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The 16-Team Super Conferences and UK Football

  • If it wasn't obvious a month ago, it's obvious now that within 2 years, there will be 4-16 Team Super Conferences. What is also appears to be set in stone is that the football teams will face a 9 game league schedule each year, with 3 OOC games.

    The SEC added Texas A&M and is rumored to be close to adding WVU. Missouri and a school to be named later will probably also join the mix.

    So, what does this mean for UK, specifically UK Football?

    There is one MAJOR thing each of the schools in the new SEC will have in common with exception to UK and Vandy. Each of these institutions has demonstrated that they will invest every ounce of energy and capital towards efforting to make their football program a winner. They will put many of their other sports programs on the back burner in order to provide additonal finanial support to football. In some cases, institutuions will cut back on the number of non-revenue sports they support in order to funnel more money to football.

    So, how does UK fit into this paradigm that is the new SEC?

    Well, it seems many of the fans and most of the local sportswriters are in agreement that UK invests as much as they possibly can into football.

    The thinking by many is "we are who we are, deal with it".

    We don't have a great home state recruiting base, so inking a Top 50 class is about as much as we can ever hope for. The geograhpy is just too much to overcome.

    Simply put, there are just too many barriers to entry for UK to build a consistent football program.

    That is the line of thinking under the CURRENT SEC landscape.

    So, with us moving to a 9 game conference schedule, one would assume that it's only going to become worse.

    In essence- UK and Vandy are likely to become the proverbial prison b*tc*es of the new 16 team conference in Football.

    Here's the question- Is it worth it?

    Is it worth all of the additional money that UK will get from remaining in the SEC to field a team year in and year out that will NEVER be in contention for anything meaninful?

    We must rationally look in the mirror and see that simply going to a bowl game under those circumstances will be incredibly difficult.

    If you're UK and Barnhart, do you explore the possibility of moving to the ACC?

    Why not?

    They will have a new TV deal that will be similar to the SECs with regards to individual school payout when the renegotiations take place.

    The move allows your fanbase to have a football program that is capable of winning 6-8 games per year on a consistent basis IMO.

    The move also allows you to go from the what will be the worst or second to worst basketball conference, to the best basketball conference.

    To me, it's worth debating. In all honesty, I don't think UK is going to increase their spending on football if they get 1 billion dollars a year from the SEC TV deal. That appears to be just the way its going to be.

    Why not make a move where you can be competitive against "name" programs such as UNC, Maryland, ect....?

    We have no business remaining in the SEC if we're simply not going to play the money game that is the SEC arms race.

    Thoughts?

    MinterWonderlnd

  • UKAA is on football welfare. The like cashing the check but don't like working or investing for it. We aren't going anywhere, there is to much money that they will get without doing a dang thing to improve our chances of competing. The will continue to be on the "draw" and the fans will be the ones that continue to suffer.

    Matt- Why are we a better fit for the Big 10?

    This post was edited by PAXCAT on 9/19/2011 at 12:06 PM

    PAXCAT

  • Matt May said...

    If you move, you move to the Big 10. It's always been a much better fit for UK.

    UK doesn't meet the academic standards for the Big 10.

    usa1000

  • Matt, what are your thoughts on why UK would be a better fit in the Big 10 vs ACC?

    MinterWonderlnd

  • Interesting. Looking forward to the read.

    MinterWonderlnd

  • i'll be god damned if UK pusses out and moves to the Big-10/12 whatever the hell it is. i would rather be in the SEC and go to the Liberty Bowl or worse every year in football than be in the Big 1?.

    i loathe that conference and part of what i love about UK is the fact that they are in the SEC. f the Big 1?

    goldenbearcatz

  • As stated, a UK move to either the ACC or Big 10 likely would never happen. But the Big 10, like 'em or not, does seem a much better fit.

    CATinFL

  • Matt May said...

    I'll lay them out more later in the week in the piece I've been working on but recruiting is a major part of it. It would allow football to work areas that aren't already inundated with 10 other SEC schools. They'd be the southern-most Big 10 school, which would be a huge boost for baseball. The schools in the Big 10 have more of a vested interest in basketball as well. Football would have the ability to be more competitive right away because outside of Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan, who would really scare you if you're UK and trying to leap teams? You have your natural rivalry with Indiana back in the mix.

    I'm not saying it's perfect, or that it would ever happen, but to me, it makes a lot more sense than some of the other options.

