Conference Expansion: How We Got Here (Part I of II)

News broke on ESPN and OrangeBloods.com that Nebraska is officially moving to the Big Ten Conference, and that the Big XII Conference is in danger of folding. If you're late to this story (or have recently returned from a trip to Neptune), let's recap how we got here:

December 2009: The Big Ten officially announces that they will investigate expansion options to move from 11 to 12 teams.

February-March 2010: Notre Dame rebuffs the idea that they would relinquish their independent status to join the Big Ten.

March-April 2010: Texas politely decides that joining the Big Ten would not be in their best interests.

June 4th, 2010: Amongst swirling reports, the Big XII commissioner Dan Beebe issues ultimatums to member institutions Nebraska and Missouri to decide whether they want to remain in the Big XII or move to the Big 10.

June 6th, 2010: Reports surface that the Pac-10 will also actively investigate conference expansion, but invitations would go to current Big XII teams Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Colorado.

June 7th, 2010: The Pac-10 announces that their commissioner Larry Scott has been authorized to offer as many invitations as he deems necessary to improve the conference.

June 9th, 2010: Nebraska reportedly accepts an offer to join the Big 10 Conference. A concurrent report runs that Texas officials claim "The Big XII is dead."

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So that's where we are now. Where will we end up? I'll tell you in Part II.

ACC: Week 1 Worries

So in a previous post I talked about how the ACC needed to play better against BCS competition if they wanted to gain the respect of the nation.

That worked out well.

The ACC went 0-4 against out-of-conference BCS foes, and lost to TWO separate FCS schools...all in Week 1. That is absolutely pitiful. It's a wonder that the ACC was even considered to be a dark horse for the third-best BCS conference behind the SEC and the Big XII. I'll be honest, I definitely bought into the hype that the ACC was a legitimately good football conference with some good teams who had a shot at making some noise on the national stage this year. And they still might; Virginia Tech only lost by 10 to Alabama, though it became increasingly apparent towards the end of the game that the Tide was simply a better football team, and contenders Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and the winner of FSU-Miami will still be regarded as good teams after posting Week 1 victories.

But the fact remains that the ACC needs a lot of help if they are ever going to be a great football conference. You simply cannot have teams that lose to William & Mary AND Richmond in the same week while also getting manhandled by Cal and out-slopped by South Carolina (yes I'm looking at you, Virginia, Dook, Maryland and NC State). Here's the Week 2 ACC slate:

Clemson @ Georgia Tech
UNC @ UConn
Stanford @ Wake Forest
Dook @ Army
Marshall @ Virginia Tech
Kent State @ Boston College
TCU @ Virginia
Jacksonville State @ Florida State
James Madison @ Maryland
Murray State @ NC State

The ACC plays two games against OOC BCS teams (UNC vs. UConn; Stanford vs. Wake Forest) while Virginia battles a very good TCU team at home. If the ACC can go 2-1 or even 3-0 against these teams in Week 2, it could be a nice bounce back from the Week 1 debacle. Worst case scenario: we may see teams like Army, Kent State, and James Madison who have no business beating BCS opponents notch one in the win column.

Which would undoubtedly notch another one in the loss column for the ACC's credibility as a big-time college football conference.