So, besides the fact that members of the Big 12 are supposed to be mending things up but instead are engaging in dueling press conferences, what do we know? Not much.
USA Today put everybody in the up-for-grabs conferences on a Monopoly board. Iowa State ended up on Baltic Avenue.
The Register had a look back at ISU’s conference history. From the MVIAA split until last year, Iowa State’s conference always grew. But now… “You look at the Big 12, you’re not going to want to hear this, but nobody wants to be the last guy in the club with Kansas State and Iowa State.”
In a must-read piece, a writer at Texas-centric Barking Carnival* does a long search for who’s at fault in this whole thing, “[a]lthough I can’t think of anything Iowa State has done wrong yet.” Missouri gets some more of it. He includes this link to the Kansas City Star from Dec. 14, 2009 — the day before the Big Ten officially announced it was looking at expansion, but months after the rumblings had begun** — in which people connected to Mizzou said they’d be interested in jumping conferences. See also the timeline in my Sept. 20 post.
*So take with whatever amount of salt you deem necessary.
**ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg talked about Missouri to the Big Ten in May 2009 and also threw ISU a bone. See also this from Andy Staples in June 2009.
A writer at the Wilmington (DE) News-Journal kicks teams who have been playing football for a century out for, of course, Boise State and Central Florida:
These conferences will be about football — nothing else. Schools can continue with their tradition conference affiliations for basketball and all the other sports, because those seem to be working just fine. But since football is king, it needs its own deal. …
Proud Big 12 member Iowa State is 5-68-2 against Oklahoma since 1928, so it’s time to bring that “rivalry” to a merciful end. Indiana hasn’t had a winning season in the Big Ten since 1993, and Minnesota has gone over .500 in that league only five times since 1970. In other words, goodbye.
After that, we need some comic relief. A Tennessee blog obliges.