(11-18-2013 11:31 AM)firmbizzle Wrote: (11-17-2013 07:16 PM)Kronke Wrote: I wonder what TCU fans think.
All those top 5-10 teams, all that BCS bowl glory, and now they are utterly irrelevant in the basement of the Big 12, and won't even see any bowl this year, much less the BCS. Sure, they got paid, but ultimately, what does that matter? They already had plenty of money.
The TCU move for the B12 never made sense to me. Louisville, Cincinnati even Memphis were all better options. They already had Texas locked up.
Several thoughts...
1) TCU was added because, in no small part, THEY WERE IMMEADATELY AVAILABLE. They were unattached to a conference, having already severed ties with the MW but not yet having played in the BE. Had the BE decided to assert themselves, who knows what would have happened. But the BE chose NOT to assert themselves, instead opting for the "amicable" option in which TCU would be granted immediate release but paying the whole $5 MM exit fee. (Of course, TCU then reneged on that promise and it had to go to court before TCU again settled for paying the $5MM fee...Which I am not entirely sure they ever paid...) But the main point is that TCU could make the move relatively quickly and easily... IT MADE SENSE.
2) TCU was also an established "top performing" program with one of the best coaches in the country (in Gary Patterson). At the time, TCU undoubtedly brought credit to Big XII football which had just suffered the loss of TAMU, Mizzou, and Nebraska, which are BIG name programs. The Big XII is ALL ABOUT football pedigree and TCU brought with them an impressive pedigree that UC does not.
3) It is pretty well established fact that the Big XII thought that Louisville would be available...at a later point. It is fairly clear that the B12's calculation was to add WVU immediately and Louisville a little later to stabilize the conference AFTER the ACC situation was clarified. Had the ACC imploded, the B12 probably would have added Florida State, Clemson, and either Miami or Georgia Tech, along with Louisville to get to 14. BUT that's NOT what happened, and the ACC shocked everyone by staying together AND adding Louisville. Was it short-sighted of the B12? Maybe. But it was at least a calculated decision.
4) Will the B12 add additional teams?
PROBBABLY NOT IN THE SHORT TERM. The one program that would appeal to the B12's sensibilities is BYU. That's it. It is clear that UC does not. UC lacks the FB pedigree and fan-market to appeal to the B12. UC does not "fit" the traditional B12 model of a university in a "university town/city" like the rest of the B12. Likewise, Memphis does not. The
ONLY AAC school that "fits" the B12 template is...wait for it... ECU.
The B12 will ONLY add teams when it is either forced to or it makes sense for them to. That ***might*** happen in the next 4-6 years when the CFP gets established and conferences with a CCG begin to leap-frog the B12 because of that extra game. Then, and only then, will the B12 begin to look outside their values of "football pedigree" and "template" to add UC or Memphis...and likely then ONLY with BYU.
That's life people...