fat_slice said:
StillNoStanfurdium said:
philbert said:
still don't really understand why everyone says Furd would be a "natural" partner for ND.
I genuinely think the national media/non-Pac 12 football fans just have no inkling of the Cal/Furd rivalry and think that this annual ND/Furd game that only stretches back to, what, 1988, means that they are primary rivals.
Exactly - and Stanford and ND are not in the same conference now and are still playing each other every year. Why do they need to be in the same conference? Don't get this pairing at all
The one argument that makes some sense is if the B1G lands Notre Dame and then wants to add three schools out west to form a pod and get to an even 20. Stanford could be split off from Cal in that scenario. That said, I don't entirely see why that would HAVE to happen in such a situation either.
1. The B1G could just invite ND and that's it. They did it before with Penn State.
2. If they are only taking three Pac-12 teams, it's not totally obvious that Cal would be left out and not Washington or Oregon. Yes, the teams in the northwest have had more football success recently, but if they are weighting market size and academics more heavily they might want to take Cal instead.
3. It's not clear that Stanford would want to leave without Cal. It's entirely plausible that they wouldn't. Their donors care about the rivalry too, and Furd is not desperate for the TV money.
4. USC and UCLA might prefer to have the other California schools join them in the B1G above anyone else in the Pac, ESPECIALLY if UCLA is facing political pressure from the Regents/Governor.
5. The B1G seems perfectly capable of supporting 21 schools just as well as 20, so it's also not obvious why they have to get to that round number.
There are a lot of ways this can go.