Death of a Conference...
Mizzou has made it official.
I'm not sure when to say college athletics changed for the worse. The Big 10 added an 11th member in 1990 and the SEC went from 10 schools to 12 in 1991. Are those conferences to blame? Or does one look at the most recent raiding of the Big 12 and Big East? The ACC, Big 10, SEC, and Pac 10 all benefitted from this.
Conference realignments over the past year have made 3 things clear to me:
THE ERA OF FOUR...Four conferences are calling the shots: ACC, SEC, Big 10, Pac-10 (now Pac-12). If one is not a current member of these conferences, the hope is to become one so that your future is secure and your college athletics matter.
FOOTBALL RULES!...If this were not the case, conferences would have been fighting over KU left and right. As it is, KU was largely an afterthought to all playing this game.
GEOGRAPHY DOESN'T MATTER...A school's history, rivalries, and academic standing matter little when it comes to conference considerations.
I realize I'm largely repeating what I've already written about, but this really does frustrate me.
When I graduated from K-State in 2007, I was proud that I had not only earned a degree from a quality institution, but that I had been connected to a conference, the Big 12, that made sense.
What I mean by that last statement is this: the conference, as new as it was (1996), created good, solid rivalries with institutions that shared similar academic standards and geographies--both physical and cultural. Yes, CU is a good cultural fit for the Pac-10. Yes, I will always question why Iowa State is part of this conference rather than the Big 10. And yes, OSU is a step below the rest academically. But it still made sense. Rivalries were long standing between many of the members and fans could easily travel to other venues to watch their teams.
How quickly things change. The Big 12 found itself reeling with the loss of Texas A&M this year after Nebraska and CU jumped ship last year. The conference responded by adding TCU, which does make sense, but last week it was announced West Virginia would be joining the Big 12. Who in their right mind lumps Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, and...West Virginia together?
Today, Mizzou bailed for the greener pastures of the SEC. In light of this latest departure and with the severing of conference ties and Band-Aids that have been applied to stop the bleeding, I am left with only this thought: The Big 12 is dead.
RIP Big 12. I looked up to you as a conference during your glory years, but no longer.
posted by The Bearded | 1:27 PM
4 Comments:
Meanwhile, CU is finding some tough sledding in the football stadiums of the Pac-12. What are you doing for Thanksgiving?
Btw, your comment about Penn State joining the Big 10 in 1990 got me curious because I didn't think that it had been that long ago. It turns out that they didn't actually play a Big 10 football schedule until 1993. The next year ('94) they ran the table, including a Rose Bowl victory over Oregon, but didn't win the national title, which went to stupid Nebraska. Had Penn State not joined the Big 10 and been locked into the Rose Bowl, they probably could have played in the Orange Bowl and beaten the Huskers!
DEER SLAYER...
YES...I have plans for Thanksgiving; my mom is planning to visit. But thanks for asking--I'll let you know if plans should change.
1990 vs 1993...Penn State joined the conference academically in 1990, but athletically in 1993. I stand corrected(?).
NO, Penn State would not have won the national title. EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE, knows that the Huskers were the best team that year.
Well, I wasn't trying to correct you per se. I was just curious about when Penn State actually started playing Big 10 football. As for the question of who really was the best team that year, like so many other years in college football, I guess we'll never really have a truly satisfying answer because it wasn't decided on the field.
Enjoy Thanksgiving. We'll have to get together sometime soon again, although it might not be until January. What are your plans for Christmas and New Year's?
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