Big Ten????

[Bison bison]

AAU membership will be a major determinant of which school the Big 10 ultimately admits as its 12th member.

Who wrote this?

[kurosawa]

The following article was published this past week in The Bleacher Report, although this is not my original source for this information. An interesting article throughout, but take special note of the seventh paragraph.

NDB2, your Bison loyalty is charming in its own sweet way, but you are out of your league.



Texas Is the Perfect (Darkhorse) Candidate for Big Ten Expansion
by Chris Burge


Recently, as a result of comments by Wisconsin A.D. Barry Alvarez, rumors and discussion about the Big Ten adding a 12th team have abounded. Most of these rumors involve a certain school from South Bend; the rest generally involve the conference looking East (at Rutgers, Syracuse, or Pitt) or west (at Mizzou, Nebraska, or Iowa State).

However, the best candidate for expansion may not have received any press at all yet, due largely to their isolation from the rest of the conference: the Texas Longhorns.

While this may be a surprising suggestion to many, Texas is, even with the geographic barrier, the strongest possible candidate for the conference, even more so than the Fighting Irish. Texas has every factor the conference is looking for: strong teams in all sports (both men's and women's), strong academics, and perhaps the most important factor, huge drawing power which will benefit both Texas and the conference financially.

Texas is generally regarded to be one of the best sports programs in the nation. The school currently is ranked in the top five in football, men's basketball, women's volleyball, and men's and women's swimming and they are expected to rank highly in men's tennis, men's and women's track, and baseball as well. The Longhorns football team is undefeated and playing for a national title, certainly a desirable position for any program.

They've also managed to build up some repertoire with Ohio State over the past five years and have a series scheduled against Minnesota in the future. The Longhorns also benefit from the Big Ten's better bowl tie-ins, including births in the Rose Bowl, the Capital One Bowl, and the Alamo Bowl close to home if the Horns happen to have an off-year.

Academically, Texas fits better than any school mentioned yet for expansion, including Notre Dame. Texas' US News ranking is 47, which is equal with Penn State and higher than six current members, but UT ranks in the top 25 in just about every individual subject area measured.

They are also, unlike Notre Dame, a member of AAU, a current requirement for Big Ten membership (and one far more likely to stand than any geographic rules), and are an RU/VH university in the Carnegie classifications, just like every current member of the Big Ten, signifying very high research activity. As a large, public, flagship research university with a national reputation, Texas is exactly the sort of school the Big Ten wants to associate with.

Texas' biggest argument, however, is economical. The Longhorns, very simply, are the biggest brand name in sports right now, having surpassed the Big Ten's own Ohio State, according to a recent article by John Maher in theAustin American-Statesman.

The Longhorns are one of the few athletic departments in the country who not only do not lose money, but in fact give money to the school's academic departments.

Tickets to a game against the Longhorns in Ann Arbor or Columbus, and even in Bloomington or Iowa City, would be snapped up in a heartbeat and the same thing would hold true for teams visiting Austin. The travel costs would increase, but the increased revenues would more than outweigh the raise.

Texas has a strong national fanbase and would be able to sell 4,000 tickets for any conference away game and, though it might be more difficult, would likely be able to sell 19,000 tickets for a championship game in Detroit or Indianapolis. The biggest argument, however, is for television revenue.

The Longhorns have been looking at the posibility of creating a national cable network to gain more exposure and revenue outside their home base of Texas, but with the Big Ten Network, the Longhorns have a perfect match: a place to showcase their non-revenue sports and the occasional football mismatch, events currently relegated to local television stations in Texas.

Texas also brings three of the largest media markets in the country—Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. The Longhorns dominate these markets in college football and the Big Ten could really benefit from the addition of three strong media markets.

There are of course, two main arguments against looking at the Horns: one is, of course, geography. The Horns' farthest opponent in the Big 12 is closer than the closest Big Ten team and current Big Ten rules require teams to come from states that are home to or else border current members. However, the extra money the Longhorns bring, plus the exciting rivalries likely to develop, will more than outweigh this argument.

The other is, of course, the fact that the Longhorns are already in a conference and quite comfortable in it. While this is true, Texas has no lasting love for the Big 12. The conference was a shotgun marriage and while Texas has certainly made the best of it, they've not developed any significant rivalries they didn't already possess, except perhaps Kansas in basketball. Texas could still play Oklahoma and Texas A&M annually in non-conference and have room for two buyout games.

One other key factor in adding Texas, rather than most other suggested school, is that it gives the conference a clear geographic divisional breakdown, with Texas joining Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern in the West Division and Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, and Purdue in the East.

While the Eastern Division sounds more loaded based on the names of the programs, the West actually provides five bowl teams, including the best team in the future conference, the third-best, and the fifth best. Only three of the schools in the East would have been bowling this year. Also, the Big Ten can finally have a championship game at a domed NFL Stadium like Lucas Oil Stadium or Ford Field. The winner would almost be assured a spot in the championship game based on the strength of the conference; Rose Bowl seasons would be considered failures.

Texas took a good, long look at the Big Ten in 1992, when the end of the SWC was imminent, but the geographic rule and the moratorium on further expansion instituted after Penn State's admission, combined with in-state political pressure, kept the Horns from getting a serious look at expansion.

Now, the moratorium is gone, the politicians long since voted out of office, and the geographic rule insignificant. Texas looks like the Big Ten's best shot at a 12th team capable of making the conference the most powerful in the nation.

[Bison bison]

The Bleacher Report is your source?

I used logic. You said AAU membership is a major determinant. That is false as the #1 choice, Notre Dame, is not a member.

You keep saying I'm out of my league and then you quote a second rate article that DOESN'T BACK YOUR ORIGINAL STATEMENT.

Quit trying to spin this.

