Courtesy: American.com
When Maryland knocked off Wisconsin this week in men’s basketball the victory cemented Maryland’s status as force in the Big Ten. The women cagers are enjoying the same status: they’re conference champions.
“Fear the Turtle” isn’t just hype.
And while sports are big at Maryland—as big as they’ve always been—they’re different this year. The Terps have a new mailing address, The Big Ten.
Maryland’s move to the Big Ten is big—for the school and the conference. Inconceivable only a few years ago, the marriage is a product of conference realignment. The Big East disbanded. The Big 12 almost went under. And iconic brands, including former national football champions Nebraska and BYU, gravitated to new affiliations.
The Big Ten, which had been stable at ten teams from the early ’50s until the early ’90s, expanded. First came Penn State (1990). Nebraska arrived next (2011). Then Rutgers and Maryland entered (2014). The Big Ten, which used to be true to a number, is now a figurative brand.
Courtesy wsnt.net
Why Maryland and B1G? An arranged union it was; mutual self-interest made it so. The Big Ten wanted an enlarged conference footprint on The East Coast and Maryland needed what the ACC couldn’t provide: sufficient resources to support its athletic program. Maryland fit the league’s academic profile—enhancing it, actually.
Let’s face it, though: offering a rationale for why it happened isn’t the same as saying you like what happened. So, Maryland fans: Now that you have a year under your belt, what do you think about being in B1G?
Courtesy: heraldtimesonline.com
Forget about asking Rutgers that question. Liking B1G goes without saying. The Scarlet Knights won the athletic lottery: the Big Ten rescued them from athletic oblivion and financial calamity. Following the break-up of the football-playing Big East Conference Rutgers was destined for The American Athletic Conference (AAC). That’s the AAC as in Tulsa, not the ACC as in Florida State. The Big Ten wanted territory in Metro New York and Rutgers, similar to Maryland’s situation, was in bad shape (financially) in athletics.
Maryland is different from Rutgers. Maryland has history. Maryland has a national profile. Maryland was primed to compete. BUT…. That’s the word: it’s at the beginning of just about every sentence regarding Maryland and the Big Ten. At what cost?
To make a leap forward to the Big Ten the Terps had to step away from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Maryland was there at the beginning of the ACC (1953), one of seven charter members. And it’s one of only two schools to have ever left the league (South Carolina departed in 1971 for the SEC).
Conference realignment brings change: decades of rivalries (a century’s worth in some cases) become content of history books. What was taken for granted, year after year after year, is no more.
What does it mean for Maryland? The epic basketball battles against Duke, watched by fans around the country, are gone. There isn’t Clemson or Florida State in football. And proximate road trips, say to Virginia and North Carolina, are now mostly cross-country treks. Just how many fans are able to travel to Ann Arbor or Columbus, let alone Iowa City? How many people get excited about seeing the Terps play at the Gophers (in football) or at the Huskers (in basketball)? And what are the rivalry games these days? Penn State in football makes sense because there’s an historic connection. After that?
Courtesy rantsports.com
When I was in college—and, later, as a college professor—the rivalry games stood out, the road trips in particular. There was WVU v. Pitt in the Iron City, Iowa State against Iowa in Iowa City, and Michigan State-Michigan in Ann Arbor. All games were a short car drive away. Plenty of students could attend, and they did. It was home away from home, an enclave of loyalists engulfed in a sea “of those other people.” It was great, no matter the outcome. But the feeling was simply indescribable after a win. The best of the best was beating Notre Dame in South Bend.
Conference realignment brings redefinition, and with that, a fresh script. The business of college athletics makes it so. Fans are left to cope, to adjust to a new reality.
I had to do that as a West Virginia alum. I always looked forward to “the red letter games,” contests against Pitt and Penn State in particular. But those games are gone. Today it’s about playing Kansas State and Oklahoma State. The problem is that I’ve never followed those teams. I don’t know the players. I don’t get excited. I don’t look forward to the games. So, today, it’s irrelevant who WVU plays in conference games: it’s 100% about West Virginia. That’s what can happen when rivals fall off the schedule.
The worst part is that two of my former schools, WVU and Iowa State, now compete in the same league. The two schools are vastly different geographically, culturally, and institutionally. This marriage seems illogical…until I think about that realignment elixir—mutual self-interest. The Big 12 and ISU needed WVU, and WVU needed the Big 12.
Courtesy foxsports.com
Part of me says, “I’ll get used to it in time.” Part of me says, “Get ready for even more change.” The latter seems more likely.
Courtesy bloguin.com
How long will it take before we have five “Power Conferences” with 16 teams each—80 major college teams in total? Rehearsals are probably happening now as conferences evaluate schools for possible affiliation. (Central Florida seems to be a prime fit somewhere.)
If I’m right in predicting further expansion, then two more B1G teams are on the way at some point, six more in the Big 12.
But make no mistake about it: college sports have been, and always will be, big—no matter what the future may bring. It’s just different. It takes some getting used to.
I’ll bet Maryland fans know what I mean.
