Monday, May 14, 2012

College Football Expansion = Stronger or Weaker Football?


Two years ago when Nebraska decided to leave the Big 12 for the Big 10 it caused waves across the college football landscape. Since that day the ACC and SEC have grown to 14 teams; PAC-10 became the PAC-12; The BIG 12 only has 10 members; The Big East is not that big; and space has opened up for teams like South Alabama and Texas San Antonio. Now Florida State is thinking about moving to the Big 12 for more money and more freedom (I hope this never happens). The landscape is becoming more lopsided than ever before, think about how much difference there is between Alabama and U-Mass, but yet both schools are supposed to be in the same league. So has all this expansion been good for college football? Yes and no. 

Yes some of the biggest TV deals ever are unfolding before our eyes and millions are left to be made. But on the other hand do we need a 124 teams all apart of the D-1A or what ever they want to call it these days. What does North Texas have to play for? Miami of Ohio will never win a National Championship so why do we have teams in a league who could never win the top goal? I know the answer is money, but looking at the large picture NCAA expansion has made for a weaker brand of football. Example ACC<Big East<U-USA<Sun Belt<FCS and anytime schools form the FCS (D1-AA) are added the Field gets weaker.

Even though expansion has made college football as a whole weaker, it has made some conferences stronger. Here is a break down of the current expansion and if there better off now than they was five years ago.

SEC:
During expansions the SEC has added Texas A&M along with Mizzou. To me the SEC has been the biggest winner of the expansion games adding two decent teams that add some large TV markets to the SEC footprint. Also the state of Texas and Missouri touch the SEC boundaries meaning there connected onto the Southeast United States. It's current 14 members:  
  • Alabama
  • Arkansas
  • Auburn
  • LSU
  • Mississippi State
  • Ole Miss
  • Texas A&M
  • Florida
  • Mizzou
  • Georgia
  • Kentucky
  • South Carolina
  • Tennessee
  • Vandy


BIG 12
So far their major losers in the expansion games, but they was left for dead and now are on the hunt. At one point over the last two year I thought the Big 12 was done. It looked as if some of the teams would be heading to the far West and others to the deep South. Texas kinda took everyone on there back and keep things going, but not before losing Nebraska to the Big 10, Texas A&M and Mizzou to the SEC, and Colorado to the PAC-12. They added Texas Christan which they should have done years ago anyways, and instead of going after Houston (what I would have done) they bounced across the country and picked up West Virgina. Why I would have went Houston over WV? TV market for one no one, and I think the Big 12 should keep it focus on Texas and the mid-west not the far east. Now there going after FSU and maybe someone like Clemson to join in with them to get them back to 12. Current 10 members:
  • Texas
  • Texas Tech
  • Texas Christan
  • Baylor
  • Oklahoma
  • Oklahoma State
  • Iowa State
  • Kansas
  • Kansas State
  • West Virgina

BIG 10
I really wish they would change their name to match the fact that they have 12 members now, but besides that they have been winners in the expansion games. They got the ball rolling by adding Nebraska a football power house and with 12 teams they can now have a conference championship game. To be the ones to start the whole super conference talk they have laid low after only getting Nebraska. At one point there was talk of Mizzou, Tennessee, and Notre Dame joining the Big 10. Another thing I like about there expansion is that didn't go out side of there geo. Current members:
  • Ohio State
  • Michigan
  • Michigan State
  • Penn State
  • Iowa
  • Minnesota
  • Wisconsin
  • Illinois
  • Purdue
  • Nebraska
  • Indiana
  • Northwestern


ACC
If they hold on to Florida State then I will say their doing okay. Their now 14 teams strong, but adding Pittsburgh and Syracuse doesn't do much for me. I know that gets you into the state of New York which has a lot of TV sets (mostly pro fans though) and Pittsburgh is a good market, but really doesn't add that much on the football Field. On the other hand the ACC has always been a big basketball league and both of them schools do well on the hardwood. That's why I grade them at so-so, yes its better, but whats really the point. Current members: 
  • North Carolina 
  • North Carolina State
  • Clemson
  • Florida State
  • Miami 
  • Wake Forest
  • Maryland
  • Duke 
  • Georgia Tech
  • Pittsburgh
  • Syracuse 
  • Virgina Tech
  • Virgina 
  • Bostion College

PAC-12
At one point they looked like they would become the first "super conference" as they was trying to go to 16/18 teams. Texas decided to stay put and they ended up with only two new members, and it's really not an improvement. Utah I can see, they have had some really good seasons and they bring the Salt Lake market with them. BYU should have been the other team they added because it would have been a natural rivalry to Utah and they play a good brand of football. Colorado has a history of being a good program at times and gets you into a new time zone along with Denver market, but it's really not a good fit. I thought Boise would fit in well with the PAC-12 sure they wouldn't give you much as far a TV market goes, but the Boise St gives you a solid football team upping the level of computation in that league. So I'm not sold on what Scoot has done so far in the expansion games. Current members:
  • USC
  • Cal
  • UCLA
  • Stanford
  • Utah
  • Colorado
  • Arizona
  • Arizona State
  • Washington
  • Washington State
  • Oregon
  • Oregon State

Big East
Much like the Big 12 the Big East was raided for teams, but we've seen this before. Now the Big East which looks like its on life support sometimes has gone after some mid level schools to try and get back some of what it lost. Pittsburgh and Syracuse left for the ACC and West Virgina bolted for the Big 12 and Louisville has been putting its name out there as well. There rebuilding by adding Memphis, Central Florida, SMU and Houston from C-USA. Temple will be joining full time as well. Then to help them stay relevant in football they added Navy, Boise State and San Diego State yes that's right Boise Idaho and San Diego in the Big EAST ugh. The Big East looks to survive the expansion games, but much weaker and less organized now. Current Members:
  • Rutgers
  • Cincinnati
  • Louisville
  • U-Conn
  • South Florida
  • Memphis
  • Central Florida
  • Houston
  • SMU
  • Temple
  • Navy (football only)
  • Boise State (football only)
  • San Diego State (football only)
  • Marquette (no football)
  • Georgetown (no football)
  • Notre Dame (no football)
  • DePaul (no football)
  • St Johns (no football)
  • Seton Hall (no football)
  • Providence (no football)
  • Villanova (no football)
Moves by other conference during the expansion games: U-USA lost Memphis, UCF, SMU, and Houston. There was talk of them merging with the Mt West, but that never happened so they added some more teams to fill the gap. New full time members will be Louisianian Tech, North Texas, Florida International, North Carolina Charlotte, Texas San Antonio. The Sun Belt lost three teams and is adding two with Georgia State and Texas State.

-Patrick Pierce
Follow me on Twitter @Patrickp13

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