According to a ESPN.com article, at least 10 teams have approached the ACC. Including Pitt and Syracuse.
Meanwhile, there are reports that Iowa State and Baylor have applied to be part of the Big East.
The article does not mention any of the 8 schools who have approached the ACC.
Poor TCU, finally gets into a AQ conference, and it might fall apart on the them. I cannot see the Big East going forward w/o Pitt and 'Cuse.
It’d be horribly difficult. Baylor, Iowa State and even Kansas and/or Kansas State wouldn’t help either in quality of competition or in reputation. They’d make it viable for the conference to continue as a BCS conference, at least temporarily.
But, honestly, at some point soon we’re going to have 4 super-conferences–ACC, SEC, Big Ten, PAC-nn–and as soon as those guys get together and vote, they’ll put themselves into a new college football championship division. Maybe including the champion of the WAC and the Big East in a bowl game against one of their third-place finishers.
It’s really looking like Missouri is going to be the last man standing here, with no where to go except on their knees to the Big Ten.
What about Notre Dame? They will have to break down or be odd man out.
As long as Notre Dame has that TV contract, they will continue to control their destiny. Remember, last year Texas was kicking around the idea of going independent because of the potential profits in TV revenue etc.
Personally, I don’t think ND deserves its own TV network, but I don’t get to make those decisions. And even though they haven’t been relevant for a very long time, they still have a national following. Money talks.
As to the OP, I am a Pitt fan and I have mixed feelings about it. I would love to see Pitt leave the Big East. I hate the Conference… it’s too big, the football is terrible, and adding TCU made no sense (except to TCU, who wants to be in a BCS conference).
But if I had my choice, I’d rather see Pitt go to the Big 10. Since that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, By all means, let’s go to the ACC. They are a good fit for the ACC in every way but geographically. But, so what? I’ll enjoy the basketball, and I’ll be very curious to see what the football ends up like.
I have to believe that Pitt and Syracuse are in, or this wouldn’t have been made public. We could find out as early as tomorrow.
Honestly, I didn’t think of Notre Dame. That was certainly a mistake.
I think they can make it as an independent. Financially, anyway. Also, I’m having a difficult time thinking of a BCS system, even with a 64 team super-conference system, that would not make room for an independent Irish.
Good point.
I think they will have to go Big 10,11.12,13,14,15,16. The big conferences could freeze them out or have schedules which would make ND unattractive. ND can not play Navy and Pitt every week.
When the conferences go big, they might break into 2 parts with enough league play to not allow Notre Dame a shot. You know they will have league championship games. That would be a big TV game. Then interconference games with the other huge conferences.
As long as A&M don’t leave the Big12… oh wait.
As with all amateur unpaid student programs, it’s all down to the $$$.
We’re at what, 12 game seasons now? So, OK, 7 games in division. Most teams right now play 3 or 4 out of conference games, so let’s make that 3. Then the super-conference teams can play two games within the conference, but out of their division.
They can still play the 3 out-of-conference games against anyone their little hearts desires. It still leaves room for the Colorado-CSU, the USC-Notre Dame, the Nebraska-Iowa State Teacher’s College (Cedar Falls).
I think you’ve made a pretty good assessment. Undoubtedly it will not prove to be entirely correct but based on what we know today it is hard to argue with it. I am bit surprised that Pitt and Syracuse would approach the ACC rather than beg to join the B1G. When the B1G talked about expansion, those two seemed to be among the most likely schools.
As I said in another thread, Missouri has to be camping at the door of the B1G headquarters. If this mess evolves into mega conferences and the B1G doesn’t take Missouri then they will be playing in some conference like the MAC. Missou is in a tough spot.
I would love it if Notre Dame became the Lehman Bros. of college athletics. Lehman was too arrogant and self-important to cooperate with their contemporaries when asked. When Lehman got in trouble, those same contemporaries just let them sink. Not a life raft in sight. ND had a great chance to join the B1G. They blew it, especially when you consider the basketball money. With 2 losses already they are probably out of the top football bowl games this year.
