Tweaking the SEC.

[Cohendawg]

Last night a friend got me thinking. He went to USM, and said he thinks within the next 10 years USM will make a push to join the SEC. I told him he was a complete idiot and that wouldn't happen. But what about USF? I could see them wanting to leave the Big East, possibly moving to the ACC and either Florida State or Miami replacing someone in the SEC East.

I know nothing will happen, but its fun to move em around and think about it.

 

[was21]

asdf

 

[Cohendawg]

nfm</p>

 

[redbird4state]

nm

 

[msudawg12]

the SEC changing, at all

 

[was21]

at least one more to go along with them on the East. A&M would of course join the west.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

give e'm a 17'n inch they will take a mile. & we recently opened that door.

Delusional... Mustard Buzzard.

 

[AssEndDawg]

the entire purpose of growing that big was to have a championship. So for anyone else to come in someone would have to leave. I only see two, amazingly remote possibilities. Vandy decides to focus entirely on academics and leaves the SEC and lowers their sports program. Or, Arkansas leaves the SEC to join the Big 12 for some reason. There is no scenario where anyone else leaves the SEC.

Vandy just recently struggled with the sports vs. academics issue and they never even mentioned leaving the SEC. This makes me think that it won't happen. Why would you give up the payday when you can just stay mediocre and keep cashing checks? Plus Vandy does compete in basketball but not so much so they would want to be in a basketball focused conference. In short, not gonna happen.

Arkansas has always felt like an outsider in the SEC. Their history leans more toward the Big 12 and their fans have never fully embraced what it means to be in the SEC. That being said, neither history nor the fans make the decisions and the people who have power understand that the SEC is the best conference in the nation. They also understand that they aren't going to get an eleven million dollar a year paycheck from anyone else. While I could see the fans being ok with Arkansas moving to the Big 12 it will not happen. Every year they seem to be more SEC focused so I think at some point their standoffishness disappears.

As for the teams, keep in mind that to join you must be voted in unanimously. USM will never get a vote from MSU and Ole Miss. I personally think Florida State would be a good fit for the SEC but Miami would get vetoed by Florida. If someone were to leave (which they won't) I think Clemson and Florida State would be high on the list.

 

[JacksonDevilDog]

USM talks a lot of ****, but they are only a real competitive player in football. They have a good baseball program, but just did something on the national scene for the first time this past season. Their basketball program is horrible and they barely draw 1,000 per game. It's like their fans look at football and say, "We can compete in the SEC" but they forget the other multiple sports to compete in.

 

[rebelrouseri]

Ok, how do we make up the money? Prior to the ESPN contract, the SEC led the next biggest money conference (big 12) by a good margin and led the other conferences by a huge margin. Schools will not voluntarily leave the SEC and we aren't expanding past 12. USM is delusional.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

More specifically Texas, Texas A&M, Fla. State, and Miami, and perhaps others.
This was about the time they all joined other conferences(respectively). I do think the SEC would strongly consider a 14 team league, if we had the right fit.

No waythe SEC takes teams like USM, with their stadium, and attendance....plus other reasons.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

It would just add one more conference game, so you would still have 3 OOC games, just like on the 11 game schedule. It would generate a shitload more revenue, may make divisional races more interesting and make more fans of the conference. We wouldn't be scrambling to pay little schools or going on the road to ******** places like MTSU, since only needing 3 is easier. I'm sure there are some negatives as well, but I can't think of them now. It's an interesting thought

 

[windcrysmary]

the buzzards add nothing... it's why memphis could never get in...memphis is already sec tv country....

adding ark and sc added two new tv markets to the sec

a&m would be good... miami would be huge for the south florida market but previous post was prolly right, gators would reject

 

[patdog]

any additional revenue. Also, its only schools like MSU, UM, and Vandy (i.e. schools that don't have $80M budgets) that are having trouble scheduling games with the 12th game. Schools like Florida, LSU, Bama, etc. love the 12th game and the 4th OOC game.</p>

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

but then again might not be...but, I'd bet that there are.

 

[AssEndDawg]

the buzzards add nothing... it's why memphis could never get in...memphis is already sec tv country....

adding ark and sc added two new tv markets to the sec

a&m would be good... miami would be huge for the south florida market but previous post was prolly right, gators would reject

is they won't go without Texas. Texas doesn't want to go without Oklahoma. I think it would be cool to have Texas and TAMU in the SEC (even though I don't consider the Texas shtick to be "Southern" so it doesn't really fit our conference personality) but I don't think it would happen. I think both Clemson and FSU would jump at the chance to bail on the ACC. Again, not gonna happen but it would be interesting. Also agree on the TV markets, it would be a huge factor.

 

[was21]

in the SEC and they'd have more money than anybody else, but that he thought Texas would probably be more likely to move further west..like the Pac10...Arizona in there and they're not on the Pacific Coast. Of course, that was before the deal with ESPN that the SEC has, in which dollars played a large part.

 

[FlabLoser]

The only reason we have 2 teams is because we've been in there so darn long.

I think Mississippians don't realize how small Mississippi is. We have about the same pop as Arkansas. The next smallest southern state has 50% more people than us.