That's the word going around now. Here's a link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nc...terested-in-other-teams/ar-AAZdzVS?li=BBnbfcL
Again, since it's all about the money, this makes sense. OTOH, adding ONLY ND would give the conference an odd number of teams: 17.
So I guess you would have 3 divisions, 2 with 6 teams and one with 5. Or two divisions, one with 9 teams and 1 with 8. Since there would be cross-division games anyway, I guess the odd number wouldn't really matter. And again, it's all about the money.
So the Big Ten after adding ND could sort out something like this:
East: Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State
Midwest: Purdue, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Illinois, Wisconsin
West: USC, UCLA, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa
OR
East: Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame
West: USC, UCLA, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Northwestern, Illinois
Anyway, based on these latest reports that it's Notre Dame or nobody for the Big Ten, that would make it possible to have four or even five viable "major" conferences: Pac-?, Big 12? SEC, Big Ten, ACC -- depending on how many teams the SEC wants to poach. It might also make the Pac-12 members who are talking to the Big 12 rethink things. We know it's money-driven, but geography would seem to be a close second. It seems the Big Ten would NEED to add at least a couple more schools from the Pac-12 to accommodate travel for USC and UCLA. Bottom line: right now it's up for grabs and nobody knows how it will shake out.
BTW: The Big Ten has had an odd number of teams before. It dropped to nine for a few years when Chicago departed. Here's the info from bigten.org:
"After nearly 30 years with 10 members, the conference consolidated to nine schools when the University of Chicago formally withdrew its membership in 1946. Michigan State College (now Michigan State University) was added to the Big Ten three years later, bringing the number of affiliated conference schools to 10 once again."
Again, since it's all about the money, this makes sense. OTOH, adding ONLY ND would give the conference an odd number of teams: 17.
So I guess you would have 3 divisions, 2 with 6 teams and one with 5. Or two divisions, one with 9 teams and 1 with 8. Since there would be cross-division games anyway, I guess the odd number wouldn't really matter. And again, it's all about the money.
So the Big Ten after adding ND could sort out something like this:
East: Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State
Midwest: Purdue, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Illinois, Wisconsin
West: USC, UCLA, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa
OR
East: Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame
West: USC, UCLA, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Northwestern, Illinois
Anyway, based on these latest reports that it's Notre Dame or nobody for the Big Ten, that would make it possible to have four or even five viable "major" conferences: Pac-?, Big 12? SEC, Big Ten, ACC -- depending on how many teams the SEC wants to poach. It might also make the Pac-12 members who are talking to the Big 12 rethink things. We know it's money-driven, but geography would seem to be a close second. It seems the Big Ten would NEED to add at least a couple more schools from the Pac-12 to accommodate travel for USC and UCLA. Bottom line: right now it's up for grabs and nobody knows how it will shake out.
BTW: The Big Ten has had an odd number of teams before. It dropped to nine for a few years when Chicago departed. Here's the info from bigten.org:
"After nearly 30 years with 10 members, the conference consolidated to nine schools when the University of Chicago formally withdrew its membership in 1946. Michigan State College (now Michigan State University) was added to the Big Ten three years later, bringing the number of affiliated conference schools to 10 once again."
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