They employed Lane Kiffin as head coach for 2½ seasons every day since has been “rehab” in some sense for the Trojans.īesides, the Big Ten could do just fine with only one Los Angeles school. It’s been a while.)Īnd because you’re already asking, USC is the Lohan “twin” headed to rehab. (At least, we think that’s how “The Parent Trap” went. We imagine this would end with a surprise reunion in the Rose Bowl 10 years from now, in which the Big Nineteen and the Pac-3.14159 discover they were always meant to be together (again), we all get sick of the two schools’ fight songs (again) and Lindsay Lohan somehow ends up in rehab (again). ![]() Plus, it would split up L.A.’s twin perennial underachievers, “Parent Trap”-style. Rutgers on the Big Ten Network,” we don’t know what does. The Aztecs’ most exciting player recently was punter Matt Araiza - the “Punt God” - who led the nation in booming kicks, then went in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL draft to Buffalo. If all that doesn’t scream “noon slot vs. That 2021 run included wins over Power Five schools Arizona - yes, still - and Utah. (Remember, going 9-4 in his second season at SDSU the first time around got him hired at Michigan.) Year 2, Take 2 went pretty well for Hoke - a 12-2 record despite scoring 20 points or less five times. ![]() On the gridiron, they’re led by longtime Michigan Man Brady Hoke, who’s entering the third season of his second stint with the Aztecs. It’s not quite Jud-to-Izzo program memory, but it has lasted the entirety of SDSU’s time in the Mountain West Conference, so why not try something new? The Aztecs also haven’t advanced out of the first round of the NCAA tournament since 2015, so they’d fit right in with the rest of the Big Ten’s annual March Moroseness.Ģ021 FLASHBACK: Big Ten football Misery Index: Why another 'little brother' flopped vs. On the court, they’re led by longtime Michigan assistant Brian Dutcher ( who recruited the Fab Five, including Juwan Howard, a generation ago), the successor to honorary Michigan Man Steve Fisher after 18 seasons in San Diego. Yes, we know, the Aztecs weren’t even worthy of a Big 12 invite during the previous round of Conference Realignment Roulette, and they’re currently waiting on a Power Five Prom invite from that hunky third-string QB, the Pac-12.Īnd yet, we must make this humble observation: San Diego State is secretly a Big Ten program, hiding out on the West Coast - at least if you look at its moneymakers, football and men’s basketball. There is, of course, one solution to all this mess: Let UCLA stay in the Conference of (Non-Revenue) Champions - and send San Diego State to the Big Ten-Plus-Six instead. But still, CHAOS! has reared up once again, and the Freep’s Big Ten Misery Index is here for it, even if we're still technically in the offseason. Will UCLA pull out of its 2024 jump to the Midwest? Will the Big Ten be forced to look for another West Coast school to pair with USC? Will this spawn another 1,000 takes on how everyone is just waiting for Notre Dame to settle down with a conference, once and for all (as the forever-single Fighting Irish count their cash once more)? GROWTH POTENTIAL: Big Ten's Kevin Warren: More conference expansion may be coming, TV deal close If they weren’t interesting for SEC fans, half the league wouldn’t have scheduled upcoming series against the Seminoles, Hurricanes or both.GROWING PAINS: Joey Harrington, quaking stadiums & potato salad: How other Pac-12 schools may fit Big Ten FSU and Miami still matter, even if they’re not challenging for championships. Miami was fifth (also behind Oregon and Washington). Clemson had the most games with at least 1 million viewers. The Athletic dug into recent TV viewership for Power Five games that didn’t feature any current or future members of the SEC/Big Ten. There’s good data to suggest the Seminoles and Hurricanes would both grow fan interest. Miami would also be the second-smallest school in the league its fall 2020 undergraduate enrollment (just over 11,000) was a fifth of Texas A&M’s, according to U.S. ![]() Miami would join Vanderbilt as the only private schools in the conference. Neither, however, is the flagship school of a state, as Texas and Oklahoma are. ![]() Both schools are top-tier research institutions, just like every current SEC school. Related: AAC commissioner: ‘Something important is being lost’ in conference realignment
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |