Panther247 Board

Rutgers institutional profile and academics actually fits perfectly with the Big 10. That said, I really hate their campus the way it is split in three parts. Just horrible. But congrats to them. I wanted the ACC to grab them back when we were invited and they dropped the ball, IMO, not that it might have prevented them from going to the B10 anyway. Has there been any school in the country that has improved their position in the world of sports in the last decade more than Rutgers? From laughing stock to 9-1 with an greatly expanded stadium and a B10 invite in hand.

The other negative about MD leaving is that they were the closest conference school to Pitt. It was a school in an area with the largest and most active alumni club outside of Pittsburgh, a school that Pitt fans would have traveled well to, and one we could have easily bused athletes to. The next closest schools are 5.5 hours or more away. They were going to be one of our two home-and-home basketball rivals and would have been a draw at the Pete. Pitt may be losing more than anyone with this. Here's hoping that if UL or UConn get the nod, they fill in UMD's place on our hoops schedule.

We'll play who the ACC tells us to, and we'll grin. Seriously, playing UL isn't any different than playing MD in football, just not as good geographically. UConn, well, we'll see. We play who we're given. Such is our fate.

If I had my choice, I'd choose Navy to replace Md. Its an even-up swap market-wise. Navy has as much cache' as Md which is to say they both aren't very competitive but they have name recognition. That is the perfect school for the ACC. They don't need a heavy hitter of a fb program. They need a tomato can that can be an easy win for a VaTech or FSU/Clemson. Strong conferences don't just have heavies, they have bad teams that atleast have some type of interest about them and they win OOC. Navy could be a team that goes 2-6 in conference every year but gous 4-0 against Army/VMI and whoever else they can schedule.

Louisville is OK too. I've always liked them. UConn is kinda boring but as a fan of Pitt, who am I to judge.

For once I agree with OSU fans. This move will hurt the B10 brand. If the vehicle for media revenues moves to ala carte' as some have suggested, the BIG is a mess.

Maybe. But you still have to win Reed. Just like when WVU was moving to the SEC (lol) and then to the Big 12. There are the Indiana's and Minnesota's of the world too.

We really didn't get the jump in recruiting by going to the ACC that we thought. Oh sure, we now have landed DJ, and looks like possibly Foster and Boyd but not one of them cited Pitt to the ACC as a reason.

Rutgers definitely has something to sell now...but they were doing fairly well recruiting wise anyway. But a few 5-7 seasons, and they will fade back to being Rutgers. Maryland's excuses are entirely their own.