We all know UNC would be a great get for the SEC, but is unlikely to happen. Everyone talks about NCSU as the next choice, but NCSU has a lot of messy ties to UNC (sharing a BOR, for instance) that make it unlikely as well.

What about ECU? I'm not the only one who has considered this. And before you discount it as a directional school, most highschool graduates wouldn't be able to tell you for sure that there wasn't an East Carolina next to North Carolina or South Carolina.

Some statistics to back it up, in comparison to NSCU:

East Carolina vs. North Carolina State vs. UNC...

Stadium Cap:
50,000 - 57,000 - 63,000

All time Record:
(.522) vs. (.507) vs. (.562)

Bowl record:
8-8 - 14-11-1 - 13–16

Undergraduates:
20,000 - 25,000 - 18,579

Most recent Conf. championship:
2009 - 1979 - 1980

2011 Attendance:
50,012 - 56,000 - 56,000

No. Just no.

Kidding.... right?

Trolling ...

Florida State or go home

Expand the footprint, add Tulsa with them

Needs to be a power in football, basketball, academics, or a combination thereof, with a reasonably large alumni base. East Carolina only satisfies the last.

UVA, VA Tech, UNC and NC State are the primary targets if the SEC sees a need, though I'm not sure the need is there yet. Probably we'd poach OU and OSU before East Carolina.

There is not one chance in hell that ECU will be brought into the SEC.

This has to be a joke thread, or at least I hope so.

I think I may have been trolled by the OP.

Nice troll.

quote:

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I've compared stats on the 39 FBS schools not in the SEC that are in current SEC states plus North Carolina, Virginia and Oklahoma (states the B1G is not currently in, either).

The first factor I looked at was Fan Base Size, based on the Nate Silver research from the fall of 2011.

Vanderbilt is the smallest fan base in the SEC at 379,975 fans. The SEC should not take a school with a smaller fan base than Vandy, so that eliminates(in descending order): TCU (370, 459 fans), Southern Miss, East Carolina, Arkansas St., Louisville, UAB, Memphis, Baylor, North Texas, LA Monroe, La Tech, FIU, MTSU, SMU, LA Lafayette, Wake Forest, FAU, Rice, Tulsa, UTEP, Tulane, Houston and finally, WKU at 70,821 fans.

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quote:

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The average SEC team would be ranked 42nd all time in winning percentage. The following teams would hurt that winning tradition: North Carolina, Texas Tech, Virginia, Oklahoma St, Duke, UCF, North Carolina St, Troy, TCU, East Carolina, Louisville, Baylor, North Texas, La Tech, SMU, La Lafayette, Tulsa, Houston.

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Academics:

quote:

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The lowest ranked SEC school is Mississippi St at 160. These following schools rank below that and should not receive consideration, either: Texas Tech (165), USF, UCF, Houston, East Carolina, La Tech.

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quote:

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Putting it all together, there are 16 top schools.

The lowest tier includes: Oklahoma St, Tulsa, and East Carolina; Tulsa is eliminated owing to its small fan base, and East Carolina is eliminated due to its small fan base and low academic standing, Oklahoma St survives as the lowest tier option.

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LOL. Sober up and re-read your post.

no

I am saddened that the OP has an Ag tag.

This thread needs to be killed.

If the OP is serious, I assume they would want Texas State to be their partner.

Fail, fail, fail!

The SEC doesn't "settle" for anything. In fact, it hasn't been and isn't that aggressive in trying to expand.

Remember in 2010 when the B1G and PAC were trying to get to 12 teams so they could host conference titles? Although the PAC almost pulled off the 16-team expansion (and had it gone through in its initial form the SEC would have been cut off from serious future expansion in Texas) the SEC wasn't actively trying to stop it, nor was it looking for more schools to get to 16 itself. It was very happy at 12 teams.

And when A&M joined to become #13, notwithstanding the scheduling issues of having 13 teams and unbalanced divisions, the SEC's acceptance wasn't contingent on finding a 14th team.

Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this. -- Anonymous

This would be worse than B1G adding Rutgers/Maryland.

Good God no.

Idiotic......like adding Baylor or Rice instead of A&M or sips to get the Texas market.

For the OP:

Alcoholics Anonymous (979)823-6391

Please call this number and get the help you deserve.