PAC 12, ACC, and Big 10 in Talks to form a "Formal Alliance"???? Yahoo Sports

[candycorn]

According to Yahoo Sports...yes.

Report: Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12 in 'high-level' discussions about forming official alliance

The three leagues reportedly have not "expressed serious interest in raiding what's left" of the Big 12, either.

www.yahoo.com

From the link:

State sponsored schools wasting millions of dollars on meaningless games is, of course, a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money. Nothing says this more clearly than the AZ State Sun Devils traveling to Piscataway in January to play Rutgers. On the Football end of it; the deal likely won't matter so much in terms of on-field competition. The PAC 12 is not likely to get a toe-hold in the South with this move in terms of recruiting. Troy Aikman famously said once that the reason UCLA appealed to him was that he had lunch at Gladstones in Malibu while being recruited. That might work with some guys from Oklahoma...not so much with guys from Florida.

What might be interesting is how the remaining schools in the Big 12 react. These once-proud sports teams err universities are seemingly out in the cold with this re-alignment. Really; who wants to go to Morgantown to play a football game if they don't have to.

A question that arises with me is that as the conferences grow...how long will it be until there are more games scheduled to feed the beasts? Are you going to end up with a SEC SW Division so a nod can be made to some sort of regional sectionalism because soon they won't be able to play everyone in their conference if this keeps up. The ACC/PAC12/BIG 10 conference: 38 schools (if the conference is formed)....

Nutty.

 

[AMart]

Knee jerk reaction to the SEC adding Texas and Oklahoma....those conferences telling their fans hey look we are doing something lol. They might try to create some OOC matchups with upper tier teams. In Basketball the Big Ten ACC challenge is what 2 decades old old now? No ASU vs. Rutgers isn't the goal, maybe OSU vs. USC or Clemson.

Regarding voting they might try to align to make sure they get teams into an expanded CFP.

 

[candycorn]

Knee jerk reaction to the SEC adding Texas and Oklahoma....those conferences telling their fans hey look we are doing something lol. They might try to create some OOC matchups with upper tier teams. In Basketball the Big Ten ACC challenge is what 2 decades old old now? No ASU vs. Rutgers isn't the goal, maybe OSU vs. USC or Clemson.

Regarding voting they might try to align to make sure they get teams into an expanded CFP.

You're right...that isn't the goal...but it is what is going to happen by necessity if conventional wisdom prevails.

 

[candycorn]

Looks like it may happen:

Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC near agreement to align in response to SEC expansion

The Pac-12, Big Ten and Atlantic Coast conferences near an agreement to join forces, a source familiar with the discussions confirmed to The Times.

www.yahoo.com

From the piece....

A 41 team conference. Wow.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Sounds like a pathetic and pointless attempt to take on the dominance of the SEC.

 

[candycorn]

Sounds like a pathetic and pointless attempt to take on the dominance of the SEC.

I agree.

What the ACC/PAC12/BIG10 are missing is the simple fact that the SEC is much tighter. By that I mean the following.... Clearly Alabama has separated itself from the herd. Its the cream of the crop. But for all of the other schools as well as Alabama on select Saturdays...there are no off weeks really. There are like 10 teams in the SEC who can be beaten by any other SEC school or beat any other SEC school (outside of Alabama). And there are a few teams that can give 'Bama a run for their money. I fully expect Bama to go unbeaten this year but it won't be because there is no competition. They are simply a superior product. As for the other teams in the Conference...its a week-in and week-out slugfest. A&M could go 10 and 1 this year; or they could just as easily go 6 and 5. You don't know the outcome just by looking at the schedule It makes it incredibly exciting if you're a fan.

Now compare that to Ohio State playing Maryland or Wake Forest. If they wanted to and if it would show up in the standings...OSU could split their squad on a couple of Saturdays and beat them both on one day. LOL. Its good to pad the stats but as an observer, it isn't a compelling match up for me. A&M vs. Florida...that would be compelling