2012 NCAA football thread

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by Montana Moe

I've always heard that the SEC was targeting Virginia Tech and NC State. Duke and UNC would certainly be interesting additions, and certainly worthwhile in basketball and academic standing.

They may have to upgrade the quality of their tailgate.

Quality at tailgates are not an issue in the SEC. This is the conference where women dress up to go to football games and the Yanks don't understand it

[Senator Clay Davis]

I'm not entirely sure where the downgrade in basketball would be for Duke/Carolina. The SEC has as many National Titles since 2005 as the ACC does (3 each). Kentucky and Florida are national powers, and if Duke/Carolina do come, the SEC arguably has 4 of the absolute best coaches (Calipari, Coach K, Williams and Donovan) in the game. Basically the SEC comes what the ACC is now.

Now in football terms it makes no sense other than to give the the existing teams in the SEC a couple gimmes. But I think if the SEC is gonna add more teams, taking two from the same state (and realistically, pretty much the same city) will not be their move. I think Virginia Tech will be targeted and either Duke or Carolina, but not both.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I'm not entirely sure where the downgrade in basketball would be for Duke/Carolina. The SEC has as many National Titles since 2005 as the ACC does (3 each). Kentucky and Florida are national powers, and if Duke/Carolina do come, the SEC arguably has 4 of the absolute best coaches (Calipari, Coach K, Williams and Donovan) in the game. Basically the SEC comes what the ACC is now.

Now in football terms it makes no sense other than to give the the existing teams in the SEC a couple gimmes. But I think if the SEC is gonna add more teams, taking two from the same state (and realistically, pretty much the same city) will not be their move. I think Virginia Tech will be targeted and either Duke or Carolina, but not both.

Normally I would agree, but those are two elite brands with national appeal. While basketball isn't the driving force in these mergers I think it becomes a much bigger factor when we're talking about adding programs like that.

At the end of the day you have to remember that on field competitiveness is not really a factor here, it's about picking up programs that add value. I don't know that Va Tech adds more value than UNC, and it certainly doesn't add more value than Duke when you consider the national standing of the school and the massive (and wealthy) base that comes with it.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The prestige and national appeal of Duke and Carolina is high, but moreso in basketball. All of this realignment stuff is more or less about securing massive contracts for football. Virginia Tech has been far and away the ACC's best football school for a decade now, and I do think the SEC would rather add two seperate TV markets than simply one with two great programs (hence why they added A&M and....Missouri? Not a big national appeal there, but access to a new TV market). Unfortunetly realignment is about appealing to TV executives and not the quality of the universities (Rutgers in the Big 10???). Executives will pay more for two seperate markets than one.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I'm not entirely sure where the downgrade in basketball would be for Duke/Carolina. The SEC has as many National Titles since 2005 as the ACC does (3 each). Kentucky and Florida are national powers, and if Duke/Carolina do come, the SEC arguably has 4 of the absolute best coaches (Calipari, Coach K, Williams and Donovan) in the game. Basically the SEC comes what the ACC is now.

Kentucky I will give you as elite not sure that Florida qualifies other than two years with essentially the same team. Since then they have been pretty average and Donovan certainly does not look like one of the best coaches in the game. Outside of those two teams and maybe Missouri the basketball is fairly weak in the confrence. Certainly not on the level of ACC with NC State and Syracue, Pitt and Lousiville coming in.

But obviously basketball isn't running the show with money and football (and super conferences) being the key factors.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The prestige and national appeal of Duke and Carolina is high, but moreso in basketball. All of this realignment stuff is more or less about securing massive contracts for football. Virginia Tech has been far and away the ACC's best football school for a decade now, and I do think the SEC would rather add two seperate TV markets than simply one with two great programs (hence why they added A&M and....Missouri? Not a big national appeal there, but access to a new TV market). Unfortunetly realignment is about appealing to TV executives and not the quality of the universities (Rutgers in the Big 10???). Executives will pay more for two seperate markets than one.

