The Cynic’s Guide to College Football: Big 10 Expansion, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Super-Conference

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of discussion about conference expansion and realignment. At the top of that list is the Big 10’s expressed desire to expand to 14 or 16 teams. While much has been discussed (Notre Dame pipe dream, anyone?), the three most common—and logical—potentials to join the Big 10 are Missouri, Nebraska and Rutgers.

After a great deal of thorough analysis over some frosty beverages, I’ve come to one carefully-reasoned conclusion—this is a marriage made in football heaven and everybody involved would have to be a complete freakin’ idiot to not pull the trigger on this deal.

Although somehow “Big 14” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

First, let’s look at what those three schools would gain from joining the Big 10.

Academics—Some colleges still have this crazy notion that universities exist for purposes other than supporting football teams (strange, I know). Missouri, Nebraska and Rutgers—along with all 11 members of the current Big 10—are members of the American Association of Universities. If you’re known by the company you keep, AAU represents the cool kids in academic circles. Only 63 colleges and universities are members, but they receive 57% of all federal research dollars (more than $17 billion). 70% of U.S. Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with one of these schools. In other words, the Big 10, especially with the addition of these three schools, would have a whole lot more in the way of academic funding and prestige than the Big 12 or Big East can offer.

It’s no Heisman, but it’ll do.

Equality—Over the course of the Big 12’s history, Nebraska has been on the losing end of more than one 11-1 votes. And others in the Big 12 North have quietly grumbled about the power in the conference moving south. The current state of the Big 12 is very simple—whatever Texas wants, Texas gets. A TV contract that heavily benefits the big name schools? You got it. Moving the Big 12 title game to Texas permanently? No problem. The list goes on. In the Big 12, the rich (Texas and Oklahoma) keep getting richer. The Big 10 is much more egalitarian in its structure, with all members treated more or less equally. (For example, they are the only conference in which all teams share BCS money evenly).

Clap if you’re a fan of the Big 12

Money—The Big One. Let’s be honest, none of this talk would even be on the table if there wasn’t money—and a lot of it—at stake. Under their current football TV contracts, Nebraska and Missouri each pull in approximately $10 million annually, while Rutgers gets about $4 million. If the Big 10 expands, each school would get in the neighborhood of $22 to $25 million. I’m not great at math, but even I can crunch those numbers.

Warren Buffett is a Nebraska fan. And he knows a good deal when he sees one.

So what does the Big 10 gain from these three extra schools?

Money—Yes, it all comes back to money again. Don’t act surprised. With these three schools in the mix, you pull in the New York/New Jersey, Saint Louis and Kansas City media markets. And while Nebraska may be small in terms of population, it is a traditional power that routinely brings in the big TV viewership numbers appealing to advertisers. In other words, you’re going to have a whole lot of eyes watching these games. They way I understand the Big Ten TV contract, they get 10 cents per cable subscriber in non-Big 10 areas, but approximately 70 cents per subscriber in Big 10 markets. Take that net 60 cents per subscriber difference times the number of cable subscribers in New York City, New Jersey, Missouri and Nebraska and you’re talking about a pretty good chunk of change. And that doesn’t even include the revenue from a potential conference title game, additional bowl bids, etc.

The Big 10 Network gets a whole lot Bigger. And Tennier.

History—To be sure, the Big 10 is not lacking for history or storied programs. But the addition of Rutgers (played in the very first college football game in 1869) and Nebraska (5 national titles and a laundry list of national award winners) certainly wouldn’t hurt the conference’s record books.

Rutgers 6, Princeton 4. You can’t get more old school than that.

Other Sports—While the focus of most of the expansion talk has understandably been on football, Missouri, Nebraska and Rutgers bring a lot to the table in other sports. For example, Missouri would be an immediate favorite for the baseball title. Nebraska volleyball would have a natural rival in Penn State as Final Four fixtures. And Rutgers women’s basketball has become a perennial contender.

