Is there a better time than right now to explore the idea of conference expansion? ESPN’s Ivan Maisel doesn’t think so. In a recent post on ESPN Maisel stated now may be the best time to have that conversation. After all it wasn’t that long ago that Nebraska was looking to play football despite the Big Ten’s stance on a postponement of the season.
Hey, here’s a great idea during a pandemic: Let’s have West Virginia fly 1,400 miles to play a Big 12 game at Texas Tech on Oct. 24, but let’s not allow West Virginia to play Pittsburgh. After all, the Panthers, 75 miles away, are in the ACC.
Before the Pac-12 broke the emergency glass on its 2020 season, the conference approved of Colorado flying 1,300 miles to play at Washington but thought it too risky for the Buffaloes to drive 100 miles to play at Colorado State.
And there’s Nebraska, which a decade ago sued for divorce from the Big 12 (née Big Eight), dissolving a marriage consummated in 1928 to grab the money and security and money and money offered by the Big Ten. Last week the Big Ten told Nebraska it couldn’t play football this fall, which went over in the Cornhusker State like, oh, I don’t know, stalk rot.
Maisel brings up a good point about traveling during a pandemic. Teams can’t play those who are reasonably close but yet are expected to fly across the country to participate in a conference game that is deemed safer. For instance any Big 12 team traveling to Morgantown, West Virginia doesn’t seem like the best move. So in the interest of shaking things up, we look at how the Big 12 could expand.
First is the new North Division.
