by Mike Gibson

Expansion: All talk, no action

**Temple is about as likely to build a stadium as this is to happen.**

Lately, we’ve been having an explosion of expansion mania in college football.

The Big 12 commissioner, Bob Bowlsby, accused ESPN of conspiring with the AAC, of all conferences, to take break up his group.

ESPN has denied it.

Over a month now and that’s all it’s been: All talk.

This time, it seems like something might happen. Does, say, Kansas going to the Big 10 help Temple?

No.

Nobody really knows what’s going to happen, if anything, but I will take a guess.

The current Group of Five schools largely remain in the G5 and the current Power 5 schools largely remain in the P5.

That’s it.

**Notice the missing school from all this realignment talk …**

The only change I see is that the schools in the P5 will consolodate into four mega conferences. The leftovers from the Big 12 are more likely to join the PAC-12 than they are the AAC.

The AAC won’t be absobing the remnants of the Big 12. There won’t be a Power 6.

Why?

Money talks and the 64 schools in the P5 have never shown one iota of sharing that money with any newcomers.

This whole thing reminds me of the talk about Temple’s ill-fated football stadium.

Back in March of 2012, a big football contributor was willing to tell anyone he saw at Temple basketball’s NCAA basketball game with North Carolina State that the stadium was a “done deal” — meaning that it will be built.

Knowing the North Philly neighborhood like I do, I said: “Wake me up when the first shovel hits the ground.”

Almost a full decade later and the first shovel has never hit the ground.

Now it’s a done deal the other way.

Temple has signed a 10-year Linc lease extension and not a single official affilated with the university wants to talk about the status of the stadium. That kind of tells you all you need to know.

That’s kind of the way I feel about all of this expansion talk. Wake me up when Temple joins a Power conference.

Until, then, like the stadium, it’s a nice thing to dream about while smoking a pipe.

Monday: Two reasons for optimism

4 thoughts on “Expansion: All talk, no action”

Jim
August 6, 2021
10:31 am

Good observations here.

I think the P5 ends up as the P4. Big 12 without Texas and Oklahoma relegates them to top of second tier. Even still, AAC has uphill battle to maintain current position.

There was at one time during the Rhule era when there was good momentum towards a stadium, although political obstacles that made it a challenge. That ship has sailed. All that energy and momentum is now with Cincinnati.

The energy and momentum around the program has evaporated. If Carey lasts the length of his contract and maintains his current trendline, it would not shock me to see discussion of disbanding the program arise again.

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- Mike Gibson
  August 6, 2021
  2:55 pm
  
  Rhule said he was in favor of a stadium “if it was done right.” That drawing of a glorified Northeast High stadium was not doing it right. Something like Georgia Tech’s stadium (Atlanta) or BC’s stadium (Boston, really Chestnut Hill) would fit right into that footprint. Of course, neighbors there never fought BC or GT.
  
  Reply
joninohio
August 6, 2021
7:34 pm

About half of the schools in the AAC were not in that chart either, not just Temple. Mediocre to poor coach hires are not going to get Temple where we all would like to see the programs go. The AAC schools in the chart spend more and make better coaching choices. We’re stuck right where we are. Maybe the new president can move things in the right direction – big if based on past history. Temple is not in that chart because it doesn’t know how to continue success when it does stumble on it occasionally.

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Blazeman
August 8, 2021
9:24 pm

You’re so right, Mike (about AAC + Big 12-4). No way TCU and Okie State will agree to become “equals” to SMU and Tulsa. Nor Tex Tech and Houston. And for basketball, Wichita and K-State.

Football and basketball on N Broad are a shambles now. Why would any “P” league want to bring in more garbage, eyeballs to view TV notwithstanding?

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