Nebraska and Penn State have won 6 of the last 11 national championships in women’s volleyball, including the last three straight by PSU.

Are their downsides? Sure. Higher travel costs. The (potential) end of some traditional rivalries. Possibly fewer recruiting inroads in Texas for MU and NU. Some restructuring and rescheduling of the current Big 10. But are any of those reasons enough to say no to this deal? Absolutely not. At the end of the day, there’s really no good reason for this deal NOT to happen.

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Daniel LaRusso's Gonna Play!

Quick update from the PapaJohns.com Bowl...

NC State put in graduate 3rd string quarterback Daniel "LaRusso" Evans to provide a spark against the Scarlet Knights, prompting Ariel to note: "One hit and that kid will be decapitated."

Adding: "It doesn't make him a bad player, just one-third the size of a normal one. What is he 120 pounds soaking wet?"

Weekend Images

Sure, there were some great scenes in sports this weekend. But can they match the enjoyment of these few snapshots I grabbed when I was out-and-about?

Sloppy A. Smith

Stephen A. is loud. His suits are loud. And off-the-rack apparently. HOWEVA, is a tailor to much to pay for when you're on nationwide cable TV? Israel "Angel Eyes" Gutierrez is not impressed.

Sexually-Charged Giant Grizzlies

This is pretty much my favorite Giant.

History in a Tiny Box

Rutgers may be papajohns.com bowling this afternoon, but this might be the smallest vault in the world (available at NJ Barnes & Nobles). My guess is that it jumps from the first game in college football history straight to the Schiano Era.

Jersey Don't Give a F*#@

Gotta love HHR's State University.

First we noted last year that at the one game we made it to against Navy, Rutgers fans felt the need to boo cadets and greet them with chants of "You Suck."

This year, we learn of the Soprano-esq underbelly of the program that, in a state with one of the worst economic situations in the countries, has circumvented public transparency by granting Coach Schiano an additional paycheck "through indirect payments that were never publicly disclosed."

We heard of stadium woes affected by "skyrocketing prices for fuel, concrete and steel."

Well, guess what football fans? We're New Jersey. We do what we want.

Getting drubbed by UNC on national TV?

Eff you.

From FanIQ: Rutgers Students Classy As Always, But Who Doesn't Want To Give ESPN The Finger Sometimes

Shocking! NJ is Corrupt

"I'll take that in unmarked, large denominations."

A few week's back we noted the shady manner in which Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano was wetting his beak. Apparently that's just scratching the surface. The State University's Athletic Department, according to an internal audit (and not surprisingly), may be as crooked as the state's elected officials.

The Star-Ledger via NJ.com reports: "Months before revelations of hidden deals and no-bid contracts sparked two investigations, Rutgers University auditors were warning that no one was watching the money flooding into the school's athletic department. A confidential internal audit issued nearly six months ago criticized the department's fiscal controls -- including hundreds of thousands of dollars in off-the-books spending that never appeared in the Rutgers budget."

Apparently, it's just the burden of "success."

Said Joseph Sikora, the university's director of internal audit, "The leadership and organizational structure over athletics' financial operations show signs of being overextended at a time when the football program is undergoing rapid growth and success."

The 23-page report describes a department suddenly flush with additional sponsorship money and soaring revenues, following the rebound of the once hapless Scarlet Knights football team. At the same time, it details how the department eagerly tapped into those resources with seemingly little oversight.

Auditors found the athletic department subsidized the travel costs of boosters and other VIPs who accompanied the Scarlet Knights on charter flights to post-season bowl games the past three years, at a time when the university was hiking tuition and cutting academic budgets. It also discovered that the department understated its expenses for those games in reports to the administration and concluded the athletic department lacked the ability to collect and reliably report critical financial information "to the president, CFO, the board and the public.

The audit also focused on the university's partnership with a sports marketing company that had exclusive rights to handle radio and television advertising and promotions, funneling millions of dollars into the athletics department.

