Upon announcing that they would be tackling the expansion issue, the Big Ten stated that it would likely take anywhere from 12-18 months before the issue was ultimately decided.
According to at least one report, however, the timetable has been accelerated. A lot.
Per Ben Maller of the Fox Sports Radio Network, Pittsburgh will be announced as the 12th member of the conference no later than Thursday of this week.
Maller reports that some athletes at the university have already been informed of the move from the Big East, which should send a giant red flag shooting up the speculation pole as no one in their right mind would let a bunch of teenagers in on a development this big.
Our opinion all along has been that Pitt, along with Missouri, would be the two likeliest candidates to make the move, but it would seem highly implausible that a group that just a month and a half ago announced they would be exploring the idea would have reached a conclusion after a mere 45 or so days had passed.
Stranger things have happened, but we’re tempted to file this one in the “Premature Speculation” folder located near the official CFT waste container.
Pitt = Big Ten? There are just somethings that should not go together. Like Paterno = 20/20 Vision, Mike Leach = Kind, Bobby Bowden = Employed, Ralph Freidgen = Thin. You get my point….
Pitt eat s**t!!!
I vote the Big East adds Memphis for all sports and adds Army and Navy for football only.
They should also dump DePaul in other sports and add one more team…maybe UCF.
That would give the Big East 11 teams in football and still 16 in basketball. Too bad TCU and Boise State are so far away.
Pitt, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa State and Syracuse should join the Big Ten.
East Division
Pitt
Syracuse
Penn State
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Purdue
Indiana
West Division
Nebraska
Missouri
Iowa
Iowa State
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Illinois
OR
North
Syracuse
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern
Iowa State
Purdue
South
Missouri
Nebraska
Iowa
Illinois
Indiana
Ohio State
Pitt
Penn State
Thor – what the Big Easy needs to do is make Noter Dame play in the conference in football or kick their asses completely out.
Pier588, I couldn’t agree with you more. In making my comments, I assumed the conference wouldn’t grow that kind of balls, though.
So, you would have the current 8, Notre Dame, dump DePaul for Memphis and then Army and Navy. That would give you 12 for football and still 16 for basketball.