Adding Duke and UNC brings basketball into play. There's no group of fans crazier than those two, and Duke in particular has fans all over the place (particularly in NYC). The manner in which TV revenues have been reaped has been forcing local cable carriers to add the conference networks to their programming and then taking a dollar or two per subscriber. If a number Duke basketball games are going to be available only on the SEC network you better believe that there would be very real pressure for that network to be available in a number of markets.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I could be wrong but isn't the "SEC Network" really just an ESPN side channel thing? Its not like the Big 10 or Pac 12 Networks which are their own seperate entities, its more of regional carrier thing?

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I could be wrong but isn't the "SEC Network" really just an ESPN side channel thing? Its not like the Big 10 or Pac 12 Networks which are their own seperate entities, its more of regional carrier thing?

The current status isn't really applicable, the SEC could quite easily follow the model others have used and I'd be surprised if they didn't.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The SEC in many ways kinda has its own "Network" in CBS (at least for football), but yeah I agree the SEC could easily have its own seperate network. And if they do go that route I agree adding Duke and NC makes a lot more sense than a Va Tech, since such a network couldn't just bank on football viewers to drive subscriptions.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The SEC in many ways kinda has its own "Network" in CBS (at least for football), but yeah I agree the SEC could easily have its own seperate network. And if they do go that route I agree adding Duke and NC makes a lot more sense than a Va Tech, since such a network couldn't just bank on football viewers to drive subscriptions.

The SEC has CBS the same way the Big Ten has ABC, but that's only going to cover part of the games. Marquee games are never on Big Ten Network, but if you're a fan of a team the marquee games don't matter, you want to watch every game. Take it from someone who spent Thanksgiving with 2 Duke Alums who couldn't watch the Duke game, they'd be screaming at cable providers to get that channel about as much as they were screaming at their iPads to refresh with the score.

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by moon

Kentucky I will give you as elite not sure that Florida qualifies other than two years with essentially the same team. Since then they have been pretty average and Donovan certainly does not look like one of the best coaches in the game. Outside of those two teams and maybe Missouri the basketball is fairly weak in the confrence. Certainly not on the level of ACC with NC State and Syracue, Pitt and Lousiville coming in.

But obviously basketball isn't running the show with money and football (and super conferences) being the key factors.

The last two years the Gators made it to the Elite 8 and were knocked out in the first round by BYU 3 years ago.

I'm not saying they're a national power but they are in the top 25 for a while now.

[Montana Moe]

Originally Posted by PIMking

Quality at tailgates are not an issue in the SEC. This is the conference where women dress up to go to football games and the Yanks don't understand it

Come on, man. Did you really think I'd be critiquing the SEC tailgates? LSU is one of my favorite places on earth, and The Grove is Valhalla.

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The SEC in many ways kinda has its own "Network" in CBS (at least for football), but yeah I agree the SEC could easily have its own seperate network. And if they do go that route I agree adding Duke and NC makes a lot more sense than a Va Tech, since such a network couldn't just bank on football viewers to drive subscriptions.

have you been down here in the south? Talk radio during all year long.

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by Montana Moe

Come on, man. Did you really think I'd be critiquing the SEC tailgates? LSU is one of my favorite places on earth, and The Grove is Valhalla.

Ahh the Grove.. The best eye candy in all of CFB

[valo403]

Originally Posted by PIMking

have you been down here in the south? Talk radio during all year long.

That only gets you the South, which is already a won market. If you want to extend your reach, which is the whole point of these moves, adding schools with national appeal makes a lot of sense. In the case of UNC and Duke that national appeal would have little, if anything, to do with football.

[Sylvanfan]

Pretty good Pac12 Title game going on right now. Stanford just tied the game at 24, and could get the ball back here with good field position.

[nik-]

Gonna be one of those days

[PIMking]

God do I hate and I mean hate UGA, but I wouldn't mind seeing someone else win the title this year like the golden domers.

[MRCboicgy]

I'll give UGA credit here

They use an REM song in their promo ad.

[PIMking]

Cooper reminds me a lot of Julio Jones when he was a freshman