Per Dennis Dodd Tweet, SEC team 14 is...

[Dann]

how is ncst not being looked at? blah blah were with the ncaa to death, they would be a huge market for the sec

 

[UConnRock]

What Virginia and Missouri have going for them is that there would be no in-state political battle which is something the SEC would have to deal with for Virginia Tech, or NC State. Additionally they wouldn't be stepping on their own toes in terms of recruiting and TV markets like they would with FSU and Clemson.

My contention all along is that NC State would be the perfect fit for the SEC in terms of border rivals (South Carolina and Tennessee), a large football market that is somewhat untapped (Duke is Duke and UNC tried but got caught cheating). An SEC team in Raleigh/Durham would totally sap the energy out of ACC football in the area. I just don't know what the politics would be like in North Carolina to allow this to happen.

 

[mattp]

i think people are overstating some of the politics. VA "forced" the ACC to take VTech not because they think their two BCS state schools have to be in the same conference, but b/c they thought the BE would die leaving VTech out in the cold. i don't think VA legislature would make the SEC take an all or none deal with UVA/Vtech unless they thought the ACC's existence was threatened, which i don't think it would be. if the SEC had decided just to take VTech 10 years ago, i don't think the Virginia gov't would have even gotten involved.

 

[uc1974]

The politics are not being overstated. My family has been in Va. politics and state government since before the Revolution. Currently, I have a cousin who is a state senator from a district that does not include UVA or VT. He tells me that the Commonwealth legislature would have a major fit and would seriously attempt to bar any move by VT without UVA. Many legislators want the schools treated equally and having one in the SEC and one in the ?ACC won't do. As for North Carolina I have no particular insight but would imagine there would be some rumpus as well . SC didn't protest when USC left the ACC some 40 years ago but it was for different reasons and actually left USC screwed for many years until the SEC came calling.

 

[Jax Husky]

The WVU talk is just chatter. It is going to be Missouri. If they eventually go to 16, then who knows.

 

[buckley503]

I heard that the SEC is not going to add a school from a state already represented by current SEC schools so lets drop Clemson and FSU for a minute. I'd assume that the choice would be between VaTech and WVU. VaTech adds DC but the SEC is so national already they don't need to add markets because people are already tuning in from every market. There has not been a huge difference between the VaTech and WVU football programs over the last few years and the WVU basketball program is head and shoulders above VaTech basketball. I know football drive expansion but adding WVU finally gives the SEC someone to compliment Kentucky in basketball.

I guess those 2 Florida National Championships a few years ago in hoops doesn't impress you?

 

[upstater]

The SEC wants new media markets, which is why they want WVU. It would be a good fit for both parties.

That media market is excellent. If you're a furniture dealer from SEC territory, this is great news for you.

 

[freescooter]

I guess those 2 Florida National Championships a few years ago in hoops doesn't impress you?

And that, my man, puts the whole thing in perspective...in other words, "the national championships in what???"

 

[RS9999X]

The Missouri and WVU boards are reliving the Civil War. They look North for education and culture but have more in common with the deep South in economics.

Playing and traveling to Mississippi is almost a deal breaker in itself . It's clearly a money deal. There's no other upside. WVU and Missouri may never see another BCS game again. Play in the BE and they would be BCS kings! And never travel to Mississippi

 

[upstater]

I heard that the SEC is not going to add a school from a state already represented by current SEC schools so lets drop Clemson and FSU for a minute. I'd assume that the choice would be between VaTech and WVU. VaTech adds DC but the SEC is so national already they don't need to add markets because people are already tuning in from every market. There has not been a huge difference between the VaTech and WVU football programs over the last few years and the WVU basketball program is head and shoulders above VaTech basketball. I know football drive expansion but adding WVU finally gives the SEC someone to compliment Kentucky in basketball.

This makes no sense to me. Add a teeny market like Morgantown and WV or else a national brand that will attract eyeballs such as FSU?

Hmmm, tough decision?

 

[freescooter]

The Missouri and WVU boards are reliving the Civil War. They look North for education and culture but have more in common with the deep South in economics.

