164 (tied with WVU)
Rutgers: 68
UConn: 58
Notre Dame: 19
ACC average: 51

Other factors to consider would have to include their wildly profitable basketball program.

They finished 10th in the BCS in 2004 and 6th in 2006.

They are located close to Notre Dame.

If the ACC could get Notre Dame and stay together it'd force the B12 to go further out of their geography to get to 12.

Academics seem to matter to the ACC presidents. If that's valid, Rutgers probably heads to the top of the class as an AAU member. Even if that ranking shows them behind UConn (not sure what rankings are in use).

(05-17-2012 02:54 PM)mattsarz Wrote:  Academics seem to matter to the ACC presidents. If that's valid, Rutgers probably heads to the top of the class as an AAU member. Even if that ranking shows them behind UConn (not sure what rankings are in use).

I think it was US News. I'd put it into a spreadsheet to check the averages and see how the averages changed in different scenarios.

If you are gonna consider Louisville, you might as well invite WV, with similar academics, much better fb,. The Acc doesnt need any bb powers. WV brings a whole state, even though it is a small state. But FSU would be very happy with WV. A great move would be to bring in WV and Louisville, but I agree, it seems that Rutgers will get the call first. I believe that the Acc will do what is necessary for survival if the league loses members, and bring in some academic lightweights into the league if they have to. Louisville, UCF, Cincy and USF fit that bill.

(05-17-2012 03:02 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  If you are gonna consider Louisville, you might as well invite WV, with similar academics, much better fb,. The Acc doesnt need any bb powers. WV brings a whole state, even though it is a small state. But FSU would be very happy with WV.

At this point, even if they liked WVU they wouldn't take them. They have signed away their tv rights.

Louisville does a lot of research in medicine I know. So could be a difference in that WVU seems content educating undergrads but Louisville seems to have some ambition to be a research university?

Anyway, just a thought. The WVU ship has sailed at this point though.

Why would the snob schools of this conference turn their nose up to WV and then invite Louisville? Makes no sense. WV gives you another football name and Louisville does not.

This conference shouldn't go to 16 unless ND is one of them. A pair of those BE schools do not add enough to make it worthwhile. Just dilutes the league even more. Football is where the ACC needs to improve and all 3 of those programs are mediocre at best.

(05-17-2012 03:17 PM)Ragu Wrote:  Why would the snob schools of this conference turn their nose up to WV and then invite Louisville? Makes no sense. WV gives you another football name and Louisville does not.

This conference shouldn't go to 16 unless ND is one of them. A pair of those BE schools do not add enough to make it worthwhile. Just dilutes the league even more. Football is where the ACC needs to improve and all 3 of those programs are mediocre at best.

The assumption in this is that ND is 15...then the question is who is 16? It is always assumed that it'll be down to Rutgers or UConn....I just wanted to have a conversation on what if it were Louisville instead.

(05-17-2012 03:02 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  I believe that the Acc will do what is necessary for survival if the league loses members, and bring in some academic lightweights into the league if they have to. Louisville, UCF, Cincy and USF fit that bill.

Bringing in UCF, USF and UC would absolutely push FSU out the door. 100%. Not a doubt in my mind.

But the ACC wouldn't do that right now so it's a non-issue. Not sure if they'd add one of UCSF if FSU were to leave.

EDIT: Let me add, ND is likely never joining the ACC. Seems awfully foolish for ACC fans to still be hoping for that at this point.

People that know seem to think that ND to the ACC is a possibility still. So that is why we continue to discuss it.

I don't think the "granting ov TV righgts" is the poison pill that everyone believes it to be. I believe it is nothing more than an "exit fee" to be negotiated like any other.

The ACC does value academics. I'm not sure how much value they put on the US News rankings.

(05-17-2012 07:44 PM)Wolfman Wrote:  I don't think the "granting ov TV righgts" is the poison pill that everyone believes it to be. I believe it is nothing more than an "exit fee" to be negotiated like any other.

