SEC Football Fans

Agree with your choices, except for Miami.  Louisville to rival UK, tech for UGA, FSU for the Gators, and Clemson for USC.

If I recall correctly, GA Tech was originally in the SEC, waaaaay back when. I'd welcome them back.

I've heard Texas A&M mentioned as a possibility, but IIRC it would require state legislation to allow it.

I think it's big enough as is but I'd welcome FSU and/or Georgia Tech.

Although it would be nice to see Miami get their butts handed to them on a weekly basis.

It's not so much that it requires legislation as it is that aggies in the Texas legislature are likely to block any Texas move that doesn't have A&M dragging behind them.  It's similar to when Ann Richards - Baylor grad - shoehorned Baylor into the Big 12.

I'd love to see A&M go to the SEC while Texas heads elsewhere.  Let's let somebody else treat the aggies like a doormat for awhile.

I agree on the east:  Florida State and Miami (Clemson and/or GT would be a good choices also).

On the west:  Texas and Texas A&M would be the first choices.  Of course, if your going Big 12, you could look at Oklahoma and Nebraska.  Other than that, you would have to look at Louisville and the others mentioned for the east.

Talk about some high profile games coming out of the west if they expand with Texas and A&M.  There would be some battles taking place.  Most of the east battles would be kept to the State of Florida, give/take Tennessee if they come back.

Texas has zero interest in going to the SEC, FWIW.  They'd rather go to a conference with good academic standing - they're the ones who fought NU & OU over admission standards when the Big 12 was being formed - and the SEC is anything but.  OU is a much better fit for the SEC than Texas IMO.

BTW, Kansas & KSU are screwed if this whole re-alignment happens.


Edited by JBrashear 2010-06-09 12:37 PM

GA Tech should definitely join.  Never understood why they weren't.

Besides, when UGA beats them every year, it'll count as a conference win.

Hunh?

The SEC is tied or above the Big 12 in almost every academic metric...

http://www.mrsec.com/2010/06/the-academics-of-expansion-a-conference-comparison/

The SEC is more choosy on admissions, more money per student, more research money.  I'm not trying to say that SEC schools are better than Big 12 schools, but to say the SEC is not focused on academics is absurd.

From your article:

* The SEC, Big 12 and Big East are similar in academic terms.  The only difference?  The prestige and reputation of AAU memberships.  The Big 12 has seven such schools on its roster.  The Big East has three members among its eight football-playing members.  But the SEC has only two schools in the AAU — Vanderbilt and Florida.  Don’t think that won’t come up if the SEC makes a run at a school currently in the AAU.

And also consider that Texas consistently grades above the average of the rest of the Big 12 in every academic category - especially the research spending, where they make up the lion's share of the entire league - so if you're going to speak about academics you have to consider that Texas' bar is higher than the Big 12 as a whole.  The conferences might average out near each other, but Texas is getting marks well above that average.  I'm speaking about Texas in my earlier post, not the Big 12 as a whole.  That's why OU going to the SEC is a lot easier to see, as an example.

Bring Texas back!

I would love to continue the Arkansas/Texas rivalry an a yearly basis!

FWIW, the scuttlebut going around right now has Nebraska committing to the Big Ten as early as Friday which means Texas is going to pack their bags for another conference.  This might be a very, very interesting weekend.

I saw that too.  But be honest.  Did you know what an AAU member was before reading that article?

Saying that the SEC is not big on academics is silly.

I’ll admit that I’m a little biased(being a Clemson Grad) but I think it makes the most financial sense to bring in Texas and Texas A&M in the west and FSU and Clemson in the east if those schools are available and willing.

Both GT and Miami have football attendance that averages less than half that of most SEC schools. On the surface, the Atlanta and Miami TV markets look lucrative, but there is a huge difference between the Miami TV market and the U of Miami TV market. The same holds true for Atlanta. FSU and Clemson bring SEC caliber fan bases and SEC caliber facilities to the east. They are also within driving distance of the other SEC East schools which is a huge cost saver when you look at the non-revenue sports. It gets pretty expensive to fly the women’s soccer team to Miami every year vs. driving to Tallahassee or Clemson. Clemson and FSU also bring bigger TV markets than you would think. Clemson is actually the 38th largest market in the country and I would guess Tallahassee would draw from the entire panhandle and be in that same neighborhood.

Texas and Texas A&M offer much of the same in the west. They may seem too far west for those in the SEC East, but for LSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Miss St they aren’t that far.

Yep.

Hey, some of the SEC is big on academics.  Just not the ones that are good at football.

Vanderbilt is good on academics!

 go west my longhorn friend... I could see Texas and Oklahoma being pac-10 schools, (even A&M tagging along for the reasons you stated earily) maybe one or two others joining the Big ten with Nebraska  and the big 12 being pretty much wondering what happened

Oh I think Florida would beg to differ.  (FL is one of the two AAU schools)

Funny I went to check out US News' ranking of Florida and Texas.  They tie at 47.  Ok we'll call it a draw

Oh I know, I'm just needling you.

Can we trade out Bama for somebody?

The most common scenario I'm hearing right now has basically the whole Big 12 South joining up with the Arizona schools and becoming 1 division of the new Pac-16.  Nebraska & Mizzou head to the Big Ten while Colorado, Kansas, KSU, & Iowa State get screwed something fierce.

I still think the Big Ten is a serious possibility for Texas as well.  I don't hear anything about Texas going to the SEC though.

Yeah, for someone easy to beat. Like Ohio State.

I'd rather see a UT vs Ohio State game than UT & A&M but that's just me..     I'd really be surprised if Texas does end up in the Big Ten though... I guess I haven't been following college football much since it seems all this happened pretty fast