MODS: Didn't know where to put this, please feel free to move it.

Interesting columns. What a different college landscape it would be if PSU went to the ACC instead of Big10. IIRC, PSU was the first domino to fall before conferences expanded in '91-92 (SEC, Big-12). PSU was admitted to teh Big10 in 1989?

http://pennlive.com/columns/patriotnews/jones/index.ssf?/base/columnists/1089105676178870.xml


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Little success for Penn State in a decade of Big Ten competition

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/sports/colleges/pennsylvania_state_university/9079258.htm

You'll find my not-too-recent post on the Dream Conferences thread was exactly this concept. Granted, had the ACC taken in PSU and FSU around the same time, they might not have even pursued Miami + 1. Man I would loved to have seen this.

I can't think things are that bad in the Big 10, however. My cousin's husband graduated from there and we talk college football a fair bit when together. He's pleased with the affiliation with Michigan, OSU and company. Yes, the travel was tough, but he loved Big 10 fans and college towns. Plus I don't think the ACC offers as many sports as PSU participates in.

Would PSU have been better off in the ACC? Who knows. Would the ACC be better off with PSU? Definitely.

I agree, it should be moved, and it has. ;D I love being a mod. ;) Interesting topic for sure.

Tigershark, in the future, please stick to the topic.

D&D, getting a little too controlling?

Let Tigershark speak! Although he believes Notre Dame has made this Big East deal to play football with them of which no one knows much about, his contribution is valued.

His remarks are crisp and to the point, though wrong at times! You and this Gunner guy may learn from him however.

PSU would be much better off playing in 30-40k seat stadiums of the ACC as opposed to the 80-100k plus ones of the Big Ten. Most teams would.

If you read a "Favor from the board," I took time to address this issue. IMO, Tigershark really didn't contribute to the main topic of this thread, but that is just my opinion. However, I don't want to kill the great support this board has either by being too controlling. I've been on some boards with some really controlling moderators and it was NOT fun!! Please remember that mods are human just as you are, and will make mistakes. :)

Penn St did just fine in the BigTen until Jerry Sandusky retired. Than things went downhill.

I now believe that the BigTen should stiff arm NotreDame after their flirtation last season and go after Syracuse/Pittsburgh to complete a dozen. The BigTen would then be a "Midwest-Northeast conference". It would cover up most of the major media markets and smother out the BigEast.

Personally I would prefer Syracuse since they are so close to the Michigan schools.

The hell with Notre Dame. It's actually kinda good to have them as an independent. They are a good measuring stick to compare the various conferences they play in and out of.

I think Notre Dame's future may be to form an informal "mini-conference" with current and soon to be indpendents (Navy, Army, etc...).

I doubt those stadiums will be that small for long.

The ACC is sporting teams like:
Miami, Florida St, NC State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Gergia Tech.

They will eclipse the remaining shards of stature that the BigEast had and will rival the SEC and BigTen.

Eventually, I think the MAC, Big East and Conference USA will end up forming two conferences between them as MAC teams start dropping out of 1-A football. The lucky few will get picked up by the BigEast. The others will go ConferenceUSA and SunBelt.

When PSU joined the Big 10, the ACC response was, paraphrasing, "we did not know you were looking to join a conference", and acted surprised. The reality is, PSU joined the top choice then, and they did not make themselves available for ACC expansion.

The Big 10 has large stadiums, the smallest one being Northwestern. In the ACC, only Clemson & FSU approach Penn State attendance levels.

IrishBuggy,

While we all agree that PSU made the wisest decision the second half of your post perpetuates a common canard (Apologies if your statement was not intended as such):

A) To think that a school's conference affiliation would be based solely on the comparability of stadium size is asinine. PSU to the Big 10 had more to do with shared relations, characteristics and goals with the other Big 10 schools compared to the ACC or any other league.

B) There is a discrepency between the ACC and the Big 10, but it's not as if the ACC is rife with 30k draws or that the every school in the Big 10 pulls in 80k. Only Wake and Duke will average less than 50k, with a league average near 54k.

C) Keep in mind PSU's old ambition to foster an eastern conference including Syracuse, Pitt, etc. The discrepency's there would be even more severe.

PSU football needs for Joe to retire at the end of the season
PSU is in the NE not the south,it does not belong in the ACC
PSU is an AAU school and belongs in the B10

That's was almost twenty years or so ago. Such is so remote today it is not worth even the speculation.

Rather than take the traditionalist view on this subject, I actually decided to ponder it in depth. The "Realigning I-A in its entirety" thread got me to thinking about this topic again. Considering all the haggling it took to get the NC schools in the ACC to accept BC and VT, I have to wonder if the NC schools would have done the same to PSU. In addition, I believe that sooner or later, F$U would have been added to the ACC. I don't think that F$U and Penn State would have gotten along too well in the ACC because both tend to like being the center of attention. While PSU is definitely not the center of attention in the Big Ten, it does have the prestige of being in the best academic conferences in I-A and, more importantly, it has easy access to Ohio recruits now. In the ACC, PSU may have gotten a few Ohio recruits, but not many. Another fact: the ACC stunk in football back then. There's a reason why F$U won a slew of championships since they joined: weak competition. The Big Ten is lot like the SEC in that there is a lot of parity involved. Meaning, if you overlook an IU or a Northwestern, it's very possible that they can beat you. Not so in the ACC. JoePa never backed away from a challenge. JoePa admired Bear Bryant, and desired to emulate him.