I must take a short break from helping Tea Party and Ron Paul libertarian candidates to discuss the REAL news: College football realignment.
Nebraska has voted to join the Big Ten. That’s not a misprint. the BIG TEN. Of course they make the league a twelve school conference which gives them the right to host a conference championship in football.
it started with the Pac-10. They asked Colorado to join their league. Apparently they are interested in several Big Twelve schools including Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. The Texas Board of Regents will voteTuesday. Texas A&M wants to join the SEC. The other Big 12 schools will have to play in a smaller conference or make their own deal. This will give the Pac-10 sixteen members.
I am a bit conflicted. Of course this is about money and more money. But shouldn’t there be a rule against tampering with another league? Is it in the NCAA’s best interest to keep stable conferences? Of course private parties should generally make their own decisions. But these parties are mostly not private, they are public schools.
The second half of my conflict is that I have no fan interest in the Big Ten or Pac-10 (or whatever the number is today). I applaud the Big Ten and Pac-10 for increasing the number of states that can play in the Rose Bowl. I enjoyed the victory of Alabama in the BCS Championship game held in the Rose Bowl. it was the first time since 1945 that the Crimson Tide were in the Rose Bowl. But they played in the Rose Bowl stadium not in the Rose Bowl. Southern schools have been shut out of the granddaddy of all bowl games since then until Texas played in 2003. (It was technically January 2004 but the season was the 2003 season) Travel issues wouldbe dealt with by two eight team divisions in the Pac-whatever.
It seems like the leagues are paring down. We’ll see.
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I’m impressed that Big Red is joining the Big 10. This upcoming year promises to be interesting. Go Big Red!