Playing and traveling to Mississippi is almost a deal breaker in itself . It's clearly a money deal. There's no other upside. WVU and Missouri may never see another BCS game again. Play in the BE and they would be BCS kings! And never travel to Mississippi

The Civil War thing might be fact, but as far as being BCS kings, since the revised Big East was established, West Virginia has been to 2 BCS games, same as Cincinatti and only one more than Louisville and UCONN. Not sure that makes you a king...maybe a earl or a viscount or something but hardly a king. Somewhere the idea that the big East is a cakewalk is being bought by even its own fans. Whiel a dominant team seems to be lacking, withthe excption of last year, the league has had a solid non-conference record and a solid bowl record even last season. It would I think be good for the league if a dominant team emerged that annually would be viewed as a national power.

 

[upstater]

The Civil War thing might be fact, but as far as being BCS kings, since the revised Big East was established, West Virginia has been to 2 BCS games, same as Cincinatti and only one more than Louisville and UCONN. Not sure that makes you a king...maybe a earl or a viscount or something but hardly a king. Somewhere the idea that the big East is a cakewalk is being bought by even its own fans. Whiel a dominant team seems to be lacking, withthe excption of last year, the league has had a solid non-conference record and a solid bowl record even last season. It would I think be good for the league if a dominant team emerged that annually would be viewed as a national power.

When Miami was good, and even when VT was around, all the other conference fans ripped on the BE for being weak and for Miami getting a free pass. It wasn't pretty. Not much has changed.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Very true about the media and public perception of the big east in the 1990s.

An all sports divsion 1-A conference that makes sense scheduling wise (i.e. a manageable number of teams) in the northeast and a college football playoff system between conference champions. That's where I hope all this ends. In my lifetime. And with that, I will not touch again this entire football season, the decades long basketball vs. football clash for power in the intercollegiate athletic landscape of the eastern united states.

There's a game on Saturday, in Tennessee, and we need our dogs to kick the crap out of some Commodores. Not even sure what Commodore is, and it doesn't really matter. We can find out later.

 

[gars44]

When Miami was good, and even when VT was around, all the other conference fans ripped on the BE for being weak and for Miami getting a free pass. It wasn't pretty. Not much has changed.

right. the term "Big Least" was coined during Miami's dominance in the BE.

 

[Vowelguy]

right. the term "Big Least" was coined during Miami's dominance in the BE.

I first heard "Big Least" before Miami -- it was 1988 at the HCC, opening rounds of the NCAA. Several Big East teams lost that weekend & someone made that comment to me (I was wearing a Big East sweatshirt).

 

[Richmondhsky]

The politics are not being overstated. My family has been in Va. politics and state government since before the Revolution. Currently, I have a cousin who is a state senator from a district that does not include UVA or VT. He tells me that the Commonwealth legislature would have a major fit and would seriously attempt to bar any move by VT without UVA. Many legislators want the schools treated equally and having one in the SEC and one in the ?ACC won't do. As for North Carolina I have no particular insight but would imagine there would be some rumpus as well . SC didn't protest when USC left the ACC some 40 years ago but it was for different reasons and actually left USC screwed for many years until the SEC came calling.

The VA Commonwealth Legislators will have nothing to do with any decision involving VA Tech to the SEC. I am right smack in the middle of Tech and UVA land with access to boosters and I can assure you that IF VaTech wanted to go to the SEC (which is not a given) UVA and the corresponding legislatures would go along. No way in HELL would UVA want to be any part of the SEC. Frankly, they look down their noses at the thought of UCONN joining the ACC. The SEC is the academic anti Christ according to them. Right or wrong, that is the landscape.

 

[uc1974]

That's not what I'm told, Richmond. Of course my cousin is a W&L grad and a General must know nothing.

 

[Richmondhsky]

That's not what I'm told, Richmond. Of course my cousin is a W&L grad and a General must know nothing.

Funny...the two schools couldn't be more different as are there fan base. Tech fans and program could fit with the SEC...UVA would NEVER align itself with the SEC for academic reasons etc. I don't believe based on what I have heard, that Tech goes to the SEC right now. That may all change given the dollars involved but they fought very hard...lobbied even harder with the legislature to get into the ACC. The only scenario that might move them would involve the implosion of the ACC. Look at the level of competition in the ACC....Tech is virtually guaranteed to run table each and every year.

 

[uc1974]

We're on the same page, Richmond. I know UVA and know they would never consider the SEC even for millions. The only point I was making is that there are people in Va. Govt (legislature and executive branch types) that would not look kindly on a split of the two schools. Could VT pull it off anyway. Sure. My cousin doesn't care but there are a few that do. I'm old enough to remember when UVA was a school for gentlemen drinkers in the 1950's and they were regularly pummeled by everyone in fb. BTW, I grew up in my youth in Lynchburg.