Megaconference mania on the horizon...

Well, that didn't take long. Mere days after the administration at Texas A&M confirmed that they're going to jump conferences to the SEC, word comes that FOUR schools- OU, Texas, OSU, and Texas Tech- are looking seriously at making the PAC-12 become the PAC-16.

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Saturday the conference isn't seeking expansion partners, but acknowledged that "schools have reached out to us." "We are not doing anything proactively," Scott said to reporters before Saturday's Oregon-LSU game. "We've not initiated anything. But schools have called us. And we are certainly going to listen. We always are going to evaluate."

Comissioner Scott denied his conference was being "predatory". Yeah, and by the way, I've got this awesome bridge to sell ya.

What more can I say? How long before the Big Ten and SEC get aggressive in turn? The SEC is almost certain- they'll want a school to compliment Texas A&M. So the big questions are:

A) What school is that going to be, and

B) What should the ACC do about it?

As for who the SEC will go after, I'm not sure. Mizzou, Virginia Tech, WVU, Florida State, amongst others have been floated as possibilities. FSU and VT obviously are big deals for us, but are they likely? Would Florida want FSU cutting in on their racket? Would state politics and the downsides to joining the SEC keep Virginia Tech in the ACC?

Now, as for what the ACC should do about it- well, no two ways about it. We should get just as aggressive. I say we make a bid- NOW- for WVU, UConn, ahh, maybe Syracuse, Pitt, and USF (heh, they were good enough to beat ND). Plus someone else. Hmm. Put us up to 16-18. Gosh, that seems like such a ridiculous number, but I don't think we have much of a choice. If we don't do it, someone else will.

I can't even the fathom the implications this will have on scheduling. I mean, teams are unlikely to be able to even play all the teams in our own division. If we went up to 16-18 schools, it'd take seven or eight games a season just to play everyone in the Atlantic division, say. So, what- two games for the opposing division, and two for other schools at large.

I dunno. I like to see variety. I enjoy getting to see Virginia play WAC and MAC schools, or Virginia Tech go up against Boise State- no insult there, fellas, I just enjoy good games against two good teams. I guess the biggest question is going to be a simple one, though- where's the money at? Because inevitably, that's the direction we'll end up going.

Thoughts?