1) Is it the end of the college sports world? Again? Obviously the news of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten dominated the sports world in the last week. And now everybody is talking about what happens next. And I keep thinking...what if nothing happens next? The Big Ten has 16 teams. The SEC has 16 teams. Those numbers makes sense. Scheduling is pretty easy. To add another team, it has to be a team that is going to help the bottom line, which means it's a team that's going to have to be worth well over $50 million a year. Notre Dame is. Is anybody else? I don't know. I'm not saying nothing else is going to happen. But every time there's a move or two, everybody immediately goes into Armageddon mode. We've buried the Big 12 like a dozen times. Even if there are more moves (and there probably are) maybe it isn't automatically a 40-team super league with everyone else told to go sit at the kids' table.
2) I think there are three potential scenarios if this is the beginning of the end as we know it.
*The SEC and Big Ten take everyone they want, they are the two major leagues which basically stage their own playoff and nobody else matters at all. In this scenario, Notre Dame is involved. I have to think schools like Oregon, Washington, Florida State, Clemson and Miami are involved. There are probably others. It would require the Big Ten and SEC to get to at least 20 teams each and maybe more than that. It's possible certainly.
*The Big 12 and the PAC 12 more or less consolidate into one conference. I don't know which name they would use. Maybe they'd just form an entirely new league like the Big 12 did when the Big Eight and the SWC came together. But there are 12 Big 12 teams and 10 leftover PAC 12 teams. Maybe they just all go into one. Or maybe some of them do and there are a handful of schools (Man, I wouldn't want to be Washington State or Oregon State right now) left sitting at home. Either way, there's enough there to maintain status as the fourth major conference, the playoff gets reworked, there's an automatic bid for each of the four major conference teams and 4-8 at large bids and off we go for a while.
*What if there's some combination of those two? What if Oregon and Washington join the Big Ten to give USC and UCLA partners? Then what's left of the PAC 12 merges with the Big 12, giving that league 20 teams? Then the ACC falls apart with the SEC and possibly the Big Ten picking off the teams they want? We end up with three conferences with about 20 teams each? I don't really know if that's possible, but honestly, I have no idea what's going to happen so let's just throw out every possibility.
I think realignment in general has been a negative for college sports. But it's fun as hell to follow, especially when it doesn't really impact the school you cover or cheer for. And, again, like I said above, I'm just throwing stuff against the wall. I don't have a clue what's going to happen.
3) Friday marked a decade since Missouri officially became a member of the SEC.
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