Highest rated game in afternoon slot since 2006 Michigan-Ohio State.

@BFeldmanCBS

The TV rating for #BAMAvsTAMU (9.0/21) is CBS's highest-rated afternoon regular-season CFB game in 23 years since 1990 Miami-ND.

Outcome could have been better but this game was amazing publicity for A&M and the atmosphere was absolutely outstanding!

Additional confirmation that aTm made the right move by joining the SEC.

(09-15-2013 02:22 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  Additional confirmation that aTm made the right move by joining the SEC.

In terms of Athletic endeavors
A&M is the only former Big 12 school that has dramatically
benefited by the last round of recent expansion.

Mizzu, Buffs, & Neb all lost the fertile SW/Texas recruiting Area
& will continue 2 wallow behind in their respective new conferences

(09-15-2013 05:06 PM)HHOOTter Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 02:22 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  Additional confirmation that aTm made the right move by joining the SEC.

In terms of Athletic endeavors
A&M is the only former Big 12 school that has dramatically
benefited by the last round of recent expansion.

Mizzu, Buffs, & Neb all lost the fertile SW/Texas recruiting Area
& will continue 2 wallow behind in their respective new conferences

IMO the SEC made a big mistake taking Mizzou over WVU. Of course, I felt the same way after the SEC took USC over WVU...

(09-15-2013 05:16 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 05:06 PM)HHOOTter Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 02:22 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  Additional confirmation that aTm made the right move by joining the SEC.

In terms of Athletic endeavors
A&M is the only former Big 12 school that has dramatically
benefited by the last round of recent expansion.

Mizzu, Buffs, & Neb all lost the fertile SW/Texas recruiting Area
& will continue 2 wallow behind in their respective new conferences

IMO the SEC made a big mistake taking Mizzou over WVU. Of course, I felt the same way after the SEC took USC over WVU...

I agree. Mizzou and WVU both stradle the line between Northern and Southern. But WVU fits in a lot better with the culture of the SEC than Mizzou.

(09-15-2013 06:04 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 05:16 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 05:06 PM)HHOOTter Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 02:22 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  Additional confirmation that aTm made the right move by joining the SEC.

In terms of Athletic endeavors
A&M is the only former Big 12 school that has dramatically
benefited by the last round of recent expansion.

Mizzu, Buffs, & Neb all lost the fertile SW/Texas recruiting Area
& will continue 2 wallow behind in their respective new conferences

IMO the SEC made a big mistake taking Mizzou over WVU. Of course, I felt the same way after the SEC took USC over WVU...

I agree. Mizzou and WVU both stradle the line between Northern and Southern. But WVU fits in a lot better with the culture of the SEC than Mizzou.

Historically speaking Missouri did at least do some fighting on the side of the South, but that was a few years ago. Should of course the SEC build a Western division with a couple of more Big 12 additions Missouri will be restored to their old recruiting grounds.

As far as West Virginia is concerned they didn't fight on the side of the South, but then hill people in Tennessee, Kentucky, and parts of North Alabama tended not to desire to get into a fight that didn't pertain to them if they could help it. Virtually none of them owned slaves and nor were their lives profited by Northern industrialists.

As far as West Virginia getting into the SEC we'll have to wait and see how all of this winds up, but they certainly are not out of the realm of possibility if something further should befall the Big 12.

West Virginians, like most other border states during the Civil War, had plenty of people fighting on both sides. Of course, the most famous was Stonewall Jackson. But a lot of states had people on both sides fighting, and it created a lot of animosity during reconstruction too...

(09-15-2013 05:06 PM)HHOOTter Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 02:22 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  Additional confirmation that aTm made the right move by joining the SEC.

In terms of Athletic endeavors
A&M is the only former Big 12 school that has dramatically
benefited by the last round of recent expansion.

Mizzu, Buffs, & Neb all lost the fertile SW/Texas recruiting Area
& will continue 2 wallow behind in their respective new conferences

you are totally clueless.

