Big 12 Expansion

hawkdrummer1

hawkdrummer1

Well-Known Member
We're often told by our "friends" to the West how superior the big 12 is to the BIG10. After losing Missouri, Texas A&M, Colorado and Nebraska, here are their primary targets for expansion:

Boise St
BYU
Central Florida
Cincinnati
Colorado St
UConn
Houston
Memphis
South Florida

You can draw your own conclusions.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
We're often told by our "friends" to the West how superior the big 12 is to the BIG10. After losing Missouri, Texas A&M, Colorado and Nebraska, here are their primary targets for expansion:

Boise St
BYU
Central Florida
Cincinnati
Colorado St
UConn
Houston
Memphis
South Florida

You can draw your own conclusions.
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my conclusion...woof.

Better add 4 of these dogs so they can be at 12 when Oklahoma and Texas leave ;-)
 
I have nothing against the Big 12 and think conference expansion is fun, if for no other reason than to give us something to talk about until Labor Day weekend. However all of these targets, while getting TVs in big markets (Orlando, Tampa, Denver, Cincinnati, Memphis, etc.), are the little brothers in their respective states.

1. Florida, Florida St and Miami own the state of Florida and most fans in Tampa & Orlando are probably more interested in those 3 teams than SF or UCF.
2. The Vols are the main team in Memphis.
3. Ohio State is the main team in Cincy
4. While Colorado may not own Denver like they did 25 years ago, I assume more people follow CU than CSU.

Again, wish the Big 12 well, but I don't see how long term this really adds any additional revenue and prestige to their league.
 
If they can get UCLA to jump ship......that might be the move Bowlsby needs to save the Big 12. Farfetched? Yeah, probably. If I am Bowlsby I am doing everything I can to convince UCLA to leave the Pac-12.
 
There's no reason for other power conference schools to jump to the Big 12. The other 4 power conferences have their TV deals locked up, and aren't in a position to have schools poached.
 
docholihawk said:
I would think there's less than 1% chance that UCLA would even think about joining the 12.
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Yeah, Kids that choose UCLA dream about road trips to Ames, IA... Manhattan, KS...Stillwater, OK... etc. Not a chance.
The reality is the big 12 is in nowhere's-ville with no easy connections or natural rivals. It's doomed. With the sexy West Coast in one direction, the football-strong SEC to the other and the $$$Big Ten on the another they look pretty weak. Getting any Power5 team to jump will be tough.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
Yeah, Kids that choose UCLA dream about road trips to Ames, IA... Manhattan, KS...Stillwater, OK... etc. Not a chance.
The reality is the big 12 is in nowhere's-ville with no easy connections or natural rivals. It's doomed. With the sexy West Coast in one direction, the football-strong SEC to the other and the $$$Big Ten on the another they look pretty weak. Getting any Power5 team to jump will be tough.
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The best they could hope for would be adding a 3rd time zone and having a "Mountain Division" with a group of teams like Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, and Colorado and/or Colorado State. In order for that to happen they'd have to convince Arizona and Arizona State to leave the PAC12 which I don't think is happening. I think this is best case scenario for them. Otherwise another option would be adding two more Texas schools like SMU and Houston but I don't think the other teams in the conference are going to want any more Texas schools involved.

The obvious answer is add BYU and Houston and then maybe Colorado State and Cincy, but that just doesn't spice things up at all. There's not much to sell there. At least if they were able to snag an Arizona and ASU combo they might be able to pitch it as a success instead of a desperate attempt to stay alive.
 
DP5555 said:
The best they could hope for would be adding a 3rd time zone and having a "Mountain Division" with a group of teams like Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, and Colorado and/or Colorado State. In order for that to happen they'd have to convince Arizona and Arizona State to leave the PAC12 which I don't think is happening. I think this is best case scenario for them. Otherwise another option would be adding two more Texas schools like SMU and Houston but I don't think the other teams in the conference are going to want any more Texas schools involved.

The obvious answer is add BYU and Houston and then maybe Colorado State and Cincy, but that just doesn't spice things up at all. There's not much to sell there. At least if they were able to snag an Arizona and ASU combo they might be able to pitch it as a success instead of a desperate attempt to stay alive.
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Oh I think they survive no matter what now. Texas is too caught up in being the Big Dog. Oklahoma whines about being second in charge, but that's as good as they are going to get anywhere else. Texas will make enough money from the awful LHN deal so despite the fact that they may have a little less money than if they were to go BIG, they like being able to push the little peasants around and have things go the way they want them to.
 
The idea of UCLA becoming a member was the most intriguing thing I have read. UCLA would have the same issues that Oklahoma would have if it moved to the PAC. Realistically can't see it happening.

It has been my observation that the Big 12 needs to do some subtractions before doing additions to its conference. I'm basing it entirely on football, geography, and the number of sports offered. In my estimation you add three or five team, at least three or four from the eastern time zone and another Texas school. You drop one of the current members so you end up with five or six in the eastern time zone and seven or eight in the central time zone. If expansion success rides on fundamental change you have to look at all possibilities and so far one has discussed if there is a member that really no longer fits into the conference.
 
They are already the worst power 5 conference...........so at least it looks like they'll retain their title!
 
DJL said:
People saying Cincy, Memphis, Houston, and BYU will be announced within two weeks.
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wow, talk about watered down. And talk about cultural mismatches... BYU and West Virginia?! insert your joke here.

So how do you split the divisions?

Texas/Oklahoma - Everybody else
or
W/E splitting the Texas schools

WEST EAST
Tech Houston
TCU Texas
Baylor Okie St
Oklahoma Memphis
Kansas ISU
KState Cincinnati
BYU Wva

Gotta believe they'll split Oklahoma Texas so they can meet in the Title game (I know Texas hasn't been close in awhile but they have the $$)
 
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Still not sure ISU can/could become a mid to pack team with those expansion options.

Anyone know if all newcomers would have to leave their defenses behind to join?
 
kicker22 said:
Still not sure ISU can/could become a mid to pack team with those expansion options.

Anyone know if all newcomers would have to leave their defenses behind to join?
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3 of them are well on the way, Houston, Cincy and Memphis ranked 73, 77 and 79 last year in total defense. But they were all still ranked higher than Okie St, K State, Texas, ISU Tech Tech and Kansas.
 
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