It's Official....Stanford, Cal and SMU to the ACC.

[Grantvb]

The smaller the footprint, the less strain on budget. And the better for bowl tie-ins?

[Grantvb]

Tulsa, UNT, Ark St., Memphis, LaTech, WKU,UAB in the North.

Louisiana, Rice, UTSA, Tx St., USM, Troy, USA in the South

[Grantvb]

The South Division is about an average 5 hour run. The North is an average 8 hours.

[Esqueleto]

I really hope the SBC sticks together as is. I have given up all hope of joining a major conference, and I like the group of schools we have in the belt.

[cajun4life]

I really hope the SBC sticks together as is. I have given up all hope of joining a major conference, and I like the group of schools we have in the belt.

Exactly!

[Big Buds]

I really hope the SBC sticks together as is. I have given up all hope of joining a major conference, and I like the group of schools we have in the belt.

It will. At most it will add one or two schools but chances are we are locked in at 14.

[CajunVic]

I really hope the SBC sticks together as is. I have given up all hope of joining a major conference, and I like the group of schools we have in the belt.

. . . this guy gets it . . . his analysis is simple and sweet . . .

[Duckster]

In current environment, we just have to remember our conference mates are also our competitors. Collaborating with So. Miss in building up as #1 rivalry is good for Louisiana, the SBC, and future possibilities.

[CajunFun]

What happens to the rest of the PAC.

It’s final: ACC presidents have approved expansion to add Stanford, Cal and SMU, sources tell @YahooSports, ending a month-long saga into an issue that divided the league.

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) September 1, 2023

Story out of left field:

R. Gerald Turner is president at SMU. I know him, although I doubt he'd remember me: he was president at Old Miss in the early '90's when I was there. I was a guest at his daughter's wedding, and I even remember my bridal gift, a copy Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make A Roux?

So jeepers, how long has been at SMU?? (Answer: 28 years. Wow.)

But for you history lovers, there's an interesting story about universities, cotton, slavery, and the Old South.

I have relatives in Natchez, and on a tour I took one visit there I was told (and these numbers are from memory, so... ) that before the Civil War there were something like 13 millionaires in the USA, and 8 of them lived in Natchez. The Historical Census Records of the US show that in 1850, Mississippi contained 296K whites, 311K blacks... and presumably almost all those of color were slaves. I cannot find records of modal or median income, but all available accounts suggest that Mississippi really was a feudal economy.

Will all that concentrated wealth, there was a push by the wealthy to build a very fine university, along the lines of the great universities of Europe. Oxford was chosen as the location. (NB: Urban centers generally did not want universities at that time, 'town and gown' originally referred to the tensions between the university and the city. This is why so many old, large schools are in small towns. Although several towns competed for UL, the largest at that time was Opelousas, who did not want it...) The first president of Ole Miss was no less than Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard, a deaf mathematician who, when the Civil War broke out, became president of Columbia.

Barnard College is named for him.

One of Barnard's goals in Mississippi was to build the largest telescope in the world. If you visit the Ole Miss campus, one of the most interesting buildings is the original observatory, a weird mixture of traditional antebellum, with rounded turrets to hold the never-installed telescopes.

Barnard ordered what was to be the largest lens in the world from a firm in Boston. When the Civil War broke out, the lens went to the University of Chicago.

At about the time that Turner was named President of Ole Miss, Hugo Sonnenschein was named president of the University of Chicago. He and Turner were acquaintances, and Turner wrote him a note congratulating him on his appointment, and cryptically commenting, "you may not be aware of it, but our respective universities have a history that predates the Civil War."

Sonnenschein replied to the effect, "Congratulations on your appointment.

"No, you can't have your lens back."

[JamesTheJeweler]

Absolute best of the rest SBC/AAC/CUSA footprint teams:

Navy
JMU
Marshall
ECU
App. St.
Liberty
Georgia Southern
USF
Coastal
Troy
South Alabama
Memphis
UAB
WKU
Southern Miss.
Louisiana
Tulane
UTSA
stAte
LaTech

Make it happen.

Hell no to LaTech

[JamesTheJeweler]

Absolute best of the rest SBC/AAC/CUSA footprint teams:

Navy
JMU
Marshall
ECU
App. St.
Liberty
Georgia Southern
USF
Coastal
Troy
South Alabama
Memphis
UAB
WKU
Southern Miss.
Louisiana
Tulane
UTSA
stAte
LaTech

Make it happen.

Hell no to Tech. It's mind boggling how any UL fan still lobbies for f___g Tech. Please stop.

[Turbine]

Good stuff Joe.