-colorado has always been a California based school. our 1990 national championship team was built on recruiting the cali area hard. we had 30+ cali players and only 4 texas players that year. in fact since we joined the b12 the amount of recruits we got out of texas actually went down (we were the only b12 school that happened to).

our alumni is 600% larger in the pac12 footprint than the b12 footprint and we have already seen a major increase in donations because of that. and now we can finally have a strong california connection. i say if anything colorado got the best deal out of all 4 former b12 schools

-nebraska killed their texas connection and thats going to be a problem. however the biggest complaint from cornhusker fans is that they struggled to see their games on TV at times. since joining the b10 nebraska has gotten major exposure in the eastern states. they have had something like a 600% increase in viewership avaliability of UNL games and that has done wonders for their fanbase. what they lost in texas recruiting they gained in tv exposure.

-mizz obviously the b10 was their first choice. however they have gotten access to the south east region and any texas recruiting thats lost they gain in the southeast. their recruiting rankings have remained the same since the SEC move

A&M to the SEC has been bad for Texas.

(09-15-2013 07:20 PM)XLance Wrote:  A&M to the SEC has been bad for Texas.

I wouldn't say that. IMO Mack Brown and Deloss Dodds are the problem...

(09-15-2013 07:22 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 07:20 PM)XLance Wrote:  A&M to the SEC has been bad for Texas.

I wouldn't say that. IMO Mack Brown and Deloss Dodds are the problem...

So you are saying that Dodds and Brown have been great for A&M and the SEC?

(09-15-2013 07:24 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 07:22 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 07:20 PM)XLance Wrote:  A&M to the SEC has been bad for Texas.

I wouldn't say that. IMO Mack Brown and Deloss Dodds are the problem...

So you are saying that Dodds and Brown have been great for A&M and the SEC?

No. I said they were bad for Texas. But thanks for playing...

Either way they're good for A&M!

Agree that Colorado made a good move, too. But there was nothing "controversial" about that, as it was with Texas A&M.

Nebraska had to give up something, but still came out ahead of where they were.

Missouri comes out ahead financially, but they are stuck playing teams that Mizzou fans don't really care about -- and those other teams don't really care about Mizzou, either. A recipe for apathy, albeit highly-paid apathy.

I also agree with Bit that the SEC could've made a stronger move by taking WVU. I have to assume that decision was driven by TV/media factors above all else. A shame that it's come to that.

(09-15-2013 09:45 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  Agree that Colorado made a good move, too. But there was nothing "controversial" about that, as it was with Texas A&M.

Nebraska had to give up something, but still came out ahead of where they were.

Missouri comes out ahead financially, but they are stuck playing teams that Mizzou fans don't really care about -- and those other teams don't really care about Mizzou, either. A recipe for apathy, albeit highly-paid apathy.

I also agree with Bit that the SEC could've made a stronger move by taking WVU. I have to assume that decision was driven by TV/media factors above all else. A shame that it's come to that.

And you would only partially be correct. Both additions were AAU. The SEC created their version of the CIC a couple of years ago. Florida wanted more AAU schools in the SEC. Slive was intentional about meeting their demands. Realignment is not over and West Virginia may still have a shot. But if there are Southwestern, or Southeastern AAU schools state schools that become available they will be picked first. Markets were important too. So A&M and Mizzou were picked for both reasons.

(09-15-2013 10:02 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 09:45 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  I also agree with Bit that the SEC could've made a stronger move by taking WVU. I have to assume that decision was driven by TV/media factors above all else. A shame that it's come to that.

And you would only partially be correct. Both additions were AAU. The SEC created their version of the CIC a couple of years ago. Florida wanted more AAU schools in the SEC. Slive was intentional about meeting their demands. Realignment is not over and West Virginia may still have a shot. But if there are Southwestern, or Southeastern AAU schools state schools that become available they will be picked first. Markets were important too. So A&M and Mizzou were picked for both reasons.

Texas A&M wasn't so much "picked" as it was gratefully accepted when it made it clear that it wanted to join. As we all know, the Aggies are a major cultural/athletic brand in a massive and wealthy media-market (i.e., the State of Texas) and once they signaled their interest, they were an absolute lock to join the league. Their AAU status is a nice bonus but it was not a prerequisite, or even close to it. I can't believe JRsec or anyone else would dispute that.

