Wednesday Reading Room -- Number of theories about Big Ten expansion keeps expanding

DaSome days and weeks are dry holes for those of us in the sportswriting game. Some days, it's served up for us. And the sportswriters serve it right back.

The Big Ten's statement Tuesday about taking another look at the merits of expansion brought forth an outpouring of opinions around America. I had my say in my previous Hlog post. Here is an assortment of other takes:

Dennis Dodd of CBSsports.com:

The Big East and Big 12 should be nervous. The schools most frequently mentioned in a Big Ten raid are Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Syracuse from the Big East and Missouri from the Big 12. Missouri went so far Tuesday as to issue a statement that didn't exactly dismiss the issue. Missouri's chancellor said that if an offer came, "we will evaluate it in the best interests academically and athletically."

The last round of expansion by the ACC almost wrecked the Big East and the ACC hasn't exactly flourished in the new alignment. The Big East has put in financial penalties for teams that would leave in the future.

The early-line leaders? Pittsburgh or Rutgers. Pittsburgh would be a natural rival for Penn State -- the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten in 1990. Rutgers would bring the New York market into the Big Ten.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune:

Joe Paterno's strong comments at the Big Ten meetings in May were "catalytic," according to a league source. Paterno's criticism that the league "goes into hiding for six weeks" between the regular season and the BCS bowls prompted some to re-examine their views on a league title game.

--A Big Ten title game could be worth $12-to-$15 million, or roughly $1.2 million per school. That's substantial, but each Big Ten school already derives $20 million a year from the league's media deals, and the average athletic department budget is $80 million.

--The title game would likely be broadcast by ABC/ESPN, not the Big Ten Network. Language in the recent ABC/ESPN contract gives the network a first crack at the game.

--It will take a super-majority of schools (at least 8 of 11) to approve expansion. A formal vote would take place.

Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.com:

Contrary to popular belief, a candidate doesn't need to be a member of the Association of American Universities or be located within the Big Ten footprint or in a bordering state. Though the schools must fit what the Big Ten looks for, "there's no prescription that you have to have 30,000 undergrads or you have to be a major research institution," a source tells me.

This opens up the pool, and (Wisconsin athletic director Barry) Alvarez said last week that the league will explore schools "from all over the country." Still, I can't see the Big Ten looking too far outside the Midwest or the New York market.

David Mayo of the Grand Rapids Press:

The Big Ten has several potential candidates that would make geographic sense for membership.

Notre Dame always tops that list, although there are several issues with that one, most notably that NBC continues to throw gobs of money at the university for exclusive television rights to its home games. As long as that arrangement continues, Notre Dame won't join any football conference.

Even if the television deal eventually were allowed to expire -- which won't happen in time for any immediate Big Ten expansion -- the Irish would want an arrangement which guaranteed the continuation of an annual rivalry with Michigan, while eliminating any possibility of also playing Ohio State and Penn State in the same season, which mandates that it would have to go into a Western Division, opposite in-state rivals Indiana and Purdue.

Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer:

"When you look at the college landscape across the country and you look at the television contracts over the next five to eight years, this is probably the right time for us to see if there is any value in adding a team or teams," (Ohio State athletic director Gene) Smith said.

That's right -- he used the plural. Smith said anything is possible until the study concludes, but as the athletic director at Iowa State, he was on the task force that saw the Big Eight become the Big 12.

"Where we ended up is not where we started," Smith said. "Once you start down this path, you could go in a number of different directions."

A direction could be nowhere. It's possible the study concludes that expansion isn't the right idea.

For instance, Smith said dividing the league into two football divisions and creating a championship game would be a benefit of expansion, not a reason for expansion. Title game money, for example, wouldn't offset what the individual members would lose by dividing all revenue 12 ways instead of 11.

A lot of differing opinions, to be sure. The only thing I'd bet on at this point is that Nebraska will stay put in the Big 12. Or whatever it's called after Kansas and Kansas State leave to join the Big East.

Elsewhere, a Rivals.com interview with Arizona Coach Mike Stoops reveals the toughest

team he thinks his Holiday Bowl-bound Wildcats faced this season. It wasn't USC. Obviously. Stoops said:

I would say it's between Iowa and Oregon. Iowa defensively, to be able to play their scheme like they did and be as physical and fast as they were ... their defense by far was the best and most difficult for us to deal with. And obviously Oregon's offense; they have so many ways to attack you and put so much stress on you every play. Those two teams stressed us going into the game.

Speaking of Rivals.com, it named its All-America football teams Tuesday, and Iowa was very well-represented. Linebacker Pat Angerer made the first team, while offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga, cornerback Amari Spievey and safety Tyler Sash are on the second team.

Defensive end Derrick Morgan of Iowa's Orange Bowl opponent, Georgia Tech, is on the second team. But some people think he's a lot better than that.

Bulaga and Angerer were second-team and Sash was third-team on Associated Press' All-America team.

I was asked to vote on that team. Not being able to differentiate between AP first-team center J.D. Walton of Baylor and second-team center Maurkice Pouncey of Florida, I declined.

In the blog of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Mark Bradley, ESPN's Todd McShay says Morgan is No. 3. In his 2010 NFL mock draft, that is. An excerpt:

The top five: Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska; Eric Berry, S, Tennessee; Morgan; Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma, and Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State. That's four defenders up top, and three of the top five from the Big 12. Who said the SEC owns college football?

McShay's take on Morgan: “[He] can anchor at the point of attack, make plays in pursuit, get to the quarterback coming off the edge and drop into coverage. That type of versatility would be a nice addition to a Browns defensive front seven that lacks difference-makers.”

Apparently, the Yellow Jackets could use a few more Morgans. Doug Roberson of the Journal-Constitution reports Georgia Tech Coach Paul Johnson will "take a good, long hard look" at his defense after the season.

Asked if that meant jobs are at stake, Johnson said no, and repeated he would "take a good, long hard look."

Until then, the team will use the remaining 12 practices before the Orange Bowl to work on improving consistency on the defensive side of the ball.

"Been a frustrating year but we can see how much better we can be in the future," defensive coordinator Dave Wommack said.

During Tech's last two games, Georgia and Clemson ripped the Yellow Jackets for 64 points and more than 800 yards, including 662 rushing.

Tech players said the biggest issue in both games was accountability and maintaining gap discipline. . . .

It hasn't been all bad news for the defense, which has allowed 357 yards a game this season. Wommack said the unit has played hard throughout the year. Most importantly, Johnson pointed out the team has won 11 games and that the defense has made stops when it needed to, including one against Clemson that secured the ACC championship.

"It doesn't matter if you win 7-6 or 47-46," Johnson said. "You all win or you all lose. You don't break it up. We are all on the same page. Whatever it takes to win, they've done and we've won 11 games."

Georgia Tech is a 4-point favorite over Iowa in most Las Vegas sportsbooks.

Back to Bradley's AJC blog. He has an entry about former Hawkeye defensive lineman Jonathan Babineaux of the Atlanta Falcons, who recently ran afoul of the law, as they say.

According to the Gwinnett County police report on Babineaux's arrest last week for multiple traffic violations and felony possession of marijuana, the Falcons' lineman lied to police multiple times about whether: 1) There was marijuana in the car; 2) Whether anybody had smoked marijuana in the car; 3) Whether he had smoked marijuana in the car; 4) Pretty much everything that didn't involve his name and profession (which police already knew).