George Zoffinger, chairman of the audit committee on Rutgers governing board, said the athletics department structured sponsorship deals in a way that deliberately kept the money out of university coffers, and away from direct oversight of administration finance officials.

Zoffinger: "They're basically diverting funds that were sold as sponsorships to pay for other things that are not on the books of the university. This is not the right way to spend public money. The money should come to the university and then be allocated from there. It's inappropriate."

Rutgers Should Give Whatever It Needs to Have Schiano Stay

GREASE TRUCKS!

The Asbury Park Press, most well known for detailing Ren McCormack's 8-yard post route against Sacred Heart in the late 90's, has since moved on to blow the lid off Rutger's Head Coach Greg Schiano and his "secret" contract.

Wait a minute...you are trying to tell me that a college football coach has clauses built into his contract the public doesn't know about? That's crazy talk, and I won't have it.

Turns out Schiano, who should have a statue of himself thrown up in Piscataway for taking Rutgers from a joke to a gem, has a provision in his deal that allows him to walk in 2009 if seats are added to the palatial Rutgers Stadium. In addition, he gets 250K from a sports marketing company that, among other things, helps promote the Rutgers brand.

I know people in the tri-state area generally aren't big on college football because there hasn't been a local team to latch on to, but in the places where college football is king, these type of contracts are the norm and you would probably find that Schiano is on the cheap side of things. One can only guess what has been worked into Bobby "I'm just going to the store for some milk" Petrino or Nick Saban.

Anyway, long story short, Rutgers should give Schiano whatever he needs to stay on board even if that means more seats in the stadium.

--Posted by Cadillac Mescalade

Rutgers Football Follies: Schiano's Shadowy Deal

Artist Drew Sheneman at NJ.com posted this funny about RU football & the unending drama and debate surrounding Coach Greg Schiano's contract.

According to a story by The (Newark) Star Ledger's Josh Margnolin and Ted Sherman, not only was Sciano's contract lucrative (argument was initially made about the public funding such a paycheck), but apparently it was also laced with some good 'ol Jersey monkey business.

Last year Rutgers University football coach Greg Schiano shook hands on a lucrative contract extension that made him one of the highest-paid collegiate coaches in the nation. But that was only a piece of the deal.

Five months after agreeing to terms that will pay him as much as $2 million annually, Schiano signed a side agreement, providing an additional $250,000 a year through indirect payments that were never publicly disclosed, according to records obtained by The Star-Ledger.

In the addendum to his contract, dated July 2, 2007, Rutgers arranged for Nelligan Sports Marketing, the university's exclusive marketing agent, to pay the coach the additional $250,000 -- keeping the payments off the school's payroll.

The money was deducted from sponsorship revenues collected on the university's behalf by the marketing firm, but the amount was guaranteed by Rutgers. It was listed as a payment for "personal services" and was made to a limited liability corporation established by Schiano.

Keep chopping wood.

Gas prices now affecting football?

Rising costs might curb Rutgers stadium expansion

Rising costs are forcing Rutgers University officials to take a hard look at their $102 million football stadium plans in Piscataway. According to published reports, bids for the second phase of the project have come in higher than anticipated. Skyrocketing prices for fuel, concrete and steel are blamed.

Rutgers president Richard McCormack tells The Star-Ledger of Newark reducing the number of seats would be a last resort as they evaluate options.

Instead of reducing the number of seats, Rutgers officials are toying with the idea of making sure fans DON'T come to games until the entire expansion project can be completed.

These ideas include:

• bringing back Terry Shea and assuring some stadium emptying 1-10 seasons,
• Don Imus as Grand Marshall of the homecoming parade
• advertising 'gang members get in free' games around the Newark and Camden campuses

Scarlet Knight DB/WR Now Chief of Staff for Influential NJ State Senator

PolitickerNJ.com reports that "Nkosi Remy is the new chief of staff for state Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex)." The 6'1" graduate from Cedar Grove failed to record any offensive or defensive statistics during his NCAA career according to scarletknights.com, but appears to have excelled academically at the State University of New Jersey.

