What team should join the Big Ten?

Originally posted by shortcircuit
What do you want....a super conference with the 12 best teams in the land banging each other every week until they are all toasted? Then several leagues of the wallflowers tiptoing with their boring matches all season?

While I like whodey's concept (which is kind of like what they do in European soccer), it probably wouldn't be fair for teams that can change dramatically after a given year's senior class graduates.

But I don't really like having everyone roped into playing the same ten teams every year - year after year.

My preference would be for everyone to be in smaller conferences (no more than 8 teams), with an out of conference schedule that focuses on competitve opponents. Teams like Florida, Texas, and Alabama that can expect to be in the top 20 almost every season should not be playing an array of cupcakes as if they were schoolyard bullies afraid of picking fights with kids their own size. Let the cupcakes play each other so that even the worst teams have a chance of winning a couple games each year.

But given the current format in which you need to go undefeated to have a chance of a national title, I fully understand how these teams would want to minimize the chance of losing by loading up on Teams We Can Beat 48-0 Without Even Trying.