(05-22-2012 10:39 AM)Panthersville Wrote: When will you guys learn? All this stuff rolls downhill in a clearly-deliniated path. The only conference that is likely to be destroyed in the bottom conference in FBS. ACC will raid Big East and survive as a conference way ahead of Big East and CUSA, but behind the other four. Big East and CUSA will be fairly indistinguishable, and the SBC will have to get more move-ups.
I really wouldn't be so sure about that. It's clear that no matter what happens, the ACC and Big East are going to be on the outside looking in, so you have to imagine all of those schools are looking for a way into the SEC, Big 12 or Big Ten.
FSU/Clemson to the Big 12, would the Big 12 go past 12 members? If so who do they take? Louisville had long been thought to be Big 12 bound, Georgia Tech's name had come up as a possible team to go with FSU. You could make a pretty decent Southeastern block for the Big 12 with FSU/Clemson/GT/Louisville and get them to 14 members, would they consider going to 16? Miami? With everyone else bolting could Pitt pull a TCU and never play a snap in the ACC and go along with WVU? Notre Dame?
Would the Big Ten consider adding UNC/Duke? They're definitely a bit out of footprint, but if UNC/Duke wants a seat at the table, they're going to have to sacrifice on academics or hope that the Big Ten will take them in. A couple of years ago there was Syracuse and Rutgers scuttlebutt to the Big Ten. Notre Dame?
As long as Notre Dame is available, I doubt either one of the Big Ten or Big 12 goes to 16 members, but I think the Domers might finally be strong armed into joining a conference.
The SEC is still sitting out there at 14 and VT/NCST has been a combo linked to the SEC for a while now.
If the SEC/Big Ten/Big 12 all go to 16 members, that's an additional 12 schools to be added, now of course one of them could be Notre Dame and I suppose there is the outside chance one of them could be BYU, but even still that's 10 schools going from the ACC/Big East. If that happens, you may see a merger of those two conferences with little to no trickle beyond that.
My real question in this whole matter is what the Pac 12 does? If the trend becomes 16 teams, I just don't see anyone out there that the Pac 12 can add. The one option that makes sense is BYU. There's not another school that makes sense from a geographic/cultural/quality standpoint. They'd never take Boise due to academics and then who else is there? You think the PAC would ever take schools like UNLV, UNM, SDSU...? I don't.