B1G decided to go to 12 with Nebraska. Instead of Maryland & Rutgers, they were very close to go to 14 through Kansas & Missouri.
Pac-10 went to 12 with Colorado & Utah. The invites that originally went out and almost happened was a Pac-16 through CU, OU, OSU, UT, aTm and TTU.
ACC added Pitt & Syracuse, then Louisville as a Maryland replacement, to get to 14.
SEC had been sniffing around the ACC, causing the ACC to raise its exit fees while the SEC went to 14 through Missouri & Texas A&M.
Looking back, it's amazing to think about how different things would be if the B1G had made a different expansion choice and ESPN hadn't given UT the Longhorn Network to keep them from leaving their media control.
Big 12 would have been gone, SEC would have expanded in the East through the ACC, and the ACC would have been about the same (Maryland in, but a couple lost to SEC and adding Pitt-Cuse-WVU and either Louisville or Rutgers).
From my perspective, that would have been a much better outcome for college sports.
Pac-10 went to 12 with Colorado & Utah. The invites that originally went out and almost happened was a Pac-16 through CU, OU, OSU, UT, aTm and TTU.
ACC added Pitt & Syracuse, then Louisville as a Maryland replacement, to get to 14.
SEC had been sniffing around the ACC, causing the ACC to raise its exit fees while the SEC went to 14 through Missouri & Texas A&M.
Looking back, it's amazing to think about how different things would be if the B1G had made a different expansion choice and ESPN hadn't given UT the Longhorn Network to keep them from leaving their media control.
Big 12 would have been gone, SEC would have expanded in the East through the ACC, and the ACC would have been about the same (Maryland in, but a couple lost to SEC and adding Pitt-Cuse-WVU and either Louisville or Rutgers).
From my perspective, that would have been a much better outcome for college sports.
