Quote:while the [NFL] draft should be another showcase for the SEC, many would be surprised if the Big Ten even gets mentioned at all... The first 32 picks will likely pass without a single player taken from Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska, Wisconsin or anyone in the Big Ten at all, even while a tackle from Central Michigan is projected to go off the board in the top five.

Quote:the Big Ten is dealing with some sort of on-field football crisis... The league has been stuck in a downward spiral since the 2006 season

Quote:forgetting that it ever had the gall to name the divisions Leaders and Legends in the first place... names that were a perfect representation of the league's pompous lack of public self-awareness

Quote:powerful in some respects... its power (read: money) and influence remain as great as ever... Until now, that is... when the ACC announced that all 15 of its present and future schools (including Notre Dame, which will be a partial member in football) signed a grant of media rights

Quote:We can still debate whether or not adding Maryland and Rutgers will ultimately be positive additions for the Big Ten... the Big Ten added a traditional power in Nebraska, but it also added two teams with a combined one BCS bowl appearance.

Quote:[B1G] hasn't had a quarterback drafted in the first round since Kerry Collins in 1995 -- and will likely come up empty overall in the first round for the first time since the NFL-AFL merger.

Quote:As college athletics reaches a moment of relative stability, the Big Ten is left standing still, facing its new reality, one in which it doesn't have nearly as much room to bully the rest of the college football world.

(04-25-2013 04:01 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  They got rid of those dumb division names - so they did that right.

(04-25-2013 04:04 PM)moo Wrote:  No, they can't do anything right. They just have their network and make more money than God. That's all.

(04-25-2013 04:06 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(04-25-2013 04:04 PM)moo Wrote:  No, they can't do anything right. They just have their network and make more money than God. That's all.

And of course there is all that research grant money, which is several multiples what athletics brings in for any of the "big money" conferences. After all, the reason we pretend that college football is anything but the professional NFL minor leagues is because its a lot easier to cheer for a sporting team than to cheer for the engineering and chemistry departments to work together to land a 1/4 share of a materials engineering research grant.

(04-25-2013 05:24 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  Hey, I never said I agree with the article by Matt Brown... I asked what YOU thought about it. I was hoping to get a dialog going. Mission accomplished.

(04-25-2013 05:24 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  Hey, I never said I agree with the article by Matt Brown... I asked what YOU thought about it. I was hoping to get a dialog going. Mission accomplished.

(04-25-2013 06:00 PM)Minutemen429 Wrote:  No, but you can't say your wording in the poll wasn't trying to sway the vote.

(04-25-2013 04:15 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I've been a much bigger defender of the ACC than most (I never thought for a second that FSU had any interest in the Big 12 or that UNC wanted to go to the Big Ten or SEC), but notion that they one-upped the Big Ten on any level is ridiculous. If the ACC ever bothered to do the things that the supposedly "can't do anything right" Big Ten was smart enough to do 7 years ago, then the ACC could have been the aggressors with their brands and geographic footprint. Instead, literally everything in conference realignment over the past 3 years was in *reaction* to what the Big Ten wanted to do. The fact that the ACC and, for that matter, Big 12 were able to save themselves and survive recently is admirable, but hardly a point to brag about compared to what the Big Ten has been able accomplish power-wise over the past decade.

(04-25-2013 06:11 PM)Tiger8589 Wrote:  

(04-25-2013 04:15 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I've been a much bigger defender of the ACC than most (I never thought for a second that FSU had any interest in the Big 12 or that UNC wanted to go to the Big Ten or SEC), but notion that they one-upped the Big Ten on any level is ridiculous. If the ACC ever bothered to do the things that the supposedly "can't do anything right" Big Ten was smart enough to do 7 years ago, then the ACC could have been the aggressors with their brands and geographic footprint. Instead, literally everything in conference realignment over the past 3 years was in *reaction* to what the Big Ten wanted to do. The fact that the ACC and, for that matter, Big 12 were able to save themselves and survive recently is admirable, but hardly a point to brag about compared to what the Big Ten has been able accomplish power-wise over the past decade.

