I'm not saying a stronger opponent wouldn't be better, especially since they'll be in the east. What do we care? The thing is that someone will have to absorb all those losses vandy has in-conference. It would be nice to have florida state or even gt, but I doubt it would make a big impact. There is nothing to lose replaceing vandy except academics, which fsu would not replace but gt definitely would.
I was just expected the typical "Tulane sucks" etc from at least someone. Glad to see everyone is open to the idea.
Re: Re: Re: Vandy has got to go Now now, let's be sure before we burn them at the stake. Tie them up and throw them in the river. If they drown they were innocent. If they float they're witches and should be burned.
I'll flame on that one. Tulane, if in the SEC would deplete our recruiting base. As an SEC school they will be able to sign some of those 4 and 5 star players that we currently have exclusive rights to. Also they currently can't compete in the weak C-Useless. It would be years before they had enough talent to win non-conference games. Furthermore, Vandy still brings fans to their games. Not as many as most SEC schools but a topple lot more than the dozens Tulane brings in. I Would support GA Tech, or gulp TCU.
It would take a long time before Tulane was good enough to take our 5 star recruits. But I will tell you this, Vandy has gone 2-9, 2-9 and probably will go 1-10 this year for the last 3 years, all 5 wins were against horrible teams. They are even losing consistantly to MAC/CUSA teams. Tulane beat Miss St. this year.. already more than Vandy has done in forever.. and they almost beat undefeated TCU also. They will definitely be more competitive than Vandy would, yet not near LSU.
I just think if we are gonna take a mid major it has to be a top flight one. Tulane is a bottom dweller in one of the worst leagues there is. We need someone stronger.
Claw and Furcal, about your replacements for Vanderbilt. First of all, folks, we can't get rid of Vanderbilt. Conference bylaws state clearly that no permanent member of the SEC can be voted out by other schools. Vanderbilt is in the SEC until they choose to leave. And they will NEVER voluntarily leave the SEC, they love collecting that BCS revenue too much. Unfortunately, the pointy-headed academicians who run VU and just folded their athletic dept. in with their intramural/kinesiology/phys. ed. depts. have also shown for as far back as I can remember that they flat don't care about sports. They hate sports (especially football) and, as long as they are in charge, will NEVER let Vandy be all they can be. We are stuck with the current situation until there is a change in leadership at Vanderbilt. Now, I read some speculation early in the conference realignment game that, should the remaining Big East had held tough against the expansion of the ACC, that the ACC would then turn to the southwest (the SEC) for their 12th member. I read on some Delphi conference realignment board the following scenario for an attack against the SEC by the ACC. 1) The ACC goes after South Carolina. Clemson protests, but their protests alone are not enough to keep USC out. The SEC tries hard to keep USC, but the ACC throws enough money at the Gamecocks and the savings in travel expenses are so much that USC makes the move. 2) The SEC immediately counter-attacks, going after Georgia Tech. GT was a charter member of the SEC, and left in 1966. They tried to get back in in 1992, but were snubbed in favor of USC because they brought nothing to the table other than football, academics, and the Atlanta market, which the SEC knew it could get anyway. Well, now the SEC would want them back, because though their football is slightly down, their basketball and baseball are much better, and their facilities are much better, plus it would re-unite GT and UGA in the same conference, helping UGA's non-conference scheduling. GT goes to the SEC. 3) A very upset ACC goes for it all. They invite Florida, trying to unify the strong Florida schools in one conference. Florida is torn; on the one hand, they have been in the SEC a long time, they have an established rivalry with Georgia, they have been at or near the top of the conference for a while, and they are on firm financial ground. On the other hand, they see the possibility of having Miami and FSU in the same conference, giving them much greater non-conference scheduling flexibility. They see a great potential savings in travel costs. They see an ACC that would surpass the SEC in overall strength of football if they went over. If Florida declined the invite, the SEC stays with 12, trading USC for GT with the ACC. The ACC looks back to the North, probably inviting Marshall to get to 12, if West Virginia or Boston College rebuffed them. If the unthinkable happened, and Florida left too, the SEC would be in quite a bind. Eleven teams, and no big state schools or traditional powers in football to choose from. Who would replace Florida? What the SEC would do, according to this theory, is move Alabama and Auburn to the East, move Kentucky to the West, and look in the West for it's 12th member. There would be five candidates the conference would look at. Here were the five, in order of the league office's preference. 1) Louisville 2) Tulane 3) Memphis 4) Southern Miss 5) Louisiana Tech Weak field, I know. But keep in mind, this was just one of many conference realignment scenarios, and this was the one that took into consideration the ABSOLUTE WORST CASE scenario for the Southeastern Conference. And we still didn't come out half bad. Sure, losing Florida stinks, but Georgia Tech is a decent school with strong academics and okay football, and the choice of the 12th school was interesting. Their pick was Tulane. Why? It was a compromise choice. Kentucky and Tennessee would bitterly resist Louisville, Ole Miss and Miss. State would bitterly resist Southern Miss, LSU and Arkansas would fight to the death to keep La. Tech out (plus La. Tech, facilities and budget wise, simply isn't on par with the SEC. They just aren't.), and Memphis would be piled on by EVERYBODY (Arkansas, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Miss. State, Alabama, basically all those schools who recruit Memphis for football and basketball and stand to lose turf to Memphis). Tulane would be a compromise choice. Everyone, even LSU, could live with Tulane because they are a private school, because we are confident we could still recruit New Orleans heavily, and they bring academics to the table that would greatly improve our conference's image and scholastics. Their basketball teams are okay and their baseball isn't bad either.
But, let's all be grateful that won't happen. The Big East did a poor job of protecting it's turf, so the SEC won't have to worry about realignment anytime soon.
