Conference Shake ups

[Ticket Mouse]

That conference they're stepping up from has held it's own against the mighty SEC as of late.

[Ticket Mouse]

Here's a funny column from the Bryan Daily Eagle. I can't believe the guy has a job.

Aggie Sports
Robert Cessna has covered sports for The Eagle for 34 years.

Aggies need to wish TCU well
Posted by robert cessna at 11/30/2010 3:10 AM CST on Aggie Sports

TCU will do well in the Big East. Why not? It’s done well in the WAC, Conference USA and the Mountain West. It is the Elizabeth Taylor of college athletics. Every beau looks just a little better.
The Horned Frogs have been on the move for the last 15 years because they weren’t good enough for the BIg 12, the real conference of their affections. They still aren’t. They probably won’t be power conference ready in 4-6 years either, but at least they’re willing to try.
Aggies just need to wish them well. TCU wasn’t a threat in 1996. It still isn’t. Oh, the Horned Frogs probably would beat the Aggies if they played in a bowl game. That still doesn’t make them better.
Boise State always will have that electrifying Fiesta Bowl victory over Oklahoma in 2007, but the Sooners are a powerful program in a power conference. Boise State has become a good program in a [Deleted] conference. The two may never play again.
TCU is a good program headed to a powerful conference — for basketball. It’s No. 6 in six power football conferences. It’s better than the Mountain West or Conference USA, but pales in comparison to the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 10 or even the ACC.
TCU will help the Big East. Heck, Kansas State or Missouri would help the Big East’s football image. The Big East needs TCU just as bad as the Horned Frogs needs it. It could be a great marriage.
TCU’s Gary Patterson has done wonders, yet the school averages only 42,466 fans per game. That’s sad. Maybe, just maybe, TCU can get to 60,000 before the next major realignment.
TCU is a good fit for the Big East — in football of course. It’s always about football, even for what was years a great basketball conference that was just as good or better than the ACC.
Football hasn’t been the same, especially after losing Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech.
West Virginia leads the Big East in attendance, averaging 57,648 fans per game, which is 32nd in the country. Pitt (40th, 52,165) and Louisville (42nd, 50,648) are the others averaging more than 50,000 fans per game.
Other than TCU coming to Morgantown, W.V., which Big East school will be jacked when the Horned Frogs roll into town in 2012? Pitt which shares a stadium with the Steelers? Rutgers? UConn?
That’s going to impress recruits in this state? No, winning does. Patterson is a good recruiter. The class he’s putting together is ranked No. 33, a spot ahead of Rutgers. Pitt is the top Big East team at No. 16, so TCU will win in the Big East.
The tricky thing is that the conference has to get better for TCU to have a legitimate shot at a national championship game, which is another reason for the move. TCU would be 12-0 if it had been in the Big East this season, but still ranked No. 3 — at best. TCU is likely headed to the Rose Bowl this year, but would be headed to the Fiesta Bowl had it been in the Big East.
TCU improves its image by moving to the Big East, but matchups against Pitt and Syracuse aren’t going to top A&M playing Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Texas Tech or Missouri.
The Aggies are winning now, which will make it even harder for Patterson.
And that’s just football.
Can you imagine the travel facing the student-athletes of the other 19 sports? Travel has been a hurdle for TCU since leaving the Southwest Conference, but heading East in the winter can be tough. I read where it “only” will add about 100 miles per trip. So what’s that? One or two more hours per trip?
TCU’s baseball program has been on the upswing, but will that continue in the Big East? Good luck on the weekend series rained out in Pittsburgh or Syracuse.
Maybe TCU will improve drastically in basketball. Maybe the other sports will be OK. Maybe TCU will become the Big East’s best football program.
But if TCU eventually joins the Big 12 or the SEC, the ACC, the Pac-10 or Big Ten, then all these moves were worth it.
The Aggies will be wishing them the best. If TCU can dominate the Big East, it will just confirm that this state is the best when it comes to football, the sport that matters most.


BIG EAST FOOTBALL ATTENDANCE
32, West Virginia, 57,648
40, Pitt, 52,165
42, Louisville, 50,648
48, Rutgers, 47,013
56, TCU, 42,466
58, South Florida, 40,690
60, Syracuse, 40,064
66, UConn, 38,248
68, Cincinnati, 36,329


Here's a few things I'd like to point out in the column:

He thinks planes fly only 50 MPH?

"Oh, the Horned Frogs probably would beat the Aggies if they played in a bowl game. That still doesn’t make them better." Only an Aggie could write this.

TCU’s Gary Patterson has done wonders, yet the school averages only 42,466 fans per game. That’s sad. Maybe, just maybe, TCU can get to 60,000 before the next major realignment. - How we gonna get 60k in a 40k stadium?

[fischer]

haha, now you're back to dillusional stubbs.

What he said is 100% accurate. Sorry Stubbs. It still astounds me that you can't grasp reality. TCU still doesn't consistently take recruits from even Baylor or tech. Much less the Aggies.

He is saying the Ags may lose to tcu this year, but that the overall programs are incomparable. A&M has always been and always will be a better football school than TCU. How do you not get that?

Your biggest gripe is that he can't do the math right on flight times?

The fact that your stadium only seats 40k speaks HUGE of how far behind the real programs that TCU actually is. You do realize that there are Texas HS football games with more people at them than at TCU games, don't you?

[cowtownmike]

I see nothing I disagree with in the coulmn. Pretty much spot on.

[The River Assassin]

Cessna is an idiot and a joke of a sports writer, but he pretty much hit the nail on the head with this one. I don't really see anything wrong with what he wrote. TCU just went through the greatest decade in the history of their program, and all they have to show for it is an invite to the Big East. Not exactly big time moves there. Like it or not, no matter how much success TCU has on the football field they will never be able to pass A&M and tu. They just don't have the money, the fans, or the resources to do it. Enjoy your success, be proud of your team, but know that it can't and won't last forever.

[Ticket Mouse]

Feb 24, 2010 11:09:12 GMT -5 sully said:

I say nothing happens.

Hurts to miss that one.










I'm sure I had at least a dozen wrong predictions in this thread as well but let's not worry about that right now.

[sully]

I don't care.

[fischer]

I just reread the entire thread.

A couple of quick hits:

I was nails on this thread. My most accurate thread of all time, possibly.

Stubbs was actually nails on this thread until pg. 8 when he couldn't contain his homerism anymore.

Sully was wrong on all counts, but I think he was really just padding his post total when he said anything.

Mike spent the thread trying to draw Stubbs offsides.

Gary Patterson is a whiny baby.

[Ticket Mouse]

Man, I may have to go and read this again.

[fischer]

Finch played the middle the entire time.

Framp and Doyle just added tid bits.

Overall I give the thread an A.

[P. Marf]

Sometimes tid bits are necessary. I give myself a B.

[fischer]

I'd give you a B+

Your tid bits were timely and helped move the thread along. Good work.

[sully]

If I don't care much about the topic at hand, I just chime in shit that doesn't make a difference. See thread.

[fischer]

exactly.

So I guess your grade on the thread is an INC

[Ticket Mouse]

Mar 3, 2010 20:33:48 GMT -5 P. Marf said:

well that too but there is usually something on. If I had to pick a team to watch in the Big 10 it would be PennSt.

Because of Sandusky?