RE: Could a New G5 Conference Based On Recruiting Work?
these types of threads always start out as wheels off because they jump right to 14 or 16 teams because "that is what the big boys are doing"
and yea exactly that is what THE BIG BOYS ARE DOING and I don't know anyone that has ever been truly successful in anything by offering the exact same thing as the much longer established, more financially sound, more popular and better known competition is doing
grouping up a bunch of schools in "big markets" that they have failed to deliver is pretty much repackaging the same thing that has never worked in the past and pretending it is different
14 teams sucks and is a scheduling nightmare
16 teams pretty much means you are having a conference circle jerk playing with each other and thus building no strength of schedule and delivering nothing other than a less popular and more poorly funded version of what is already available......it is like some silly Sunbelt or CUSA fans wondering if 9 conference games is "the way to go" because of course the big boys are doing it.......but of course the big boys are doing it because the vast majority of their teams bring at least some recognition, fan support, viewers and possible the same or even better strength of opponent than some Sunbelt or Conference USA team brings.......while another conference game between teams that are viewed as weak is just this weeks poorly viewed and attended snooze fest pillow fight of the week
conferences gain strength by kicking the crap out of teams from outside the conference either in OOC games or in bowl games and then starting the next season ranked and repeating the same thing.......they don't gain strength because every school in the conference was 7-5 or 6-6 or 5-7, but they played each other really hard and lost two or three OOC games along the way
a better idea would be to have 8 teams and play 7 conference games and 5 OOC games and try and kick the crap out of at least 4 of those other teams you play and then try and get one team or two teams to have a really good record at the end of the year and pretty much 5-6 others in bowl games and they win those bowl games
14-16 teams is just giving 2-3 teams a chance to end up rising to the top year in and year out before they potentially move elsewhere POSSIBLY even to a P5 conference
there are 65 P5 teams now that BYU has been excluded by some of the P5 from being considered as "worthy" and there are 3 service academies that no one is going to want to leave behind if they express interest in hanging around so that is 68 teams
the very least that has ever been talked about for a new "power division" is 64 teams so IF (and it is a big IF) the service academies were included in that 64 team grouping and it was only 64 teams that means 4 others will be left behind and there is a slim chance that could be TCU, Iowa State, Texas Tech or Baylor and then one other and there is every chance it could be Wake Forest, Syracuse, Duke, Boston College or even Vanderbilt, Northwestern or Washington State
and the REALITY is it won't be any of them because there is not going to be ANY team from the non-P5 conferences with the exception of the three service academies that gives ANY current P5 team "the boot" so they can move up and the REALITY is the schools that would be "in play" like Texas and OU are not going to ditch TCU, Tech, Baylor, ISU or KSU so they can go on their own to some far away conference that leaves them with few if any long term rivals or away games that fans can easily reach or that places them in recruiting grounds that are weak or where they rarely if ever recruit
and they are CERTAINLY not going to sit around and swap out Boise for ISU and Cincy for Baylor and UH for Texas Tech or TCU or some none sense like that
and the reality is IF.....and it is a BIG IF there was 4 schools dumped so that the three service academies could stick around and so that there would be 64 teams and not 65 with ND in a conference there will still be ZERO other programs moving up because no conference is going to swap teams
lets say the PAC 12 takes Texas, OU, OkState and Kansas ok so the PAC 12 is not full sorry Boise sorry SDSU, Fresno, CSU
or the PAC 12 takes Texas and OU and Air Force and OkState so again the PAC 12 is full.........the Big 10 takes KU and someone else......that someone else is NOT going to be Cincy, UH, SMU or FIU, FAU, USF or UCF period the end.......it would be Army
and then the ACC needs Navy and they are full......so that would leave Texas Tech, KSU, ISU, TCU, Baylor and WVU for the SEC.....the SEC is NOT going to call SMU, UH, USF, UCF, FIU, FAU, Tulane, Tulsa, or Cincy they will take WVU and Texas Tech most likely
and there is DEFINITELY not going to be any nonsense where there is major reforming of conferences and somehow multiple members of the 65 (or 68 if you count the service academies) get left out in the cold so some new conferences can form and when 6-8 of the ones left out of the PAC 12 SEC and Big 10 ignore a ton of existing P5 members and start grabbing "markets" from the non-P5 schools while leaving existing P5 schools out in the cold especially since that would automatically be the weakest of the weak conferences and it would be some hodge podge of "markets" spread all over the USA with no history, no TV contract and a bunch of schools most of the P% wishes they had left behind for good
again if something happens the major players are not going to go crazy and make themselves all really really super tough power conferences of the SEC with top teams from the ACC and the Big 10 with top ACC teams and the PAC 12 with top Big 12 teams and then one conference of Texas Tech, WVU, UH, SMU, KSU, Cincy, USF, UCF three service academies and whoever else from "markets" or from anything else.....if they were to do that they would be planning on just finding a way to leave some collection of 4 from Army, Air Force, Navy, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Syracuse, WVU, TCU, ISU, KSU and whoever else for dead and move on with 64 and the reality is I don't think the service academies would really make a push to stay and that means that only one team needs the boot and again if they are busting up either the ACC or Big 12 to give one the boot they are not at the same time going to give a few more the boot and start mixing in Tulane, UH, SMU, Cincy, CSU, Boise or anyone else because to give the boot they need to bust up ONE conference not take the best of two conferences and then watch the rest of what is left of those two reform -1 to form a garbage 4th conference or worse yet start trying to form a garbage conference of "markets" that those "market teams" have NEVER delivered......they will end up right back where they are now with the left overs of the ACC and the left overs of the Big 12 trying to add teams to each be the last of the 4 "power conferences" when they are really a collection of teams that the power conferences wish they could ditch most of.....so the purpose of going to 64 would be DEFEATED.....and if they finally do it they are going to finally get it done period
the top teams from the ACC are not going to join the SEC or Big 10 and watch the teams they leave behind join up with the teams left behind in the Big 12 (minus one of them or minus one from the ACC) to be some horrible conference and again they are not going to watch their left overs pick up non-P5 members to form that horrible 4th conference while former P5 schools are left behind and those that are left behind are not just going to say "OK we were left behind" they are going to hold onto media contracts and access bowl contracts NCAA distributions and the like and try and add a few teams to keep those whole......and again you are at 3 power conferences and two mismatched weak conferences hoping to be the weak 4th power conference eventually
(This post was last modified: 05-25-2014 02:47 AM by TodgeRodge.)
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