NCAA Math: 101

It’s the time of year when NCAA sports conferences begin to toy with the concept of realignment. This year’s tinkerer: the Big Ten (which actually has eleven teams). Get out your blue books and a No. 2 pencil and get ready to do a little NCAA math. And, you need to show your work.

The Big Ten (eleven… see? there’s an 11 right there in their logo!) is intrigued by the idea of adding a twelfth team for four reasons, all having to do with football: 1) the prospect of a big-money conference championship game in December; 2) getting their champion a BCS boost by beating another ranked team in a 13th game; 3) avoiding the 6-week layoff their best teams endure before a BCS bowl game; and 4) the possibility of adding a new television market.

Of course this would then make the Big Ten (eleven) the Big Twelve—a problem since there already is a Big XII. Maybe the Big Ten (eleven) would continue their tradition by calling themselves the Big Eleven (twelve) even though they would have twelve teams. Hard to say.

For several years now, there have been discussions with Notre Dame about joining the conference, but ND has a lucrative NBC television contract and wouldn’t want to give up the schedule flexibility they have as an independent. Besides, their ego is immense and they would ask for the moon. They haven’t won anything in over a decade, but they still think that their poop does not stink.

That leads us to the Big East where the possibilities would be Rutgers, Syracuse, and Pitt. Rutgers may be the leader here. They have rebuilt their football program. They have a rather small football stadium (although it is the same size as Minnesota’s new home), but they would bring the coveted New York City/New Jersey television market with them. This would essentially double the audience of the Big Ten (eleven) conference. Also, Rutgers is a state school and not a city school, which the Big Ten (eleven!) seems to favor.

Pitt would bring a great rivalry with Penn State. After decades of playing each other, Paterno has refused to schedule Pitt for several years now. Wannstedt has indicated that he’d love to see the game revived. Other than that, Pitt wouldn’t bring much in the way of a new TV market. Syracuse is probably too far north and too far away from Manhattan to be very attractive.

Here’s the pushback. Would Pitt or Syracuse want to leave the best basketball conference in the country to go the Big Ten (eleven)? That would be like the New York Yankees deciding to go to the AAA International League next year. In the end, the answer is probably yes. The Big Ten (eleven) is, first and foremost, a football conference and there’s probably more money available to Pitt there than in the Big East. Then the Big East could replace them with Temple.

The other options for the Big Ten (eleven) would be Missouri or Iowa State in the Big XII. Iowa State should be campaigning to make the jump since they are irrelevant in the Big XII. But once again, with Iowa already there, the Cyclones wouldn’t be bringing any new TV sets with them. Missouri is probably more attractive. They are Midwestern. For the second year in a row, they were pushed to the bottom of the Big XII bowl games. Plus, they would open up a new geographical region for the Big Ten (eleven… twelve).

Should Missouri move, the Big XII would have to add a team so as not to become the Big XI, as the Big Ten (eleven) did. Most likely, they would then make amends for the sin they committed after the Southwest Conference dissolved in the mid-80s when they added Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor—leaving TCU, SMU, Rice, and Houston as orphans. Really? Baylor! Not TCU? How has that worked out for you, Big XII? They could admit their mistake and take TCU from the Mountain West Conference. I went to TCU. Ft. Worth, Texas, should be in the thesaurus as an antonym for the word “mountain”. Then the Mountain West could snatch Boise State from the WAC. You see? The universe would be back in alignment. Yes, I said the Big XII “sinned.” No, I am no longer bitter. Really. 

Personally, I hope Pitt is the choice. It would make tons of sense geographically, making it easy for other teams’ fans to attend. Wouldn’t it be great to see teams like Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan State on Pitt’s conference schedule? Wouldn’t that draw a bit better than South Florida and Connecticut? Plus, it would reignite the simmering hostility that exists between the Panthers and Nittany Lions. Finally, a rivalry that exists only on paper and around water coolers would grow into a yearly civil war. And, we could still schedule West Virginia as a non-conference Backyard Brawl every year. Such a move might make Pittsburgh a college football-town afterall. But, again, it would be potentially devastating to basketball. It would probably hurt all the recruiting they currently do in New York and New Jersey. Those kids are excited at the prospect of playing against U Conn, St. John’s, Georgetown, and Syracuse every year. How excited would they be to play Purdue and Minnesota? Not very. In the end, Pitt would have to decide if it is a football school or not, or if they want to be a basketball school in a football city.

Either way, it’s a pretty slow news day when this is all I have to worry about.