Expansion

[BourbonFalcon]

It's official. Nebraska to the Big Ten. This is going to get very interesting. I particularly enjoy Kansas complaining that their relatively small market and lack of stability in football is not excuse enough to leave them out in the cold if the Big 12 disbands. Do they actually think college football is about anything other than money?

[Globetrotter]

I think the sky is starting to fall. And I am not exagerrating.

It looks like the Big Ten is going to add at least Nebraska, maybe Mizzou too (but ND wants nothing to do with them unless they are forced to by the Big Ten going into the Big East.)
The Pac 10 is reportedly then going to add Texas, Texas AnM, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Texas Tech and Colorado. Colorado was questionable but from what I have read they have been the first ones asked.

That leaves the Big 12 with 5 teams in place. Kansas, Kansas St., Iowa St, Baylor and Missouri. They will likely get some of the western teams to join up and reform.

The reason that I say the sky is falling is because the rich are going to get richer, both in terms of money and probably BCS bids. The Pac-16 reportedly is pushing for 2 automatic bids. The middle class (teams in the Con USA, MWC) will get a little bit richer by taking the place of some of those teams in the Big 12 or combining with it. The poor (Sun Belt, MAC) have absolutely no power and will likely be making no changes whatsoever, unless it includes people being plucked from their conference.

If we could somehow add teams like Iowa St or Uconn or Marshall that would be amazing but I don't see it happening. They have no real reason to join us, we have no leverage.

The end result might be the power in the hands of fewer and fewer and the MAC and Sun Belt ending up somewhere between Div 1 BS and Div 1 CS.

From what I remember, and this may be wrong, we are a pretty old conference. Why have we done such a poor job of getting footing to expand. Has it been bad strategy and the desire to maintain the status quo. Or do we just naturally not have the resources.

[KeyWestParrot]

From what I remember, and this may be wrong, we are a pretty old conference. Why have we done such a poor job of getting footing to expand. Has it been bad strategy and the desire to maintain the status quo. Or do we just naturally not have the resources.

I have always maintained that the MAC's biggest problem isn't that they can't put out a good product on the field but it is all a matter of proximity. The MAC is located in the center of Big 10 country and there is just too much power there for the MAC to contend with. The Sun Belt has much the same problem being located in the middle of SEC territory, so the MAC isn't the only conference facing the same problem.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see the MAC and Sun Belt get better and more competitive with the 'BCS' conferences but I don't see that happening.....ever. The BCS conferences have too much money invested to ever allow anyone a chance to challenge their standing. They will do whatever is needed to ensure that they never lose their power. Just consider the fact that two Big 10 schools, Michigan and Ohio State, have put over $400 million in stadium upgrades over the past 5 years. That is just two schools and not counting the other schools renovations and Minnesota's new stadium.

So if any BG or UT fan thinks for a second that we can ever join the next level then you may have to reconsider what it will take financially to achieve this.

[Globetrotter]

From what I remember, and this may be wrong, we are a pretty old conference. Why have we done such a poor job of getting footing to expand. Has it been bad strategy and the desire to maintain the status quo. Or do we just naturally not have the resources.

I have always maintained that the MAC's biggest problem isn't that they can't put out a good product on the field but it is all a matter of proximity. The MAC is located in the center of Big 10 country and there is just too much power there for the MAC to contend with. The Sun Belt has much the same problem being located in the middle of SEC territory, so the MAC isn't the only conference facing the same problem.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see the MAC and Sun Belt get better and more competitive with the 'BCS' conferences but I don't see that happening.....ever. The BCS conferences have too much money invested to ever allow anyone a chance to challenge their standing. They will do whatever is needed to ensure that they never lose their power. Just consider the fact that two Big 10 schools, Michigan and Ohio State, have put over $400 million in stadium upgrades over the past 5 years. That is just two schools and not counting the other schools renovations and Minnesota's new stadium.

So if any BG or UT fan thinks for a second that we can ever join the next level then you may have to reconsider what it will take financially to achieve this.

A committment to building a good program. I would imagine the first step is paying the coaches. With the coaches comes the players. With the players comes the fans. With the fans comes the money to build new things. Bowling Green at one point was up there with the big boys. If I did not believe they could, with better marketing and decision making, make it back at some point I would not be a fan.

I am sure others can speak to this better then I. But something needs to be done before we end up in FCS.

[Warthog]

I am sure others can speak to this better then I. But something needs to be done before we end up in FCS.

Sadly, I am thinking that it may just be a formality until this happens.

[LowryFalcon]

Personally, I don't even care where we end up. I almost feel it will benefit us more to become an FCS school or if the Power Conferences do in fact leave the NCAA to form a super power guild of teams then yes, we should stay in the FBS. I would rather go somewhere where we can play for something. All we play for right now is a tiny bit of respect and a bowl game. And when we do make it to a bowl game all the commintators talk about are the up coming match ups of BCS teams. There really is nothing else to it. If we move we can possibly be a contender for a championship. We have done it before, we could do it again. Either way I will always be a fan of BG first and foremost. I am fed up with BCS school's and really could care less anymore about them. I really don't even want to watch that kind of football anymore. In all reality the BCS is turning into the NFL. You know most of the kids playing in the BCS are just trying to get into the NFL. They could care less where they play at or how much they win as long as they can get to the draft and make the cut and get paid. In the MAC, we have kids that play to win and play for glory. Most of these kids careers will end here and so they play with passion and pride. That is something that is long gone at bigger conference schools.

[Globetrotter]

Personally, I don't even care where we end up. I almost feel it will benefit us more to become an FCS school or if the Power Conferences do in fact leave the NCAA to form a super power guild of teams then yes, we should stay in the FBS. I would rather go somewhere where we can play for something. All we play for right now is a tiny bit of respect and a bowl game. And when we do make it to a bowl game all the commintators talk about are the up coming match ups of BCS teams. There really is nothing else to it. If we move we can possibly be a contender for a championship. We have done it before, we could do it again. Either way I will always be a fan of BG first and foremost. I am fed up with BCS school's and really could care less anymore about them. I really don't even want to watch that kind of football anymore. In all reality the BCS is turning into the NFL. You know most of the kids playing in the BCS are just trying to get into the NFL. They could care less where they play at or how much they win as long as they can get to the draft and make the cut and get paid. In the MAC, we have kids that play to win and play for glory. Most of these kids careers will end here and so they play with passion and pride. That is something that is long gone at bigger conference schools.

Most Ohio State players careers end at Ohio State.