With Missouri, I suppose it is possible that the AAU-thing was a tiebreaker over WVU. Even there, however, I think the key was that the population of Missouri is 6m, and the population of WVA is 1.8m. And Missouri's is significantly more affluent, as well. I would've tilted a bit in favor of WVU, because I am a strong proponent of "institutional fit" when studying these things. But the lords of the realm went in a different direction, and that's that.

No one in the SEC is "against" improving the league's academic profile, and no one is against having more AAU members in the league. Slive doesn't have to be told that such things matter.

Florida is a valued member of the SEC. Individually, their wishes/interests do not control or dominate the league's agenda with respect to expansion or anything else. FSU could replace them in about 5 minutes, if it ever came down to that (not the slightest indication that it ever will).

I think the SEC wants very hard to get AAU schools. they looked at what the b10 strengths were and have been trying to mimic them the last few years. plus jres is correct, the few academia's in the SEC were probably pushing very hard for AAU schools

in the 90s the SEC missed out on texas with academics being a major factor, I think that still stings on the SECs part and is another big reason why they went hard on academics.

the b12 lost its core academic schools to other conferences and the b10 made two major academic moves as well. I think people should realize that academics are a major factor in conf realignment

(09-15-2013 10:23 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 10:02 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 09:45 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  I also agree with Bit that the SEC could've made a stronger move by taking WVU. I have to assume that decision was driven by TV/media factors above all else. A shame that it's come to that.

And you would only partially be correct. Both additions were AAU. The SEC created their version of the CIC a couple of years ago. Florida wanted more AAU schools in the SEC. Slive was intentional about meeting their demands. Realignment is not over and West Virginia may still have a shot. But if there are Southwestern, or Southeastern AAU schools state schools that become available they will be picked first. Markets were important too. So A&M and Mizzou were picked for both reasons.

Texas A&M wasn't so much "picked" as it was gratefully accepted when it made it clear that it wanted to join. As we all know, the Aggies are a major cultural/athletic brand in a massive and wealthy media-market (i.e., the State of Texas) and once they signaled their interest, they were an absolute lock to join the league. Their AAU status is a nice bonus but it was not a prerequisite, or even close to it. I can't believe JRsec or anyone else would dispute that.

With Missouri, I suppose it is possible that the AAU-thing was a tiebreaker over WVU. Even there, however, I think the key was that the population of Missouri is 6m, and the population of WVA is 1.8m. And Missouri's is significantly more affluent, as well. I would've tilted a bit in favor of WVU, because I am a strong proponent of "institutional fit" when studying these things. But the lords of the realm went in a different direction, and that's that.

No one in the SEC is "against" improving the league's academic profile, and no one is against having more AAU members in the league. Slive doesn't have to be told that such things matter.

Florida is a valued member of the SEC. Individually, their wishes/interests do not control or dominate the league's agenda with respect to expansion or anything else. FSU could replace them in about 5 minutes, if it ever came down to that (not the slightest indication that it ever will).

Per your remarks about A&M I do not fundamentally disagree at all. But the shift in direction of the SEC may well be revealed with the final additions when that time comes. I think such a change in the SEC is designed to make membership in the conference more appealing to potential schools of interest in the future. It was not so much a dictate of Florida as it was a direction of conference presidents pushed by the president of UF. If the SEC is to improve its academic standing, and find even stronger bonds than culture and athletics for its future then intentional direction to those ends will have to be implemented going forward. Athletics are the drawing card for the SEC currently. But, if that strength can be utilized to lure institutions from the greater South to help the SEC to fulfill a vision of enhancing their academic standing then they will do so. We had two AAU schools before the last round of realignment. We now have 4. With the right kind of expansion we could hit 8. That would make our version of a cooperative program at least viable enough not to lose our best regional schools to the Big 10 should even further expansion occur.

There is much more going on here than sports realignment. This whole realignment movement is driven by revenue streams. Positioning the conference to better be able to compete for research dollars is just one more of those endeavors. And Slive is not told so much as he listens to the desires of the presidents of the institutions. So that implication that your drew that "he is not told" is really misleading. It is his job to facilitate the total development of the conference through athletics, and in other ways conducive to the health of his member institutions. But make no mistake, these moves, while pleasing from a market perspective, were also purposeful from a pre-discussed academic perspective as well.

jres is pretty ****en smart and knows how these moves go down