A member of Rutger's University's first bowl victory team, Remy was a wide receiver and defensive back during his four years as a Scarlet Knight. He has two Bowl Championship rings, including one from the historic Texas Bowl.

According to O'Toole's office, Kosi has received numerous awards, including the outstanding delegate award at UC Berkeley, a model United Nations conference held at UC Berkeley in San Francisco, and the "Honorable Delegate" award at Worldmun, a model United Nations Conference hosted by Harvard University in Puebla Mexico.

O'Toole serves on the powerful Senate on the Budget and Appropriations Committee, as well as on the Senate State Government Committee, and as the Senate Minority Whip.

Record Crowd at RU Scarlet & White Game

Scarlet Defeats White 28-14 In Front of Record Crowd at Rutgers

As you can see, the joint was hoppin'!


I can't get over the fact that the place was so jam packed to the rafters with loyal fans turning out in droves to fill up an entire section of the stadium!

In the Rutgers' faithfuls' defense, my understanding was that tailgating was permitted just about anywhere in the vicinity, so perhaps the record crowd was, in fact, in the parking lot.

If these pictures are any indication, as far as Greg Schiano has taken this program in recent years, the Knights still have quite a ways to go before they reach college football's upper echelon at the birthplace of CFB.

Thanks to reader Taco1 for the shots.

Keep Chopping Wood

(Photo: NYTimes)

In what Carton and Boomer on WFAN this morning described as "loyalty in an era with no loyalty," the duo broke news that Greg Schiano turned down an offer from Michigan to become their next head coach.

As a New Jersey native, Rutgers football had been generously described as "laughable" prior to Schiano's efforts to legitimize the "Birthplace of College Football." Hell, yours truly was even invited back in the day to attend one of their RU 100 prospect days. That should say something about their one-time inability to recruit top-tiered prospects.

Schiano's commitment to the school, his players, recruits and the state is admirable. Last year a fire-storm ensued following his contract extension that made him the state's highest paid public employee (Rutgers, for those who don't know, is the State U of NJ) after his refusal to take the Miami Hurricanes job. This has since been quelled by the success of the program, subsequent risen national exposure for the university and his inevitable success in recruiting, particularly in-state tallent that historically fled the Garden State for greener pastures of big-time programs.

Has Rutgers yet reached the promised land of being a college football power house? Of course not. But with Schiano's commitment in being what (paraphrasing) Carton and Boomer described as the antithesis of Nick Saban, it likely won't be long before we see New Jersey represented in a BCS Bowl Game.

In a state dominated by pro sports in which teams are either domiciled in a different state or too embarrassed to call themselves NJ (that's you GMen and Jets), Rutgers has given NJ and the NY-metro reason a reason to cheer on Saturdays.

Coach, in the words of the great Iron Mike Tyson, "I take my hand off to you," and thank you for your loyalty and commitment.

Stay Classy, New Brunswick

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Yoooooooouuuuu. (RU)

I kicked off my sports-filled weekend on Friday night with a trip up the New Jersey Turnpike to watch the Scarlet Knights take on Navy's Midshipmen. I recall asking the feller I was with as Navy took the field "Is it proper to boo servicemen?" So the two of us golf clapped for our sailors-to-be.

It seems we were among the few at Rutgers Stadium that night with a touch of class.

From today's Star Ledger: Obscene fans at Rutgers draw a penalty flag

Navy was booed and peppered with "You suck!" chants when they stepped on the field for both halves. Toward the end of the second half, Rutgers students in the new bleacher section began to serenade the adjacent section of Navy fans and uniformed Midshipmen.

''F--- you, Navy. F---you, Navy. F--- you, Navy."

I did hear the a-hole chants directed at the zebras in the penalty-laden game, but I guess I wasn't within earshot of the f-bombs.