FYP

You could make a strong case that those two would move the conference in front of the PAC. They would still be well behind the B1G, though. FSU today isn't what they were fifteen years ago.

That makes Wickedson's cracks at Nebraska even dumber. He acts like Nebraska is shit but Florida State is the savior. Florida State's peak was below Nebraska's, and they are pretty even today.

Lets not get carried away, the schedule isn't THAT tough. Games that they really ought to not have any trouble winning:

SEL
UCF
Vandy
Kentucky
Syracuse

Then you've got ASU who played them tough last year, but this time the game's in Columbia. They drop that one though or lose one of the 5 gimmes, and it gets tough. They SHOULD be bowl eligible with about 7 wins, but I don't think they'll be looking at the Capital One Bowl.

Well, I'm not talking about FSU on the field, though they seem to be looking up and should be favored to reach the Orange this year.

Despite being down from where they were for a decade, they still get impressive ratings. Money-wise, adding those two schools should get them at least at or above the B1G's $25MM mark.

The fact that every game is televised in the B1G means a lot to me.

Oh and by the way, to all of those snide butt-hurt East coasters in the media who are apoplectic about the ACC's seeming demise, and who angrily reacted by blaming FSU and Clemson for not playing better the last decade, FSU and Clemson are not the problem. You'll soon have 14 teams, and only 4 of them, at best, are usually worth a damn. Even if FSU had won a couple championships in the 2000's, the ACC would still be in trouble because no one wants to watch FSU-Wake or Clemson-BC, or anyone-Duke. People can make the same cracks about Texas-Kansas, but the Big 12 and SEC are getting great contracts because those two conferences have very few dogs. Almost every game at least has regional interest, and many games have national interest. FSU, Clemson, VT, and GT can't play each other every single weekend, and some years they don't play at all. The ACC got a crap deal because a clear majority, if not a supermajority, of football teams in that conference are dogs.

To be honest if the Big 12 is picking up FSU and Clemson, might as well go snag another 6 more to make an eastern division of the Big 12. Go add Louisville, Pittsburgh, Miami, Georgia Tech, Boston College and Connecticut. Gives you two 9 team divisions. Play each team for 8 conference games, champion meets in Dallas for the championship, then the winner gets its ass kicked by the SEC in the Champions Bowl.

I think the only team in the country who can keep us from stopping at 12 is Notre Dame, and even they might not do it if they don't get aboard now at #11/12. 14 is such a pain in the ass to schedule (Alabama is apparently not coming back to Columbia after this season until sometime next decade), that you almost would have to go to 16 for scheduling purposes. And its hard to see 4 schools out there, even including Notre Dame, that would make it worth it because presuming we're at 25 per at 12, we'd need the 4 teams to do significantly better than add $100MM/year of value.

Arizona State also was hit heavily by defection, losing its QB and several other stars. Missouri crushes them in Columbia.

Wins:

SE Lousiana
Arizona State
UCF
Syracuse
Kentucky
Vanderbilt


Toss-Ups:
@Texas A&M (three-peat about to happen. Vanderbilt is better than aTm currently)
@Tennessee (this is IF you believe they're going to be better)
@Florida (winning in the Swamp is not easy, but Muschamp has yet to get it going and STILL doesn't have an offense)
Georgia (home game, first SEC game, Georgia is not great early in the season)


Losses:
Alabama
@South Carolina

I would say 8-4 is a good baseline. That would have them splitting the toss-up games (Likely beating aTm and Tennessee and losing to Florida and Georgia). THey're not going to lose a non-conference game if Franklin is healthy.

I have said all along that a viable Big XII was Missouri's best option. With the information available at the time Mizzou left for the SEC, I truly didn't believe that option existed anymore. I still fully support the decision to leave.

That being said, it looks like a lot of people (myself included) underestimated the viability and strength of the Big XII. I'm actually pretty happy. I could give a flying **** about KU, but there are other programs (ISU, K-State for example) that I like and would prefer to see succeed.

But hey, this is conference realignment. Shit could blow up tomorrow.

I'm not ready to cede that game to South Carolina.

They are not even today.

KK layin it down on you MU guys right now.

I may be a big 12 fan, but I can't really chalk it up to viability and strength. They may be viable, strong, and long-term stable now, but thats only through the sheer stubbornness of the Texas legislature, and the PAC 12's lack of balls. (The PAC 12 was going to pull the trigger, but they balked only because Texas politicians were going to make Baylor's situation extremely messy. They probably figured the Big 12 would crumble soon enough, and they probably now wish they would have went ahead anyway and worried about the politics and legal issues later).

Add in the ACC's jaw-droppingly stupid, and ultimately fatal, move to add Syracuse instead of WVU, and here we are.

I was trying to not be overly homer-tastic. I can see a situation where they beat South Carolina, but that is an ultimate best-case scenario, I think. And would require a lot of things going exactly correctly.