I love hearing about the great academic schools of the Big Ten. I received a graduate degree from Michigan and was a GSI while there. The laziness, the rampant (and yet utterly stupid) attempts at cheating, and the nearly complete lack of intellectual curiosity embodied by many of the undergraduates with whom I interacted just makes me smile when I hear tall tales of their superiority. I have no doubt that there were many incredibly intelligent undergraduates I didn't meet, and there is no doubt, at least at that time, many of the graduate programs were top-notch. However, Umich ( and the Big Ten by extension) is definitely not the end-all, be-all of academic brilliance, as Delaney would have us all believe.

All that aside, I don't mind adding two schools to the SEC. I do think a 4 pod system would work best. I have been an SEC fan for my entire life and I only have passing interest in games featuring UGA vs any schools not named Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, and maybe South Carolina.

I do think it is a natural evolution for there to be 4 regional super conferences with regards to football with one semifinal being the Rose Bowl between Pac12 and Big Ten champs, and the other being the Sugar Bowl between SEC and Big 12 champs, with the national championship game being bid on. The "earlier" rounds of the playoffs have already been played in the two-tiered conference championships. Will this leave out schools from getting a chance to play for a MNC in football? Absolutely, but they already are already. It would make more financial sense just to drop all other football programs not included in the super conferences back to 1AA and they can all compete for that championship. Just my two cents worth of thoughts.