Talk of 12th Big Ten team misses out on Opportunity to expand league play
The latest talk surrounding the Big Ten Conference has been about adding a 12th team to the conference. This comes up every few years and makes sense given the fact the conference contains eleven teams yet calls itself the Big Ten. Brian over at MGoBlog takes a look at some schools he thinks would be a good fit as the 12th member of the conference. Here are his rankings for schools in the order he would prefer to have them join the conference.
1. Texas
2. Notre Dame
3. Louisville
4. Rutgers
5. Boston College
6. Nebraska
7. Missouri
8. Pitt
I don’t think there’s any question that a public school that is an academic and athletic powerhouse would be ideal, whether it be Texas, North Carolina, or perhaps even Virginia [excellent academic institution but athletics trail the other schools]. But given that each of these institutions is already part of a major athletic conference and none are in close geographical proximity to the midwest makes them all seem highly unlikely as candidates to join the Big Ten.
Jim Carty from MLIVE had a chance to chat with Michigan athletic director Bill Martin and the AD provided some more context for what type of profile an institution would likely have to have in order to be given consideration.
Q: How would potential new members be evaluated?
Martin: I know our presidents and chancellors, in any discussions, will ask whether the institution is an AAU (Association of American Universities) institution, that’s the top 52 research institutions in the country and a common thread among our institutions. Notre Dame did not fit in that mold, but there, they brought some other things to the table.
The Big Ten and Notre Dame have talked on and off about having the Irish join the conference but that seems unlikely to happen any time soon, if ever. That’s unfortunate because outside of not being a member of the AAU Notre Dame would be a very good fit. Aside from extreme long shots like Texas, UNC or Viriginia, or just long shots like Notre Dame, are there any other schools that really seem like good fits?
Rutgers University, the University of Nebraska, the University of Missouri and Pittsburgh are the only schools that fit when it comes to AAU membership. Each school has its benefits and drawbacks but in my opinion Pittsburgh is the best fit. They have a good history in football, ranking 21st in total wins. They clearly don’t have the tradition that Nebraska has, but the campus is located within the current geographical makeup of the conference. They also have a solid basketball tradition, winning over 1350 games, and have a much better history on the hardwood than the Cornhuskers.
Missouri and Rutgers trail both Nebraska and Pittsburgh in the major revenue sports. Rutgers’ one benefit is that they are located on the east coast and would potentially open up new media markets for the conference. But given the second class status college sports have generally held in the northeast it seems like a pretty big gamble given the Scarlet Knights’ rather meager athletic accomplishments.
So if the conference is really set on expanding and adding a 12th team the University of Pittsburgh seems like a reasonable candidate. It could work out pretty well with the Big East losing the Panthers but gaining Notre Dame in their place. However Bill Martin has been pushing to expand league play rather than add another team to the conference.
I’ve been pushing for…each school to play more conference games. I truly believe we owe that to our fans, to give them quality games, and you can’t get better quality than conference games.
Well, you certainly can get better quality games depending on which conference teams you don’t play. Missing Illinois and Purdue last year didn’t hurt much in terms of quality. But the point still stands: if Big Ten teams play 12 games [which seems to be the direction things are headed] then you can have one cupcake to open the season [a MAC level opponent], one high quality opponent prior to Big Ten season [Notre Dame, Texas, USC, Alabama, Tennesse, etc] and then play all 10 Big Ten opponents. Would I rather have seen Michigan play Illinois and Purdue last year rather than Vanderbilt and Ball State? Of course.
Given the fraud that is the BCS it’s probably best to play one creampuff, one very good non-conference opponent, and then play every team in your conference. Playing two very tough non-conference opponents sounds great but it’s unlikely to result in any teams from the conference competing for a BCS bowl berth outside of the Rose Bowl. Here are the two BCS bowl teams from last season that played more than one tough non-conference opponent:
Notre Dame: Michigan, USC, PSU
USC: Arkansas, Nebraska, Notre Dame
The Trojans had a legitimate case for being considered one of the best teams in the country while the Irish don’t really count since they’re not in a conference and got drilled by Michigan and USC anyways. Meanwhile LSU’s tough non-conference games included a 6-6 Arizona team and a 4-8 Fresno State team. Wake Forest’s tough non-conference game was a 4-8 Ole Miss team. Louisville’s tough non-conference game was against a 7-6 Miami team. The Gators rough non-conference game was against a 7-6 Florida State team.
So long as you schedule one very good non-conference opponent you should be immune from any complaints about your schedule if 10 of your 12 games are against conference opponents. The downside to this pipe dream is that Martin admits there isn’t much support for this concept. That’s too bad as it would provide the best of both worlds: one tough, high profile, non-conference opponent along with the potential of having a clear-cut conference champion. It would help to eliminate co-champions who do not play one another, which happened in 2002 when Ohio State and Iowa missed one another.
Would expanding Big Ten play be a home run like adding, Texas, North Carolina or Notre Dame to the conference? Of course not. However none of those are real options. Bill Martin pointed out that the Big Ten is very strong right now. They are not in a position where they really need to add another team just because 12 is a nice, even number. With that being the case the Big Ten could easily expand conference play if there was enough support within the conference to make it happen.
If the conference is determined to add a 12th team then Pittsburgh seems to make the most sense. But my preference would be to keep the Big Ten at 11 teams and expand the conference slate to have every team face one another.
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