    You are right it makes perfect sense and UK would be better for it competitively speaking but that's not what this is about. It's about money and we are never going to leave,

    PAXCAT

  • Maybe we can move to OVC. We might be competitive there.

    ukblueforever

  • usa1000 said...

    UK doesn't meet the academic standards for the Big 10.

    Are you assuming or do you have anything to support it? I find that hard to believe. With the exception of Michigan and Northwestern, the academic profile would be similar to most of the conference.

    signature image

    E-mail: JDRUM@247SPORTS.COM Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/JDrumUK

    Jeff Drummond

  • Matt May said...

    I'll lay them out more later in the week in the piece I've been working on but recruiting is a major part of it. It would allow football to work areas that aren't already inundated with 10 other SEC schools. They'd be the southern-most Big 10 school, which would be a huge boost for baseball. The schools in the Big 10 have more of a vested interest in basketball as well. Football would have the ability to be more competitive right away because outside of Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan, who would really scare you if you're UK and trying to leap teams? You have your natural rivalry with Indiana back in the mix.

    I'm not saying it's perfect, or that it would ever happen, but to me, it makes a lot more sense than some of the other options.

    UK in the Big 10 makes a lot of sense. Much better fit than the SEC. Despite some success over the years, SEC basketball still ranks behind football and spring football at most SEC schools.

    olblue

  • Jeff Drummond said...

    Are you assuming or do you have anything to support it? I find that hard to believe. With the exception of Michigan and Northwestern, the academic profile would be similar to most of the conference.

    Big 10 schools as a rule are tougher to get into than UK.

    olblue

  • There have been many posts through the years about this topic, and the real problem with UK football was addressed today by Rich Brooks on the Joe B and Denny show. When you tread water with your stadium and facilities instead of consistently trying to improve , you will fall far behind the pack . Moving to the Big Ten will not make UK's facilities look any better either as most of those schools have been smart enough to put their money back into the place where they got it from. ( save IU and look how bad they are in football) UKs lame approach on spending for new facilities and stadium expansion and upgrades has it on the fast track to become the program Louisville was in 1980. A lame program with a dump to play in . CWS is very nice , but it needs to be bigger and have a better pressbox and more suites between the decks for the big dog money. There were other things that RB mentioned that were also needed, but the 6 million for video and audio upgrades is only a drop in the bucket to get this place up with its competition again................................and the last time I spoke of a conference switch I was promptly taken to the woodshedcrackwhip

    Oldcarlcat

  • I have to disagree about CWS being very nice. I played in it as a kid during construction. That was a looooong time ago. It's way outdated and doesn't have anything in the concourses resembling what you see in today's newer facilities. It's always felt like an overgrown high school facility. They are just 'putting lipstick on a pig.'

    CATinFL

  • band aids on massive open wounds as Rich put it.

    MinterWonderlnd

  • Why 9 conference games? That seems to be the killer here. If we go to 4 division of 4 teams then we could play the four teams in our division (hopefully not AL,LSU, GA, SC & FL) Say the other 3 worst teams then rotate 4 other teams based off of last years record. Then we would have a decent chance to grow and go to a bowl each year. This would seem to make sense for the bottom 4 teams in the SEC.

    This post has been edited 2 times, most recently by NashvilleCat197 on 9/20/2011 at 8:36 AM

    NashvilleCat197

  • We are a basketball school. We need to go to a conference that is geared towards that. The only conference I see as the option would be the ACC. Plus, a move to the ACC would benefit the football team as well because the level of competition is not very high. We already play North Carlina each year, so that would be a conference game now. We could use that slot to play Tennessee in an out of conference game each year. Also, talk about some very, very intersting games each year: Duke, Syracuse, Pitt, and potentially UConn if they move. WOW! I would enjoy watching those ALOT more then us pounding Ole Miss or Miss. St. It would also be a great tune up for the tournament each year. Hell, the conference tournament would rival the NCAA tournament. I would like to see Vandy go with us as well. This is one man's opinion.

    Bruce Eloy59190

  • I think the Big 10 would be nice. It would be great to be the Southern most team in a conference rather than the Northern one. Basketball might be slightly tougher ( but maybe not since we don't have the history with those teams) but football would be much easier (see national champions over the past 10 years). And again, you wouldn't have the negative history in football to overcome, you would have a clean slate.

    Don't believe it will ever happen, but it is fun for thought.

    GO CATS

    Pharmboy007

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