A Miss State fan posted this on TechSideline.com and since this board needs some life I thought I'd share it here. A&M = ace jewel.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/jeremy-fowler/21932277/florida-prez-one-condition-could-move-sec-to-expand

wonder what are considered "Ace Jewel" schools?

The oft-repeated assumption is that SEC schools will block additions from within their state, but that doesn't mean tu and FSU are not potential "ace jewels" so I'll leave them in the discussion...

UNC seems pretty clearly an ace jewel
Duke?
Miami?
FSU
Florida Gulf Coast U? (Kidding!)
tu
OU
NCSt?
UVA?
VA Tech?
Louisville?
Notre Dame
Cincinnati?
WVU?

I bounded the schools geographically, and left tOSU off, since I just can't see them ever defecting from Big 10.

Valpo2010 from the comment section is reading the tea leaves correctly:

quote:

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People following this closely already know that the SEC, Big Ten, and Big XII are going to make another move until after Maryland's exit from the ACC has been finalized. Once the "buy out" price for the ACC is established, the floodgates are going to be wide open again. No other moves will be made until the three conferences know how much poaching ACC schools will cost. Both the Big Ten and SEC want in to the Virginia and North Carolina markets for their cable networks. Georgia Tech is still in play for the Big Ten as well. The Big XII is waiting to make a play for Florida State and whatever else is left over (Miami, Clemson, GT).

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GT fits academically with the B1G but what a horrible geographic and cultural fit

I don't like it one bit.

ah, I inadvertantly left (i.e. forgot) Clemson off of my list...

GT, I intentionally left off, but probably should have included with a ?

If it were my decision,it would be UNC and Virginia Tech.

-UVA seems to be about half-yankee, so they may be lost to the Big 10 with Maryland.
-I'm not that crazy about NCSU either. Where do they actually excel?
-I'm skeptical that Duke would pay for themselves.

The crown jewels in SEC range are UNC and UVA. I don't think UVA will look south but will instead look at the Big Ten. That leaves UNC as the crown jewel. If the price of taking UNC is taking Duke, then the SEC will probably do that. If they can swing a UNC/Va Tech pairing, that would be the preference, but I simply do not see UNC chopping off their basketball rivalries.

Pretty easy to play non-con rivalries every year in basketball.

But they would be diminished some if they didnt have conference titles on the line.

Maybe not. The RRS did fine pre Big XII

virginia tech and unc

Va Tech is a target , though I don't really want them. UNC is a given as far as jewels go

I'm still holding out hope that the SEC shocks the world and goes for 20. Grab UVA, Va Tech, UNC, Duke, Clemson, and Florida State and solidify the conference as best in the land.

Four divisions of five teams, every team in a division plays each other every year, each team in the conference get's three permanent rivals (one from each division) and every year each team cycles through the remaining teams in each division (allowing every team to play every team at least once every four years).

The divisions are organized as such (with cross division rivals listed as well):

SEC West
Arkansas (Auburn - Clemson - Georgia)
LSU (Alabama - Florida - Virginia)
Missouri (Vanderbilt - Tennessee - Kentucky)
Ole Miss (Mississippi State - North Carolina - South Carolina)
Texas A&M (Florida State - Duke - Virginia Tech)

SEC Central
Alabama (Tennessee - Virginia - LSU)
A uburn (Clemson - Georgia - Arkansas)
Florida State (Florida - Virginia Tech - Texas A&M) Mississippi State (North Carolina - South Carolina - Ole Miss)
Vanderbilt (Duke - Kentucky - Missouri)

SEC East
Clemson (Auburn - South Carolina - Arkansas)
Duke (Vanderbilt - Virginia - Texas A&M)
Florida (Florida State - Georgia - LSU)
North Carolina (Mississippi State - Virginia Tech - Ole Miss)
Tennessee (Alabama - Kentucky - Missouri)

SEC North
Georgia (Auburn - Florida - Arkansas)
Kentucky (Vanderbilt - Tennessee - Missouri)
South Carolina (Mississippi State - Clemson - Ole Miss)
Virginia (Alabama - Duke - LSU)
Virginia Tech (Florida State - North Carolina - Texas A&M)

We add a semi final game to the SEC championship and bask in the glory of having the best sports product, across the board, in all sports. The academics can brag as well because we got uva, duke, and UNC instead of one or two of them.