Maybe ND, BYU, Boston College, Oral Roberts, Liberty U., the Loyola Universities, TCU, Southern Methodist, Pepperdine, Fordham and a few others can form the “We Pray Super-conference”. Maybe they could have the Jesus Christ division and the Joseph Smith/Protestant Division.
If they go to 16 team conferences like many think they are headed ,that would leave little room for outside scheduling. If they broke into 2 divisions, that would give them 7 games locked in. Then they would have teams in the other division to play, and some of those would be long term rivals . So it would be possible that ND would be fighting for games .
And BTW, as I type this, BYU is getting the crap kicked out of them by Utah. 30-10 in the 3rd.
Comeback possible but not likely.
So the two “elite” independent teams already have two losses each in this young season. They are already looking at secondary or minor bowls. Secondary or minor bowls are almost always a money loser for the athletic program.
Oops, now 47-10 in the 4th. Comeback not likely.
Well that was quick. ACC accepts Pitt and Syracuse to the conference.
I would guess that ACC wants two more teams. The other Big East Teams seem to be likely candidates, UConn, Cincinnati are be my preference as an ACC fan.
I think Rutgers will end up in the Big 10, and West Virginia in the SEC. ACC doesn’t need another foothold in Florida (South Florida) and Louisville will not add as many households as Cincinnati.
Unfortunately, ND is a draw, which translates into $$$$. If they were to announce they were looking for a conference to join, all conferences would bend over backward to get ND in.
You make a good point about Pitt and Syracuse. I always thought the same thing about those two schools being a better fit for the Big 10. But there must be something else going on that drove Pitt and Syracuse to knock on the ACC’s door.
Last year when the conference changes were happening, I was a big proponent of Pitt getting into the Big 10. For many reasons, they are a perfect fit (Did you see how they tanked against Iowa yesterday? That HAD to impress someone in the Big 10).
But here’s the thing. As anyone knows who has been around as long as I have and is a fan or an alumni of Syracuse, Pitt, PSU, and a number of other eastern/northeastern universities, when the Big East was formed, PSU got stiffed, causing JoePA to have a hissy. Apparently, unless he dies (which I’m beginning to believe will never happen), a Pitt or Syracuse will never get into the same conference that PSU is in.
If JoePA is the reason Pitt and Syracuse decided to go knock on the ACC’s door, as much as I dislike that man, I would have to be impressed. That is a lot of power for one person to have.
The JoePA/Pitt thing may not be the problem, but it makes my dislike of JoePA so much more satisfying. 
However, unlike PSU, Pitt and Syracuse have basketball programs as well. Excellent programs. In the case of Pitt, leaving the Big East will be a risk for the basketball program, so perhaps the decision makers decided that if they were going to leave the Big East, better to pick your destination instead of your destination picking you.
Like it or not, the Big East was designed as a basketball conference, and has delivered on that promise. Pitt recruits heavily in the NYC area, and Jamie Dixon has been very successful in plucking kids out of NYC to play at Pitt. The Big East schools are a draw to the city kids because most of their games would be on TV and their championship tourney is played in MSG. It has been suggested that going to the Big 10 would kill Pitt’s basketball recruiting, so perhaps this attempt at the ACC is to get the best of both worlds. A much better football conference and a strong basketball conference that may keep NY kids interested in going to Pitt.
(I guess you can tell I’m passionate about this.)
Well, I missed this post or I wouldn’t have typed my opus.
Not sure how I feel about this. I’m glad Pitt is out of the Big East, but I personally wanted the Big 10.
The Big East is in big trouble. They still have a great basketball conference, but the football conference could hardly afford to lose two teams. Especially when the conference was a relative joke, BCS-wise. Not that Pitt or Syracuse will be huge losses to the football conference from a quality perspective. But as a Pitt alum, I don’t “feel” ACC.
<sigh> Once again, money rules the day.
IIRC, many people were opining that Pitt did not fit the “profile” of a B1G Unviersitry. i think some people called it a Commuter school w/o an on campus stadium. And it didn’t add to the B1G footprint for the B1G Network.
