Wow! What a week in college football. Three teams have already announced their moves to a new conference, and more will follow. And it looks like the Big 12 will fall apart in the aftermath of Nebraska’s move.
The Pac-10 could turn into a Super-Conference, and the Mountain West could get an automatic bid. Let’s not forget that USC got some bad news. Let’s look at all the happenings in college football last week:
Nebraska gets the ball rolling
Nebraska was the first team to announce it would leave the Big 12. They were officially welcomed to the Big Ten by the conference’s board of presidents and chancellors Friday. It marked the first addition to the Big Ten since Penn State joined the conference in 1990.
The addition allows the conference to hold a Big Ten championship football game. Commissio-ner Jim Delaney said its first installment will most likely be held in 2011. Delaney added that the conference is not looking to add any further teams, at least for the next 12 to 18 months.
Colorado leaves Big 12, joins Pac-10
The University of Colorado announced Thursday that it will leave the Big 12 to join the Pac-10. The move could trigger a number of realignments that will put the Big 12 in danger of falling apart. There is talk that the Pac-10 is set to invite a total of six Big 12 teams.
This move would include such big names as Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. The Pac-10 could essentially turn into a 16-team super conference that would include most of the West’s big teams. The Big 12 might lose all of its members in the wake of these moves and vanish from the college football landscape.
Boise State joins Mountain West; others might follow
The Boise State Broncos have announced that they will join the Mountain West Conference after next season. They had been looking to move into a bigger conference for quite some time, as their chances to play in a national title game were hurt by their weak conference schedule in the Western Athletic Conference year in and year out.
The MWC was founded in 1998 with eight members. It added TCU in 2005, and has expanded to ten teams with the addition of Boise State. But it seems like they are not done. There are rumors that the conference is looking into adding Kentucky and Missouri.
The NCAA had told the conference even before Boise State’s move, that an automatic bid to the BCS bowls is a possibility based on the great results of MWC schools such as Utah and TCU. The addition of Boise State and possibly other schools could push the conference over the top in their quest to receive an automatic bid.
USC banned from bowls for two years, loses 30 scholarships
The NCAA ruled last week that the USC Athletic Department failed to exert institutional control from 2004 to 2009. They were cited on a variety of rules violations, which caused the NCAA to impose sanctions on the football team. The rules violations are centered on allegations that Reggie Bush and basketball player O.J. Mayo received improper benefits.
The Trojans won’t be allowed to participate in postseason play in 2010 and 2011. They lose 30 football scholarships over the next three years. They will lose all of their wins from the 2004 and 2005 season, including their national title at the end of the 2004 season.
The school faces a four-year probation, and all of Bush’s and Mayo’s statistics will be nixed. Bush, Mayo and “booster” Rodney Guillory will be disassociated from USC.
In addition to those sanctions, the school announced self-imposed penalties, such as a $5,000 fine and the remittance of the $206,200 the university received for participating in the 2008 NCAA basketball tournament.
