Big Blue Nation Linkapalooza: Conferences Gone Crazy Edition

There is so much going on right now with conference realignment, nobody can keep up.  It's become wild and wacky, almost like a panic, everywhere but the Big 10 and the SEC.  But rumors of offers from the SEC have been cropping up everywhere.

Today's links:

• Anchor of Gold creates a superconference "buzz map."

  So, I've been drawn into this magic fantasy conference realignment saga like a moth to a magic fantasy conference realignment flame. It's actually more interesting than the season itself. But as a geographer, there has been a missing piece to this drama. Simply put, when the dust settles, what is the landscape of major college football going to look like ... on a map!?

• Ira Combs says that UK should find another conference.

  My brother Oscar Combs , who has much more name recognition when it comes to UK athletics across the Commonwealth than I do and one who launched the Cats Pause magazine and Wildcat News Company in the mid 70's which was the sounding voice for the original Big Blue Nation for over 25 years until the internet age hit told a veteran Wildcat support group that had a few UK athletic department officials sprinkled in amongst the crowd in this particular speaking engagement that UK football could not win in the SEC because it did not have a recruiting base similar to the other SEC schools to draw from and keep Wildcat football on an even playing field .

  That speech was made in the early 80's right at the end of the Fran Curci era .

  I think the last 30 years has more than proven his comments correct that day . He suggested the UK power players should look strongly into changing conference affiliations .

  I do not think that will ever happen for money reasons.  UK would rather be a small fish in a big pond in football, and dominate the basketball side.  But we'll see.

• Rush The Court has a look at some conference realignment scenarios.

  Basketball: Too many questions remain to definitely say what will happen, but if A&M and Mizzou are new SEC members, the SEC will be a better basketball conference as a result. But it won’t change the fact that it is Kentucky and everybody else down south.

• Oklahoma suggests it might stay in the Big 12 if Dan Beebe is fired.

  Oklahoma, which has permission from its board of regents to seek Pac-12 Conference membership, could decide to remain in the Big 12, but it has a list of demands for the conference.
  
  One big one: Can Commissioner Dan Beebe.

• Could Mizzou derail the Iron Bowl or Third Saturday in October?

  The Birmingham News is now chiming in with this report citing SEC sources who are echoing earlier reports from the Missouri end that the SEC is prepared to extend an invitation to the Tigers should the Big XII fall apart as is looking more and more likely. However, the big development from the Birmingham News report is that the tentative deal would involve Auburn moving to the East Division in football.

  I know this -- ending either of these two games is an unacceptable price to pay.

• John Clay explains exactly how bad Kentucky sucked running the football against Louisville.

  A better barometer is the successful/unsuccessful criteria for judging rushing attempts. It says that a first-down run of 40 percent of the needed yardage is considered successful. A second-down run of 60 percent is considered successful. A third-down run needs to get the required yardage to be successful. Same for fourth down.
  
  Under that criteria, Kentucky had just seven successful runs on Saturday,  compared to 18 unsuccessful runs.

• WVU official says rumor that SEC rejected the Mountaineers is an "outright lie".
  I suspected as much.

• John Clay has this right.

  ■ Though the SEC powers-that-be predictably deny the report, news that Missouri has an invitation to be the league's 14th team, and that the league is willing to wait for an answer, makes perfect sense.
  
  Missouri is a state flagship school. It brings new TV markets. It can be a natural rival for Arkansas, Tennessee and even Kentucky.
  
  Thought all along that Mizzou would be the next one in.
  
  ■ Not buying reports that Kentucky is blocking Louisville from entry into the SEC. Don't think it ever reached that point. U of L has an excellent athletic program, but it doesn't bring anything new to the SEC table.

• Spurrier doesn't fear the NCAA Notice of Allegations.

  "The 1990 Florida team that won the SEC was not allowed to be called SEC Champions. So that's how that works sometimes. I hope we're not in serious trouble. I don't think we're going to be, but you work these things out and you do what they say and that's what our university's doing," he said at his news conference Tuesday.