Syracuse? Even though I went to High School less than 80 miles away from Syracuse, I have no idea what that school is like. Syracuse it not nearly the metro area that Pittsburgh is. Back when I was in HS in the late 70s, I lived an equal distance between Syracuse and Albany airports. We always caught flights out of Albany so I just don’t remember Syracuse being that big of a town.
And here comes UConn. So who is going to #16.
Notre Dame would be happy to join a conference, should the need arise. Currently, every school in the Big Ten make more money from the Big Ten Network than ND does with its NBC contract. Other than scheduling freedom, they have little to gain by their independent status. Should the Irish suggest they’re shopping around, I can’t see a single conference that wouldn’t accept them.
I think you are right which is why I think they blew it when the Big 10 opened the door for them.
My earlier comment with the Lehman analogy was more a fantasy than a reality. ND can still call their shot to a certain extent but not at the price they wanted to extract a few years ago. Now they have a problem because the Big East is imploding and that’s where their basketball program is. I always thought that alliance was a huge mistake. If they were in the B1G now they would be in fine shape.
My idea for a great lineup (based on what the current forecast is) would be for Rutgers, ND, Kansas and Missouri to join the B1G. Then the rest could sort themselves out. I would rather have Syracuse than Rutgers in that mix but they have made their decision.
You are correct about Pitt. Although it isn’t guilty of being a commuter school as much as it’s guilty of being an urban school. I don’t know about every school in the Big10, but the ones I am aware of are more rural, with the school being the center of the town’s activities. If not now, certainly when the University was admitted into the Big10. Syracuse, I don’t know. But from what I’ve been told, Syracuse is a town that feeds off the University, which would make it a good fit for the Big10. As for adding for the network footprint, I can see that as being true. And Syracuse doesn’t do much for the Big10 in this regard, either. People think Syracuse = NYC, but it doesn’t. The Big10 not inviting Syracuse should have answered this.
The other reason I’ve often heard is the lack of a stadium on Campus. I can’t argue with this. Honestly, when Pitt decided to use the Steeler facilities, it may have been great for recruitment (although you’d never know it by Pitt’s record), but for setting a campus atmosphere, it destroyed it. Pitt Stadium was a relic, but it was MY relic, and many Pitt Alumni loved Pitt Stadium. Tearing it down wasn’t such a big deal to me… the stadium needed to be renovated badly. But Pitt decided to use the land differently, and instead went to Heinz Field with the Steelers. I’ve been inside the Steeler/Panther workout and training facilities on the South Side of Pittsburgh, and they are state of the art. They are also far from the Oakland campus. Heinz Field is a decent venue to watch a football game, but not nearly as intimate as Pitt Stadium was, an old-school oval stadium built around an oval track that surrounded the football field. To stay on campus, tailgate and go to the game was one of the great Saturday rituals in college. To have to get on a bus or in a car to drive to Heinz Field takes all of the college atmosphere out of it. Pitt Stadium should have been rebuilt on campus, preferably on the same spot.
These two reasons are what I hear most. If this is the case, it’s a shame. The people of western PA have a lot more in common with the folks in the Big10. They are part of the Rust Belt, They share a similar culture, and there are natural rivalries for Pitt already in the Big10. Penn State and OSU would both be huge games for Pitt. PSU has no natural rivalry in the Big10, and they have no bigger natural rivalry than Pitt, no matter what people think. After so many years, these two schools still have a great rivalry due to recruiting wars, geography, and family/friend interactions. My brother went to PSU, and we used to love to get together every November when they played.
I don’t know. Maybe with the passage of time, this doesn’t exist as much as I think it does. PSU has been gone from Pitt’s permanent schedule for so long, I’m guessing the athletes that go to either school have no memory of the rivalry.
PSU applied to the Big East in 1985, but was rejected. they needed 6 out of 8 votes and got only 5. I wonder what things would look like today if PSU got that extra vote.