Big 12 agrees to look at WVU's travel problems

Feb 24, 2013, 11:43 PM

http://www.exponent-telegram.com/sports/article_b06ac074-7e3e-11e2-aa76-001a4bcf887a.html

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia University’s athletic department and the Big 12 Conference have agreed to attempt to make some travel changes to accommodate the problems the Mountaineers faced during their first season in the league.

Athletic Director Oliver Luck says the league offered no guarantees because “scheduling is always a challenge” but the league has agreed to attempt to make life on the road easier in a number of areas when it can.

WVU geographically is out of place in the Big 12, with every trip not only being of 1,700 miles round trip or more but fighting a time zone change which costs them an hour returning to Morgantown.

Football did not present as much of a problem as basketball, with weekly trips and mostly weekend games, but, according to Luck, the league was agreeable to trying to arrange it so the Mountaineers do not have to travel on back-to-back weeks for conference games during the season.

This past season WVU had to travel to Texas and Texas Tech, which is the longest trip in the conference for WVU, on consecutive weeks. While the Mountaineers survived in Texas they put on a lackluster performance in losing to the Red Raiders, 49-14, that set them off on a five-game losing streak.

Basketball scheduling is far more complex than football and Luck worked out three things with the conference.

The first was to attempt to play a pair of conference road games prior to the start of the academic semester.

Journeys as long as those in the Big 12 and with some arrivals back in Morgantown being in the neighborhood of 4 in the morning are best served if there are no academic responsibilities the next day, allowing players to get back onto a regular schedule.

The second request from WVU is an important one in this same area.

“We have asked that when reasonable they give us a two-game stay over on the road,” Luck revealed.

Twice this past season WVU was scheduled to go out on the road, play a Saturday game, fly home on Sunday, practice Monday and fly out again on Tuesday for a Wednesday game.

League rules do not allow them to stay on the road during that time, so they use up most of two days traveling.

Rather than doing that, they would prefer to play a Saturday-Big Monday on the road with a Sunday stay over, which would cut back on taking the long trip to and from Morgantown.

The third request was to cut back on the number of late tips during mid-week games, not playing 9 p.m. EST games to help with the arrival time back home. Especially in winter, travel is precarious enough without building in 3 a.m. arrivals at the airport.

Luck said the league offered “no guarantees” but said it would do what it could to work with WVU to ease the travel burden in these areas.

“Every season is a grind,” Luck admitted. “It was a grind in the Big East.”

But WVU’s position in the Big 12 is unique and requires some adjustments now that they have been through it for a year.

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The following would create 4 “super conferences” and preserve the ACC and Big XII from poaching from the B1G and SEC. The following would create on average 20 games per year between ACC schools and Big XII schools (Excluding WVU).

The Big XII commissioner is attempting to get a waiver from the NCAA to have a Big XII conference championship game with only 10 members. Instead of getting that wavier, he could get a waiver for the “flex game” described below:

This would be a six year deal for football only with the option to continue.

Division A (South Atlantic): Miami, FSU, GT, CU, NCST, Wake
Division B (South West): TX, TX Tech, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, OK State
Division C (North): UVA, VT, WVU, Pitt, BC, Syracuse
Division D (Central): UNC, Duke, L-Ville, Iowa St, Kansas, K-State

8 Conference Games made up of 5 Division Games, 1 Cross Division Game vs permanent rival, 1 Cross Division game vs 1 of 3 rotating rivals, and 1 “flex game”.

The “flex game” is played 2 Saturdays after Thanksgiving. The host divisions for the “flex games” are predetermined on a rotating basis.

In the “flex game” the first place team in Division A plays the first place team in Division B. Second vs. Second, so on and so forth. Last vs Last. The same set-up will be used in the other 2 divisions.

The winners of the two “first place flex games” will meet the following week in the Championship Game. The winner of the Championship game will have a guaranteed spot in the NCAA play-off.

All TV money generated from games played in ACC stadiums will go to the ACC. All TV money generated from games played in Big 12 stadiums will go to the Big 12.

Permanent Rivals (set-up to maximize TV money and in some cases regional rivalries):
CU – VA Tech
FSU - Texas
Miami - Oklahoma
UNC - NCST
Wake – Duke
K-State - OK State
Pitt – L-Ville
UVA - GT
Iowa St - TCU
BC - Baylor
WVU - TX Tech
Kansas – Syracuse

Three Bi-Annual Rotating Rivals :
CU –UNC, UVA, WVU
VA Tech –GT, FSU, NCST
FSU –VT, Oklahoma, WVU
Texas –GT, K-State, Miami
Miami –BC, Pitt, Texas
Oklahoma –K-State, Kansas, FSU
UNC –UVA, CU, GT
NCST –UVA, VA Tech, Duke
Wake –Syracuse, BC, TCU
Duke –NCST, Syracuse, TX Tech
K-State - Oklahoma, Baylor, Texas
OK State –Kansas, Iowa St, L-Ville
Pitt –Miami, TCU, TX Tech
L-Ville –OK State, Syracuse, WVU
UVA –UNC, CU, NCST
GT –UNC, VA Tech, TX
Iowa St –OK State, TX Tech, Baylor
TCU –BC, Wake, Pitt
BC –Miami, Wake, TCU
Baylor –K-State, Kansas, Iowa St
WVU –FSU, CU, L-Ville
TX Tech –Iowa St, Duke, Pitt
Kansas –OK State, Oklahoma, Baylor
Syracuse –Wake , Duke, L-Ville

Big 12 agrees to look at WVU's travel problems

Clemson in the Big XII would be a nightmare******

ACC/Big XII Alliance

seems like not having back-to-back road trips, for an

Unfortunately WVU didn't have many options. Hopefully,

Are you paying attention, Maryland, et.al?

Why would UNC (centrally located in ACC) leave for B1G?***

The ACC is the winner with Louisville replacing MD. Just

Re: Big 12 agrees to look at WVU's travel problems

Re: Big 12 agrees to look at WVU's travel problems

Legally

Of course, the "damages" could be very costly if taking WVU

You can read ANYTHING on TN. Being accurate is

BUT THANK GOD THEY'RE MAKING SO MUCH MORE MONIES NOW!!!

Wonder if Swoffy regretting WV decision?

Swoffy didn't get a vote. It's current ACC ADs.***

You mean the Presidents.***

Not sure. Is that right? I know one of the two.***

Yeah, the Presidents are the ultimate decisions makers on

Proof that money is the only objective

they made an awful decision to go alone and it's going to

Their best choices were BE and BigXII.***

someone make sure palmettoson sees this.

Re: Big 12 agrees to look at WVU's travel problems

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