Conference Shuffle

[vbfan19]

The difference, that I'm sure you're well aware of, is we would have like 30 more scholarships for our roster.

how do scholarships prevent injuries?
(and 22 is not "like 30"; and both subdivisions are able to have 85 players receiving scholarship money, with FCS having the ability to give partial scholarships to spread out their 63 total scholarships amongst 85 players)

[BrockLesnar]

That only matters for depth 63 vs 85, but we can't afford 85.

['70 Grad]

Add 22 (and would they need to be "full cost of attendance" to be competitive?) plus 22 women's scholarships. Any move like this would need to include TV money?

[BCPanther]

We should be proactively adding women's scholarships already. Bowling, Beach Volleyball, rowing, field hockey. That's 25.7 right there.

TV money would have to be a part of it, agreed. The absolute best scenario for us is the Pac 12 survives and raids the Mountain West.

[SteinPizza]

TV money would have to be a part of it, agreed. The absolute best scenario for us is the Pac 12 survives and raids the Mountain West.

Just speculating, but hard to envision that happening if the rumored scenarios about Oregon and Notre Dame joining the B1G come true. The SEC could then make a really attractive offer to the Arizona schools and possibly Washington (assuming they don’t get in to the new B1G), which would absolutely gut the PAC 12.

If I’m the Big 12, I’m throwing everything I can at all the remaining PAC 12 schools to form a semi-super league. Pick up the Arizona schools and Washington to stay in the game, so to speak, and bring the others like Colorado and Oregon State in too. All speculation, and there are several different ways to game this out.

[sevelev711]

I don't think it can be understated, if the FBS opportunity is ever genuinely on the table at any point, we will find the money for 40 scholarships to make that work upfront. If we get an MWC invite and the difference between yes and no is 40 scholarships, just shut down the school right now.

Now, I'll be honest, the lame, probably correct answer to all of this is that an FBS opportunity isn't coming for us. In fact I'm going to go ahead and say that the FCS as a whole won't be that heavily affected by this latest round of conference stupidity. Maybe one or two teams that are in key locations, but otherwise, it's not gonna be that much back-filling for quality, but backfilling for TV markets, which we, unfortunately, bring nothing to the table in. Even if one were looking at FCS schools that would be a good addition to whatever FBS conference without factoring in the TV market, I don't see us being that high, and factoring it in, I don't even think we're on that list. I think it's far more likely that one of the current FBS conferences implodes than we see much in the way of FCS ---> FBS shakeup.

[BCPanther]

Just speculating, but hard to envision that happening if the rumored scenarios about Oregon and Notre Dame joining the B1G come true. The SEC could then make a really attractive offer to the Arizona schools and possibly Washington (assuming they don’t get in to the new B1G), which would absolutely gut the PAC 12.

If I’m the Big 12, I’m throwing everything I can at all the remaining PAC 12 schools to form a semi-super league. Pick up the Arizona schools and Washington to stay in the game, so to speak, and bring the others like Colorado and Oregon State in too. All speculation, and there are several different ways to game this out.

I agree and I should've been more clear. The Pac 12 as it exists today is dead. Oregon and Washington are going to the Big Ten. Utah, Colorado and the Arizona schools are going to the Big 12. Who knows what Stanford and Cal end up doing.

Oregon State and Wazzu are boned and keep the Pac 12 name and fill with most of the Mountain West.

The leftovers of the Mountain West have to go east and fill with Montana, Montana State, NDSU, SDSU, USD, UNI, Illinois State, Missouri State, SIU and Murray. I'm not exactly sure who the Mountain West leftovers are going to be or if there will be any at all. The only thing that matters is that the conference charter exists.

This is finally the wave that breaks the public/private, football/non-football Valley. Bradley, Drake and Belmont get into the A10. Indiana State goes to the OVC and Valpo, Evansville and UIC end up back in what is essentially the Horizon but they take the Valley name and administration.

I think this is finally the big one.

[SteinPizza]

This is finally the wave that breaks the public/private, football/non-football Valley. Bradley, Drake and Belmont get into the A10. Indiana State goes to the OVC and Valpo, Evansville and UIC end up back in what is essentially the Horizon but they take the Valley name and administration.

I think this is finally the big one.

Interesting. I never thought of that, but makes sense.

Big changes like that could be even more likely as a domino effect of the SEC feeling pressure to make a big move themselves. Florida State, Clemson, the Arizona schools…it wouldn’t shock me if the phone lines are burning up between the SEC offices and the admin at Notre Dame right now.

[BrockLesnar]

Schools can get by without athletics, but that is an opportunity cost that also filters into the local economy. I hope we figure this out soon.

[sevelev711]

I agree and I should've been more clear. The Pac 12 as it exists today is dead. Oregon and Washington are going to the Big Ten. Utah, Colorado and the Arizona schools are going to the Big 12. Who knows what Stanford and Cal end up doing.
Oregon State and Wazzu are boned and keep the Pac 12 name and fill with most of the Mountain West.
The leftovers of the Mountain West have to go east and fill with Montana, Montana State, NDSU, SDSU, USD, UNI, Illinois State, Missouri State, SIU and Murray. I'm not exactly sure who the Mountain West leftovers are going to be or if there will be any at all. The only thing that matters is that the conference charter exists.
This is finally the wave that breaks the public/private, football/non-football Valley. Bradley, Drake and Belmont get into the A10. Indiana State goes to the OVC and Valpo, Evansville and UIC end up back in what is essentially the Horizon but they take the Valley name and administration.
I think this is finally the big one.

So the question remains, does this conference stay FBS or does it go FCS, assuming that that structure stays in effect.

[BCPanther]

So the question remains, does this conference stay FBS or does it go FCS, assuming that that structure stays in effect.

It's that group's ticket to the FBS. We HAVE to stay at the third level of football and that's going to be the G5 from here

[sevelev711]

It's that group's ticket to the FBS. We HAVE to stay at the third level of football and that's going to be the G5 from here

Gotcha. Personally, in a "MWC gets raided" scenario, I don't know if they'd go as far out east as we are, I think they'd definitely choose to shore up from the west coast, especially considering they'd likely lose at least two California schools, which they'd want to replace for that reason, quality be dammed. Certainly wouldn't complain about this scenario, though.

[BrockLesnar]

When the dust settles it looks like 2 power conferences with most of the heavy hitters. That would be the BIG and the ACC. The best of the SEC would be ACC. Everyone else will be 2nd, 3rd, or 4th tier, DIi, DIII, NAIA, and JC.

[Blue42]

When the dust settles it looks like 2 power conferences with most of the heavy hitters. That would be the BIG and the ACC. The best of the SEC would be ACC. Everyone else will be 2nd, 3rd, or 4th tier, DIi, DIII, NAIA, and JC.

It would be the SEC and B1G.

The SEC is running the show here.

[BrockLesnar]

It would be the SEC and B1G.

The SEC is running the show here.

That's what Paul Finebaum of the SEC Network said on ESPN on Friday. He said the two would be ACC and BIG. Perhaps, the SEC bottom half remain, but they would be tier two.