Solving B1G Expansion: Monopolize the AAU

[joncarl]

Makes me wonder how we got in, then.

I think the AAU changed their rules, and when they did it made the University of Nebraska not qualified. Other than that I really don't know.

Here is a pretty good, but long article, if you care to read it.

Losing AAU status not fatal for Nebraska

MU leaders have repeatedly expressed the importance of membership in the Association of American Universities. But a look at the University of Nebraska's ouster from the AAU shows a different

www.columbiamissourian.com

 

[Hooked on Huskers]

Chair Game.

Every participant should start seated in a chair in a circle. · The leader chooses one team to stand in the middle, so one chair is open.

 

[Goal-line]

There's a path here that could solve the Big Ten's expansion woes through AAU Membership. Yes, Nebraska lost AAU Membership. That could be corrected if the league is determined to continue playing school along with playing football.

Here's the structure: expand to a 28-team conference (super conference? mega conference?) that is comprised of 4x7 divisions. Essentially, double the Big Ten as it stands now. Teams will have six divisional games each year, plus another 3 cross-divisional games. Honestly, if college football keeps expanding, it might result in a longer season as well (16 games like the NFL?) so the idea of not playing teams from another division annually is kind of a moot point going forward. There could also be protected cross-over games, but that gets really deep into the rivalry discussion and balancing everyone's schedule.

The conference champion is determined from the four divisional winners. Rank them in order of conference standings and play a 1v4 / 2v3 round where the winners advance to a conference title game. Ties are broken via CFP rankings / polls.

The targets: since AAU Membership is important to the Big Ten, we snatch up 14 more AAU Members. Kansas (Big XII), along with Pitt, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia Tech from the ACC. And finally, the lion's share from the Pac-12 with Arizona, Cal, Colorado, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah and Washington. It should be noted that this largely leaves the AAU Members with schools like Harvard and Yale, meaning that the Big Ten essentially IS the AAU when it comes to college football. The 28 members of the Big Ten are also 28 members of the AAU. There are only seven Power 5 schools who would remain in the AAU (and NOT in the B1G). There are handful of other G5 teams like Rice and Buffalo, but it's not like they're going anywhere from a football perspective. To detail, the only Non-B1G AAUs left in Power 5 would be five from the SEC (Florida, Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt) along with Duke and Iowa State.

The divisions would be as follows. This alignment effectively preserves most major rivalries and makes the Big Ten a truly bi-coastal conference. It operates across all four time zones, but teams are also regionally aligned. The divisions also feel relatively balanced, with ACC additions strengthening the Big Ten Atlantic and the Big Ten West being anchored by Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado. The Big Ten East largely looks the same, just trading off Penn State, Maryland and Rutgers for all the Land-of-Lincoln schools.

Big Ten Pacific	Big Ten West	Big Ten East	Big Ten Atlantic
Arizona	Colorado	Illinois	Georgia Tech
Cal	Iowa	Indiana	Maryland
Oregon	Kansas	Michigan	North Carolina
Stanford	Minnesota	Michigan State	Penn State
UCLA	Nebraska	Northwestern	Pitt
USC	Utah	Ohio State	Rutgers
Washington	Wisconsin	Purdue	Virginia

Not going to happen.