(02-16-2014 11:25 PM)JRsec Wrote:  Unfortunately the GOR's do stand in the way, at least until 2024-5 for the Big 12. I think it is a game of place 8 or wait. My favorite solution involves the Big 10, SEC and ACC. The Big 10 takes Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa State and Connecticut to move to 18. The SEC takes Kansas State and Oklahoma State in addition to N.C. State and Virginia Tech to get to 18. The ACC takes Texas as a partial, Texas Tech, Baylor, Rice, Tulane, Cincinnati, and West Virginia to get 18 plus 2 hybrids. Rice and Tulane help them continue their academic excellence and serve as a bridge to the Florida Schools. West Virginia reconnects the ACC footprint. T.C.U. is out. UConn is in. The SEC adds two western states and gets into the Virginia and North Carolina adding 4 decent teams building the SEC in the middle and not at the top or bottom. The ACC comes out way ahead in markets and with a network. Iowa State finds a home at home while the Big 10 lands a two basketball national brands and one football national brand. I call that a win win win. If T.C.U. is a must then replace either Rice or Tulane with them.

SEC:
West: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana State, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M
South: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State
North: Kentucky, N.C. State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech

Big 10:
West: Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin
Central: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern
East: Connecticut, Maryland, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers.

ACC:
North: Boston College, Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia (Notre Dame)
South: Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Virginia
West: Baylor, Florida State, Miami, Rice, Texas Tech, Tulane (Texas)
or sub T.C.U. for Rice or Tulane.

From a conference perspective, I do not know if I would call this a win win for the ACC - only one true big time football school (Texas) is added and then only as a "partial", three schools that bump the football pedigree needle a little bit (WVU, Baylor, and TT) and three schools that fit in well with the current ACC culture and make-up but don't help much from a football perspective (Cincy, Tulane, Rice). We also lose one of our football oriented programs in Va Tech. I think everyone agrees the ACC needs help first and foremost in the area of football - not markets, academics, or basketball.

From a Clemson football perspective, this is a big time lose lose - 3 snoozers (UVA, WF, & Duke) and two luke warms (GaTech & UNC) in our pod! What if Auburn was put into a pod with Miss, Miss State, Vandy, and UK - would that excite the Auburn fan base? Probably not but even that would be better from a football perspective then the suggested grouping for Clemson. Of course, if the scheduling is done on some basis other then "pods", I could live with the make-up of the ACC provided we could play the FSU's, Miami's, ND's, and UT's at least on an even frequency (or hopefully more often) then we would have to play Duke, WF, or UVA. Also, I would much prefer TCU and UCon to Rice and Tulane. By the way, I do not have a grudge against the ACC - over the years, the ACC has been very good for Clemson and I think it is likely that the ACC will be Clemson's home for as long as we play football. However, from a football fans perspective, I certainly would prefer to be with like minded schools such as Auburn, USC, and UGA (or FSU, Va Tech, UT) - our record probably would not be as good but the football would certainly be a lot more exciting.