Giger: Should Big Ten expand, and would Pitt be candidate? (Penn State)

Penn State Athletics

James Franklin speaks at Big Ten media days.

Some small semblance of stability is getting set to return to college football, with the Big 12 expected to formally invite Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and UCF on Friday.

When (and if) those schools do join the Big 12 in the next year or two, it will strengthen the league from its current position, although it won't come close to matching the impact of departures by Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC.

If the Big 12 had collapsed -- which is still possible down the road, but not imminent now -- it likely would have sparked a massive restructuring of college football. There are still a number of quality programs in that league, and they all would have been searching frantically for new homes that would stabilize their financial futures.

By keeping the Big 12 intact, expansion and restructuring talk around college football are sure to quiet down a bit. For now, anyway.

But don't for a second start to believe that the conferences and a whole bunch of their member schools will now just sit back and do nothing.

There is still a great deal of uncertainty about what the future will look like, and every major football program will have to remain vigilant when it comes to protecting itself and making sure it doesn't get stuck holding the bag when the dominoes start falling again.

The Big Ten sat idly by and apparently did nothing while the SEC spent the past year wooing Texas and Oklahoma. So, pretty much no matter what the Big Ten does going forward, it already has lost the expansion war because it probably will never be able to match adding two such powerful and rich programs.

The question remains of whether the Big Ten should still consider expanding, trying to take a course of action that would strengthen the league as a proactive measure for when the next round of expansion and restructuring inevitably begins.

My answer for a while has been no, the Big Ten should not look to expand right now. There just aren't enough appealing programs out there that would make it worthwhile for the league.

Sure, if the Big Ten could lure Notre Dame football, that would be a no-brainer. Get that deal done in a heartbeat. But even though Notre Dame isn't likely to join the Big Ten, it doesn't mean that Commissioner Kevin Warren and the league shouldn't be doing everything it can behind the scenes to at least try to make it happen.

You know, like the SEC did with Texas and Oklahoma. We didn't get any leaks of that potentially happening over the past year, until it actually started to happen.

The least the Big Ten can do is make every effort to convince Notre Dame that a union actually could be in everyone's best interests over the long haul. The money part would take care of itself because the Fighting Irish are the one guaranteed big fish out there that can sweeten the financial pie wherever they go.

Still, short of Notre Dame, it's tough to find two more programs out there that would add a great deal to the Big Ten at this stage. There was talk a couple of months ago about the likes of Iowa State, Kansas or TCU, to which I will offer up a big ol' NO THANK YOU!

Kansas would add great basketball and a new TV market to the Big Ten, but its football program is an absolute embarrassment. Nope.

The Big Ten already has a team in Iowa, and thus the TV market. So nope to Iowa State.

TCU actually is intriguing because it has the Dallas TV market and usually is pretty good in football and basketball. But frankly, it's just not a big enough add from a cachet perspective.

I am a lifelong Syracuse basketball fan who grew up rooting for the Big East. Therefore, I am very familiar with what Syracuse and Pitt could bring to the table in the Big Ten.

I personally wish the Big Ten would have added Pitt and Syracuse the last time it expanded, instead of Maryland and especially Rutgers. It would have made the league better in football and basketball.

But while I do believe Syracuse would have added the New York TV market for the Big Ten, the problem is, Pitt wouldn't really offer the league much in that regard. The Big Ten already gets the Pittsburgh market with Penn State.

Having Pitt in the Big Ten would guarantee the Panthers and Nittany Lions would play every year. That would be cool. But it's not enough to sway the Big Ten in favor of Pitt.

So, while as a fan I would like the Big Ten to someday add Pitt and Syracuse, the odds of that happening probably are slim.

If the Big Ten does look to expand, and if Notre Dame isn't available, the best course of action could be to poach schools in good markets out of the ACC. That list would include:

1. Clemson

2. Miami

3. Florida State

4. North Carolina

5. Boston College

I'm not saying all of those schools would jump to the Big Ten, but I do believe Miami, Florida State and Boston College would do so in a heartbeat. The money in the Big Ten is just so much better than the ACC, with the Big Ten paying out $54.3 million to each full-share member (ie not Maryland or Rutgers just yet) last year, compared to $37 million in the ACC.

Clemson may not want to join the Big Ten because it is the top dog in its league and has a relatively easy path to the College Football Playoff each year. But if the money were right? Who knows?

North Carolina probably wouldn't want to leave the ACC because of its incredible basketball rivalry with Duke.

So, the thought here is that if the Big Ten could expand to bring in Miami and Florida State, those would be justifiable, splashy additions. But short of getting at least one of those two -- or again, Notre Dame -- the Big Ten is probably better off staying put at 14 teams and riding things out to see where the expansion merry-go-round stops next.

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