Longest of shots I know, but I can dream can't I

So you're suggesting 10 conference games and only 2 OOC games per year.

(20 teams. 4 division games plus 3 permanent cross-division rivals is 7 games. That leaves 12 "non-regularly played" teams, to be cycled through every 4 years, i.e. 3 a year.)

I guess you gotta break some eggs to make an omelet. Would be an interesting omelet!

Any plan with permanent cross division rivals is inherently unfair and injurious to the league.

Any scheduling plan with permanent cross division "rivalry" games is inherently unfair and injurious to the league.

You can do the same thing with a 16 team conference.

4 divisions. 9 game conference schedule. 3 division games. 3 perma rivalries (one from each division). Rotate the other 9 schools in three year cycles. Add a semi-final to the SEC championship (West vs. South/East vs. North)

WEST:
Tamu
lsu
arky
mizzou

SOUTH:
Bama
Msst
ole miss
auburn

EAST:
Florida
Uga
Tennesee
S.Car

NORTH:
Kentucky
Vandy
(V-tech/Virginia)
(UNC/Duke/NCST)

bbaner nailed it. However, it will require additional considerations for the conference. Currently, the NCAA only allows a conference championship game for two division conferences where the winner of each division plays eachother. As such, the SEC would either have to look to get the rule changed or get rid of the conference championship game (may be preferable given the new 4 team playoff formula). They could get around it by having two 8 team divisions where you basically just rotate 4 teams to the other division every year, which would obviously be confusing for the fans.

Easy way to do it:

NORTHWEST:
Tamu
lsu
arky
mizzou

SOUTHWEST:
Bama
Msst
ole miss
auburn

SOUTHEAST:
Florida
Uga
Tennesee
S.Car

NORTHEAST:
Kentucky
Vandy
(V-tech/Virginia)
(UNC/Duke/NCST)

Odd number years, you have an East v West conf championship game.
Even years, North v South.

Or, probably for easier scheduling, alternate every two years, allowing for home/home series.

The practical target is 16 for many reasons but if they do go to a divisional system (and can get the waiver) I hope they try and balance the divisions. Both of yalls northern divisions are incredibly weak compared to the rest of the divisions.

One of my goals in my 20 team plan was to balance the divisions (hence why so many cross rivals were needed to preserve things like Florida - Georgia and also FSU-UF and so on), that's why I have UGA and South Carolina in one division along with Va Tech. Having one division that is the de facto "ACC Division" creates the same problems the Big 12 had between the north and the south which essentially created a SWC Division (+ Oklahoma's) and a Big 8 Division. You want to intermix and balance, not alienate and offset.

quote:

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So you're suggesting 10 conference games and only 2 OOC games per year.

(20 teams. 4 division games plus 3 permanent cross-division rivals is 7 games. That leaves 12 "non-regularly played" teams, to be cycled through every 4 years, i.e. 3 a year.)

I guess you gotta break some eggs to make an omelet. Would be an interesting omelet!

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I had a very long diatribe that quickly got into TL;DR territory but let's just say, if the dollars add up, A 20 team conference brings a ton to the table, heads off our opponents, and cements the SEC and THE power conference in all sports and equates us with the Pac and B1G in academics.

Yeah, my comment was not a complaint, or really even a critique, just an out-loud thinking through of the implications.

With a 20 team conference that strong, you wouldn't NEED a whole lot of OOC matchups to keep things interesting and "fresh". (Interesting omelet, indeed!)

The only slight downside would be the lack of much in the way of "tune ups" - particularly if schools ever wanted to schedule serious competition from OOC. e.g. if Alabama were to ever play Michigan like they did last year, there would only be ONE slot left for a Western Kentucky/Florida Atlantic/Western Carolina tune-up or breathcatcher. Sure, there will always be conference teams having down years, but sometimes it's nice to KNOW where you're putting them in the lineup. Minor point, not a complaint.