The ACC does value academics. I'm not sure how much value they put on the US News rankings.

I'm not positive that 'granting rights' doesn't mean that they continue to be paid though. I have a hard time believing a school would give away their television without payment.

I think it just means you can't be counted in your new conferences television package.

(05-17-2012 07:44 PM)Wolfman Wrote:  I don't think the "granting ov TV righgts" is the poison pill that everyone believes it to be. I believe it is nothing more than an "exit fee" to be negotiated like any other.

The ACC does value academics. I'm not sure how much value they put on the US News rankings.

It's stronger than an exit fee and time limit, but all it really does is raise the amount to be negotiated. Everything is negotiable nowadays.

True stability results from tangible assets. The BiG has a tangible asset in both the CIC and the BTN. If the PTN proves to be successful, the Pac will have a tangible asset. The SEC has "ticket power" as its tangible asset.

Right now, imho, neither the ACC nor the Big 12 have a tangible asset that guarantees stability. Had FSU and Miami not gone down the drain at the same time while concurrently ACC basketball tanking with the exception of Duke and UNC, an ACCN would be up and running now.

Cheers,
Neil

If it is not UConn or Rutgers, then I feel confident enough to bet that Tulane will get heavy consideration before any other school. Given their history with existing members in the ACC, they would get more Presidential votes.

Remember... think like a university president, not like a bleacher fan.

(05-17-2012 09:37 PM)ecuacc4ever Wrote:  If it is not UConn or Rutgers, then I feel confident enough to bet that Tulane will get heavy consideration before any other school. Given their history with existing members in the ACC, they would get more Presidential votes.

Remember... think like a university president, not like a bleacher fan.

Didn't their stadium get turned down?

I'm not opposed to Tulane just because I love the city of New Orleans. I don't think they'll be a contender though.

SMU, and Rice would be candidates too if we are doing an all academic conference.

No me gusta.

Doesn't fit the footprint. At least with Notre Dame you can get there from the Atlantic Ocean via the Great Lakes canals.... so it still works in the Atlantic Coast Conference. :)

(05-17-2012 10:26 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  No me gusta.

Doesn't fit the footprint. At least with Notre Dame you can get there from the Atlantic Ocean via the Great Lakes canals.... so it still works in the Atlantic Coast Conference. :)

With all this hype about 9 contiguous states going on now I feel like Louisville is the ONLY option to connect Notre Dame to the ACC unless you think UK will swap.

(05-17-2012 04:04 PM)4x4hokies Wrote:  People that know seem to think that ND to the ACC is a possibility still. So that is why we continue to discuss it.

If it's an exclusively conference champion playoff? I don't see how that comes to fruition with the SEC being against it. Otherwise, what's the motivation to join a conference?

I'm thinking the order of preference by the University president's would be:
1. Notre Dame
2. Rutgers
3. UConn
4. Louisville or Cincinnati

Personnally I would like to see Louisville in the ACC but not before Rutgers. Their athletics are really good and although their
Academics have room to grow, they have a lot of potential

I lived through being in a conference with Temple and Rutgers...,nobody cared about those games at all. They were both Dukes on our schedule. We had nothing in common with them, they weren't competitive...they were the exact thing we were trying to leave when we left the Big East. You can throw UConn in that too. We only played them in their transitional period. The only time I saw VT/UConn was a women's basketball game when we were actually decent. They don't excite me at all. At minimum we could play up our utter hatred of Louisville for being lying crooks.

The biggest myth going in realignment is that somehow Rutgers adds NYC. Since nobody there cares about Rutgers this is a myth and you don't just magically get TV sets. Otherwise, though, I like Rutgers. They're hard to hate. Adding them to the conference, though? I don't think so.

I feel pretty similarly about UConn and Louisville. With those schools you do get elite basketball but I just don't see them as great future ACC members. It's another division of the pie and I just don't think either one moves the meter much. Adding them would just seem like adding schools for adding them's sake. That's not a good idea, in my mind.