You have your opinions just as others have theirs. Doesn't make either side right or wrong...that's all they are is opinion. The writer of the piece has just as valid an opinion as you or anyone else.

First off any Big10 discussion should start and end with it compared to the SEC...anything else is meaningless.

Doesn't matter what anyone really thinks in the grand scheme of things. If it's true the Big10 really did want North Carolina, Virginia, or whoever else it doesn't look like they had the POWER to pull it off. The Big 10 is fine today and for the foreseeable future but they face REAL long term challenges.

All the Big10 chest thumping is fine when talking about the ACC or whoever else but it stands to reason the talk should be more centered around is the Big10 ever going to close the gap with the SEC.

For goodness sakes.....I could care less but to make the statement the ACC has just been setting on the hands and have not done anything over the last several years to aggressively improve their brands and geographic footprint is simply not true.

Now while all may not fall in the 7 year category, for whatever that means, the ACC has added.

Florida St 1991
Miami 2004
Virginia Tech 2004
Boston College 2005
Syracuse 2013
Pittsburgh 2013
Notre Dame 2013 all sports except FB but a scheduling deal with FB
Louisville 2014

The ACC has more or less done all it could do over the years and somehow managed to stave off a serious raid. I thought they would get raided by the Big10, the implications would not have been felt AT ALL by the SEC because guess what they would have done the same thing if that ever happened.


As far as EVERYTHING in realignment being dictated by the Big10 that may or may not be true, who cares, everybody has an OPINION. One could also say the addition of Nebraska backfired because of what happened next.....Texas A&M left the Big 12 for the SEC, a move far more important in the grand scheme of things. The Texas A&M move is going to have monumental long term implications in regards to the power structure of college football.



So what exactly has the Big10 been able to accomplish power-wise? If the goal all along has been to remain a distant second behind the SEC one could say they have certainly succeeded in that regard, in fact an easy argument could be made the gap has even gotten larger between the SEC/Big10 after the last three years of realignment.

The SEC footprint, population wise, is expanding at a STAGGERING rate while the Big10 footprint is not. These population trends are going to continue over the next twenty years.

The SEC recruiting footprint, in terms of blue chip players, is so far ahead of the Big10 it's laughable. This gap is going to continue to widen.

So one could make the argument if the Big10 looks at the SEC as the only peer conference to them it has not done anything to close the gap.

The Big10 has it's own TV network....the SEC is about to do the same. Whatever the dollars come to I have no idea and neither do you but what I do know for certain is those millions can be invested and buy A LOT more of whatever in the SEC footprint that the Big10 footprint. Lets just use an example of say Rutgers/Missouri....random number here, give each 20 million today to build a practice facility, I would bet anything Missouri can get a significant amount more square footage than Rutgers for the exact same amount of money.

The Big 10 in reality has no more power today than ten years ago if you measure by the true measurement of the SEC/Big10 being peer conferences. The Big10 did not even dictate the terms of the new playoff format.


On a positive note: Maryland and Rutgers backed by the Big10 powerhouse brand can now go head to head with the Redskins, Ravens, NY Giants, NY Jets, NY Yankees, NY Mets, Nationals, Baltimore O's, NY Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and all the other pro sports teams in those regions....GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.


Read this carefully, this is what the guy wrote in the article that was referenced and remember everything ultimately comes down to players and winning when comes to dominate sports brands:

For three hours on Thursday, on two national TV networks, the NFL will hold a coronation for the most talented players in college football. Roger Goodell will dish out hugs, and this year's class of first-round picks will don hats of their new teams, saying goodbye to their alma maters as college highlights roll under the voiceovers of Mel Kiper and Mike Mayock. It's an infomercial for the NFL; it's also an infomercial for college programs and their recruiting pitches.
And while the draft should be another showcase for the SEC, many would be surprised if the Big Ten even gets mentioned at all.