the way it looks, SEC expansion is about 2 weeks away...

[windcrysmary]

Aggies appear to be leaving the big 12 in a few days it appears based on the AP report on the front page... I doubt they would be doing that if they had not already received assurance from slive that the SEC is ready to accept them.. the SEC "vote" was nothing more than an *** covering get together....

it appears the only question left is who will be the other team or teams...

 

[windcrysmary]

Aggies appear to be leaving the big 12 in a few days it appears based on the AP report on the front page... I doubt they would be doing that if they had not already received assurance from slive that the SEC is ready to accept them.. the SEC "vote" was nothing more than an *** covering get together....

it appears the only question left is who will be the other team or teams...

 

[AssEndDawg]

but I wonder when they will start playing SEC ball. Trying to do this without a 14th team will be a pain in the ***. My assumption is that if we gave them the wink and nod to go ahead that we already have a 14th team in the hopper, but you never know.

 

[memphodawg]

Not that this guy is any more informed than anyone else, but.....The dude that runs the aTm 247 site said he is hearing the 14th team will be Va Tech. aTm joins for the 2012 season and VaTech in 2013. The 14th team is all speculation right now but i would be in favor of VaTech

 

[windcrysmary]

that new contract with ESPN would be 17ing sick...

 

[Maroon Eagle]

The Hokies have long wanted to be in the ACC and they got in a few years ago thanks in part to political pressure from Virginia's then-governor and UVA lobbying for them. It won't be Clemson either because they're the reason the ACC was formed. My wild guess is that it'll be Missouri and there will be realignment of the divisions without complete regard to geography. It could be something like this:

Bryant Division: Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Mississippi, LSU, and Vanderbilt.
Neyland Division: Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

 

[thatsbaseball]

I think they`ll be split 2 and 2.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Another (and unwritten) consideration was preserving rivalries as much as possible. That's why I went with Vanderbilt. A nine-game conference schedule consisting of six division opponents, two permanent interdivision opponents, and one rotating opponent would work I think.

 

[TBonewannabe]

The Texas market is probably the best market the SEC can expand into and the conference realignment is going to go down like musical chairs. SEC can't afford to wait on other conferences to take a seat or we willbe left without a chair. We know Missouri was looking to leave last time the Big 12 got shakey but couldnt get the bid to the Big 10 like they wanted. I could see the SEC going after either NC or NC State also which would expand geographically and keep the East and West balance.

If we get Texas A&M and Missouri, Bama and Auburn make the most sense moving to the East. Both teams have ties to playing East teams like UGA and UT, and both teams have a kind of rivalry with UF.

Essentially superconferences are going to be like having a playoff. Four superconferences and you can have 2 BCS games that decide who plays for the national championship game. You can still have bowl games basically set up exactly the same way but have it rotating between which 2 BCS games decide who plays in the national championship game which is a week after BCS games now as it is.

 

[thatsbaseball]

nm

 

[TBonewannabe]

SEC already has the toughest schedules, this might make more sense if teams wanted to keep 8 conference games.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

If it is both Texas A&M and Missouri *and* we keep the East-West divisions, only one team currently in the West has to shift East, and that school would likely be Auburn.

 

[windcrysmary]

makes sense about them... maybe east carolina... heard somebody bringing that up the other day... would be funny watching the memphis and usm fan's having a fit...

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Other conferences are making the move to nine conference games. I wouldn't be surprised if the SEC does the same because of expansion. Concerns not mentioned with the move to nine are that schools will have five conference road games every other year *and* that six-game home schedules will become more common-- unless you have an athletics department that can successfully & continuously juggle the two-for-ones with the alternating conference schedules.

 

[JxnDawg39211]

we will start playing with 13 or 14 in 2012, or do you think the conference will tell TAMU to wait until 2013 to let us find another member in the next year or so to evenly seperate the divisions.

I just dont think the SEC will be able to get this done before 2012 with schedules already in place, etc. I think it would be good to go ahead and sign TAMU up, just tell them they cant join until 2013. This would allow us plenty of time to find another member worthy of an SEC invitation</p>

 

[Maroon Eagle]

The conference may want the Aggies to leave after the 2012-13 academic year so that they can accept new applications.

 

[Guy From Gulfport]

The Aggie Players & Coaches have been told as such.

A&M will end up paying Big VIIII around 10 mil, then split.

 

[TBonewannabe]

This is going to be an interesting ride the next month or so.

 

[FlabLoser]

The Texas market is probably the best market the SEC can expand into and the conference realignment is going to go down like musical chairs.

<div>Agree, and I'd be OK with the SEC taking more teams than aTm from Texas. Texas is more than EIGHT TIMES the population of Mississippi. It is more than 6x Missouri and more than 2x North Carolina. If this thing is about expanding the geographic footprint and adding TV sets, I'd even say there is more benefit in getting more deeply embedded in Texas than taking Missouri or North Carolina.</div><div>
</div>

 

[AssEndDawg]

they won't take a team from a state with an SEC team. Which means aTm will be it from Texas. I thinkt hey also made it pretty clear they were uninterested in conference realignment, so you can count on the 14th team coming from the East.

 

[windcrysmary]

if not, that will look strange

 

[MrHooch]

haha had to be said...

 

[Resolved]

*

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

[No message]

 

[cowbell88]

Since schedules are made so far in advance now, I can't even imagine how to add 1 or 2 more teams for 8 or 16 more conference games, without taking away an OOC game. I guess that's why I'm not an athetlitic director.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

...this season in order to fulfill the terms of a contract. Yes, this means that they have 10 PAC-12 teams on their schedules this season.

 

[xxxWalkTheDawg]

Then make Alabama - Auburn each other's cross division permanent opponent and call it a day. Keeps the rivalry intact.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

And when you have a third of the conference upset like that, it'll be difficult to approve expansion. The SEC will go to a 9-game conference season in football. And basketball scheduling will be interesting... 14 teams + Current SEC scheduling policy = 19-game conference season. Look for a schedule where everybody plays each other once, have 3 permanent rivals to play twice a season, and 2 rotating rival games per season for a total of 18 conference games per season.