[kurosawa]

You asked, "Who wrote this?" I provided the most recent example, with the caveat that it is by no means my original source. The AAU issue is widely known by reputable reporters and those who follow the Big Ten closely (although evidently not by big-time wannabes with delusions of grandeur).

I wrote that AAU membership is a (underscore "a") major determinant--not the major determinant--for Big Ten membership.

Something's obviously under your skin about this whole issue--something, I suspect, that has to do with some kind of pugnacious funk you're in about the Bison's lack of national stature and respect and its dismal FBS-membership prospects. Tell you what: if you choose to believe that AAU membership is not a major determinant of Big Ten membership, then that's fine with me. Or even if you want to consider me an ill-informed fool who makes rash and unsubstantiated statements, that's fine too. Either way, I'm outta here.

[NDSUstudent]

He actually said AAU membership and research was a major component as well. He even called NDSU an average regional research institution. I believe NDSU does more research than Notre Dame, by about $30 million. I guess NDSU is pretty average...#128 in total research(out 668) and #41 in schools that don't have a med school(out of 538). NDSU is ahead of a number of BCS schools if you want to talk about research, I won't start with the WAC or even MWC.

So the school the Big Ten covets the most, lacks the two academic qualities kurosawa highlighted. But they don't lack a great football tradition and huge fanbase that is very capable of extending the Big 10 Network.

I am fully aware NDSU lacks everything needed to be in the Big 10. But academically I think NDSU would be very attractive to the WAC.

[Bison bison]

You asked, "Who wrote this?" I provided the most recent example, with the caveat that it is by no means my original source. The AAU issue is widely known by reputable reporters and those who follow the Big Ten closely (although evidently not by big-time wannabes with delusions of grandeur).

I wrote that AAU membership is a (underscore "a") major determinant--not the major determinant--for Big Ten membership.

Something's obviously under your skin about this whole issue--something, I suspect, that has to do with some kind of pugnacious funk you're in about the Bison's lack of national stature and respect and its dismal FBS-membership prospects. Tell you what: if you choose to believe that AAU membership is not a major determinant of Big Ten membership, then that's fine with me. Or even if you want to consider me an ill-informed fool who makes rash and unsubstantiated statements, that's fine too. Either way, I'm outta here.

dude. being a member of AAU is not a determinant - period.

i think you're a person who made an incorrect statement, either by mistake or err in logic. either way it's been pointed out and you won't back down.

[Facts]

Isn't how you weigh a research institutions worth based on how much reseach money you have coming in? If Ohio State has a huge faculty to serve those ~40,000 students , then they are going to have more professors getting grants to fund their research and more money simply based on numbers... Right?

[Twentysix]

Boys, boys, boys...settle down. What's the point? Does this sort of urinating match solve anything? Do you feel better about yourselves if you "win" a contest of insults and put-downs like this? Are our egos so fragile that we must derive self-respect from the teams we root for?

Let's be friends and stick to the facts in this discussion, shall we?

--At their respective levels, North Dakota State has a far better track record in football over the last four decades than Minnesota. No questions about it--you can look it up.

--The crucial point in the above statement is "respective levels." NDSU could win three or four FCS championships and still not garner the national attention Minnesota would by finishing in the middle of the Big Ten pack and winning the Champs Sports or Alamo Bowl. That's no criticism or put-down of NDSU or a puffing up of Minnesota--just a statement of the way things are and always will be in college football.

--It's conceivable that NDSU might one day, years in the future, gain entrance into one of the mid-tier western-states FBS conferences (the Mountain West or WAC, perhaps), although a lot would have to happen (mostly in the way of substantial facilities and financial upgrades) even to accomplish that. But no matter how dominant NDSU might become on the field--even if, as is highly unlikely, it excelled in the Mountain West (more likely it would languish in the middle of the pack or lower)--there is NO WAY the school EVER would gain admittance to a BCS conference, for two very simple reasons: television market and academics.

TELEVISION: It's the name of the game in sports today--no great secret or revelation in that. And North Dakota, as one of America's least populous states, simply couldn't supply the demographic to satisfy the networks and consequently deliver the bucks to conference coffers.

ACADEMICS: Every school in the Big Ten, and I believe the Big XII as well, is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), the esteemed consortium of the top 65 or 70 research universities in the country. AAU membership will be a major determinant of which school the Big 10 ultimately admits as its 12th member. I'm not pointing this out to puncture any pretensions or delusions some of you might have had about Big 10 or Big XII membership; I'm pointing it out simply to underscore the often-overlooked importance that academic stature plays in conference membership. It's why schools like Cincinnati and Louisville would never be seriously considered for Big 10 membership, no matter how good they are on the field or court. For what it is, NDSU is a good school, but "what it is" is a fairly average regional institution lacking any sort of high-powered research program.

So be content with your lot, Bison fans. You root for a school that is off the map and the radar of big-time college athletics. Excel at your level; take pride in winning championships that will be noticed mostly in places like Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Youngstown, Ohio, with a smattering of national attention in the FCS world. To want more, or even to pretend that a whole lot more is possible, is to invite bitterness, frustration, and the temptation to take senseless envy-motivated potshots at Minnesota.

What about boise st? If they were transplanted to fargo i betcha big 10 would come a knockin.

If NDSU did move to WAC or MW and had the success boise has had i guarantee a BCS conf would be knockin.

Though our location makes more sense for Big 12 ultimately as a BCS conf then big 10.

[TheBisonator]

NDSU is just about a top-100 research university, although I agree that still wouldn't be enough to be in the AAU. But NDSU has more research dollars and offers more doctorates between Minneapolis and Moscow, ID/Pullman, WA. Not Big XII material, but please don't call us an "average" research school. UND is more of an "average" research school.