By Brad Kulp, 50-Yard Lion Blogger PennLive.com
MEGA CONFERENCES...
Fellow Blue & White Brethren! Lend me your ear!
My name is Brad Kulp. You will see me regularly posting now on issues OUTSIDE the Big Ten and Penn State Football, but yet how it relates to the Big Ten and Penn State Football. I eat, sleep, and breathe PSU Football, and have an expansive knowledge of the college football landscape based on my journeys, interactions, and adventures around that landscape. My regular posting will be under the banner of "", and you have been selected to read the first run...
Could Penn State and Syracuse join each other in a college football mega conference? JOE HERMITT, The Patriot-News, 2009
Everybody's talking about "giant leagues" or "super conferences" in College Football. Some say this will destroy college football as we know it, others are completely gung-ho. We all agree that the current system is a huge pile of road apples. So what are THEY planning for the future?
Right now it appears the most logical setup is four leagues of 18 teams each. You take the current four largest money-making conferences, and tell the smaller guys in the lower conferences and independents: "first-come, first-serve."
Here is an opinion I have always held, and it constantly proves itself in application: "YOU ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR COMPETITION." For example, we have seen many small teams over the last decade, Boise, UConn, TCU, etc. increase their playability and leadership based on who they have played.
The SEC doled out over $12 million per team this past season in payouts...The BIG BAD SEC! The Big Ten? OVER $20 mill per team. OWNED. What does that mean? That means people who don't have any real skin in the Big Ten, are watching the network, and enjoying it enough to buy products from advertisers and such.
Smaller teams, smaller conferences would LOVE a piece of that. Imagine what that does for the ENTIRE SCHOOL? Not just the football program. The amount of opportunity it creates for future students and athletes. The communities involved with the colleges and universities. It's a win-win situation.
But, how would it work? Who would go where? Well, certain schools wouldn't go anywhere. There would have to be a conference like FBS for all the little guys to group together. Then, there are some schools that stink in football, but completely own in basketball and other sports, as well as academics. Duke or Vanderbilt for example. So how would a "Mega Conference" shape up for the Big Ten and the Nitts? Lets figure it out....
: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
ADD: Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt.
: Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern
ADD: Notre Dame, Missouri, West Virginia.
You could maybe throw Marshall or Kansas in here in place of others.
They are both in what I consider Big Ten Country and would make great additions to the conference.
This would ensure unbelievable match ups every year...
PSU vs Notre Dame...
Illinois vs. Missouri...
Notre Dame vs Michy...etc.....and it would all MEAN something, because now they are battling for the same TITLE.
Who WOULDN'T want a Penn State vs Pitt game for the Big Ten Title to happen?
THAT would be awesome!
I'm not going to TRY to get into" who would end up where"...no way anyone could tell as far as the rest of the NCAA goes.
Maybe FSU to the SEC? Maybe Clemson too. That would be a good fit.
Then maybe the ACC picks up UCF, East Carolina, or South Florida?
Georgia Tech to SEC would make for a huge in conference match up with Georgia every year. It's a shame the SEC has hold over most of the South, but not over the once Confederate capital of Atlanta. They would LOVE to have GaTech included.
Don't see Texas joining the SEC. I believe they will ultimately make a "Heartland" Conference or something like it, and keep most of your mid-America teams at home. They will want to make their own name as well, not be spread out and disseminated amongst the other conferences. But they better do it soon!
Think about it this way: All those awesome match ups every year between out of conference teams could NOW be in conference match ups, be even more vicious, and more meaningful.
The Big East conquers all in basketball, they can be mediocre in football. They will mostly stay put.
Finally, you would have the top two teams from each conference play in a "championship", and an extra team, possibly the overwhelming voted #1 gets a "bye" the first week. Who knows at that point.
With the "new" conferences, EVERY SINGLE GAME would almost be a marquee matchup.
So, within a few years, expect it to happen. It NEEDS to happen. College Football is completely corrupt, and we all know and see it, especially with events as of late. It needs a major overhaul and change to ensure it's continued strong existence and success....and Penn State University, along with Joe Paterno, for their blemishes, are still a diamond in the rough of this continually evolving outlaw landscape.
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