It's a fair question...did anyone know back in 2010 and 2011, when the B1G first approached them? But, pose that question about Rutgers and Nebraska...different answer.

The B1G is picking off the big public academic giants. If FL is a target, it wouldn't be for FSU.

...the best thing this rumor does is force FSU officials to state their current whereabouts. An accountability check.

I'm not saying anyone is wrong. I'm just think Florida's population is to profitable for the B1G not to go after.

I'm giving more weight to that than FSU's AAU status, just my opinion. We are not talking about adding USF or UCF to get into the state.

FSU is a very unique case not much different from Notre Dame plus the B1G makes more money off the Noles than they would the Irish.

Consider this, the BTN is already in the state of Indiana, there are over 5.2 million cable subscribers in Florida. The BTN charges 15 cents to non-member states but a dollar for member states. Simply by adding FSU, the BTN adds over $53 million dollars a year. Adding Notre Dame adds $0 to the BTN because they are already in Indiana. Think about it adding FSU gets the BTN more subscribers than Maryland and New Jersey (not NY) combines.

I say it's about money and FSU gets a B1G invite. I think that would by the first Mike Slive mistake in a very long time. Letting such a valuable brand in your footprint go to your arch rival conference isn't very wise.

It was out there, but people figured that Maryland was in lock step with UVA/VPI and the NC schools so nobody really ran with it. But a simple google search pulled up a few articles including this one http://www.aolnews.com/2010/06/16/for-m ... ten-bucks/ from back in 2010.

To the Big Ten picking up the #2 institution in probably the #3 mot important state is not a bad idea any way you slice it. We're not talking about adding Iowa St, Kansas St, Oklahoma St, Auburn, VPI, or NCSU, we're talking about them possibly adding Florida State, which would be the same level as the SEC adding Texas A&M.

AAU status won't stand in the way, the only thing that might is geography, which is why I think UVA/GT are option 15/16, and FSU/UNC are option 17/18, (ND/BC are 19/20)

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Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

The AOL 2010 article was speculative, just as the current talk is. I think the B1G learned from Nebraska that's why Maryland had to sign that letter of secrecy.

I agree with you that the B1G goal is 20. I think FSU might be 15 to break up the ACC.

Seanbo: "Devil's Advocate, did anyone hear about Maryland joining the B1G more than a day or 2 before it happened?"

Seanbo, good question. In retrospect, the signs were there though the B1G kept it basically tight to the vest.

Which may go to the point, what level of certainty is there that ACC schools A, B, C, D, and E, shall be in conferences X, Y, and Z in months or a year or two from now?

On the one hand, there are declarations, in a hostile take-over exercise, that the B1G is going to swallow-up every AAU school in the ACC (minus, maybe, Pitt and Duke), with perhaps another or so from the B12, whether or not the given schools want to go there. On the other hand, there are the claims that the B1G is the great bastion of academic integrity focused on a great consortium.

If a school wants in the B1G, and the conference wants the school, let it be. If that is the situation with FSU, then no need for the B1G to be pretentious about it.

The ACC went down the path of using "preferred academic types" with their expansions, some of which has sorta bitten them in the butt. Nevertheless, all those schools wanted to go the ACC.

The B1G, SEC, and perhaps others, need to watch it. While they are lured to expanding by available quality names and market values, and have this new playoff mindset evolving, they can also find repercussions for their own expansion success. A conference that gets to 16-plus, 18, 20 or more schools, are inviting discord. Split-talk shall soon happen, the greater "haves' organizing to move away from the lesser within, with promises of greater mega-money from TV networks and advertisers. While some may not view that as necessarily a bad thing, it perpetuates more instability, and even among the biggest of them all may lose certain confidence in stability because of buying into the trend. The other factor is a potential diminishing return, which could even lead to "Temple-out" certain conference members.

The B10 is much more than an athletic conference.
It has a massive research consortium.
13 out of 14 current/future B10 members are AAU members.
With the exception of ND the B10 is searching for AAU members as a requirement for admission.
For the most part it also wants a large tv market.
The candidates the B10 look like are UVA,UNC,GaTech and UKansas.
I would guess they would offer membership to UTexas.

I think the point is in a perfect world the B1G wants 20 members in the 20 largest tv markets and all of them would be AAU members. Is this feasible? No of course not. What we do know is the B10 is willing to bend their principles if it meant gaining a quality member and also gaining lots of money (Nebraska). But we also know the B1G is willing to add less than impressive members based on TV markets and AAU membership (Maryland and Rutgers). That's not to say that after 10 years of making the big bucks they can't all become AAU members with quality athletic programs.

The only thing that seems to be required for B1G membership is above average academics, decent athletics, and a new (preferably large but not required) TV market for the B10 network. So yes, UNC, UVA, and GT are their first picks. But to draw them and ND out of the ACC it will likely take adding schools like Florida State AND Boston College whether or not they are AAU schools.

We knew Maryland and FSU were probably considering leaving the ACC when they voted against the exit fee increase. If the rumors are indeed true (though the source doesn't seem to be the best) then this is likely the B1G hoping they can shake things up in the ACC. I however don't think it will work.

No way bc or FSU.

bc not top notch in academics and poor in football and basketball.

You think BC doesn't have good enough academics?

I am talking an undergraduate ranking which is quite good,

BC does not have a medical school or a major engineering school.

While it does have good doctoral programs in some sciences areas they are limited as compared to the general nature of B10 schools and its massive B10 research consortium.

By the way its football and basketball programs are from being stars.

Let's turn this around on Rutgers...

I am talking an undergraduate ranking which are okay, they rank just behind Clemson in the 60's why BC is in the 30's http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandrevie ... B50/page+2

Rutgers does not have a medical school or a LAW school (extension campuses don't count).

While it does have good doctoral programs in some sciences areas they are limited because they are in New Jersey as it is an generally bad compared to the general nature of B10 schools and its massive B10 research consortium.

By the way its football and basketball programs are from being stars.

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Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

Nope! A new plan is out there!

The ACC has it's eyes on Northwestern, Purdue and Michigan (Notre Dame recommended these three).
The PAC12 is getting ready for adding Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
The Big12 is focused on Indiana, Michigan State, Maryland, and Rutgers (to build a physical connection to and around WVU).
The SEC shall take Illinois (new partner for Mizzou), Ohio State (after rehabilitation), and Penn State (after released from sanctions).

The ACC shall replace the former Big 10 for the Rose Bowl, a true east-west rivalry.

I heard that same thing !!!!
Especially Minnesota to the PAC (hey, the Minneapolis Lakers are in LA now, so this has been in the works for some time !)


It would be funny to see the tables turned. Sort of like when KMart came out of bankrupcy and immediately bought Sears (although that hasn't worked out so well).

Rutgers merged with UMDNJ before it was admitted to the B10

BC is far from being a major research university .

USnews ranking of undergraduate schools is certainly not a great measure for a research university.

Partially...Rowan got a nice prize, too. Nobody knows whether the merger will actually work...Rutgers' faculty were among those chiefly against it.

As for these new divisions...it screams a push for 16. In no way is that arrangement fair, or wise (seriously, are they going to share Nebraska like that with the four major "eastern" schools?).