(02-03-2018 10:13 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  If the proposal is for each P5 conference to add ONLY G5 schools (not Notre Dame), then for the Big Ten I'd add either UCF and USF or Colorado State and one of UConn, Cincinnati, or Buffalo.

UCF and USF give the conference arguably the best pair of G5 schools. Everyone recruits Florida but having these two opens it up further for the conference. They have a huge collection of alumni which pay off more in the future as they donate more and more money back to the school. The Big Ten has a lot of retirees down in Florida to help enhance the attendance of UCF and USF. Lastly, the ACC and SEC would likely pass on these two so the conference would only have to fight off the Big 12 for them. The only problem is their distance from the conference but they make a great travel pair so that helps alleviate it.

My philosophy for Big Ten expansion is that they have to help out Nebraska to make them feel more like a Big Ten school. Grabbing Colorado State gets them games back in the state of Colorado that they miss from their old rival Colorado. I think it would be too far a stretch to add Houston and SMU so that's why I went with CSU. As for their partner, it is hard for me to narrow it down. UConn has the basketball pedigree and a strong fan following but doesn't provide anything in football or in a recruiting territory. Cincinnati would be a defensive move to keep other conferences from grabbing arguably the top all-around G5 school out there but they really don't add much as they have the misfortune of sharing a state with Ohio State. Buffalo would be a long-term play that would hopefully pull in the whole state of New York and is AAU.

If the B1G were taking G5 schools in Texas, I’d think they would be more inclined to take Rice and SMU to appease the academic interests in the conference. It still gets them in DFW and Houston, and makes BTN easier to implement with cable operators in the state. This not only helps Nebraska but the entire conference. Northwestern gets another private school, everyone gets Texas recruiting, and Big Ten baseball teams can play conference games at Rice and SMU early in the season.

If the B1G went to pods with those schools:

West - SMU, Rice, Nebraska, Iowa
Central - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern
North - Indiana, Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan
East - Michigan State, Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland

Protected football crossovers: Iowa-Minnesota, Michigan-Michigan State, Ohio State-Penn State