Three Thoughts is a new feature GoldandBlack.com will run every Monday morning in-season.
Where to even begin this ...
ON WHAT'S NEXT
Now that the Big Ten has raided the Pacific time zone and claimed Hollywood, we'd all be fools to think there are any boundaries to what's now possible. Kevin Warren has inherited a bit of that gangster trait from his predecessor, Jim Delany, apparently.
All eyes will be on South Bend and Notre Dame, now maybe under increasing pressure to run for cover as the SEC and Big Ten become not conferences, but countries. The independent life may not be as viable as it used to be and that one-sided, sweetheart ACC deal seems increasingly pointless right now.
If the Big Ten can finally get Notre Dame, hey, great. Not that good sense exists anymore, but if Notre Dame has to pick one of these monstrosities, that's an easy call for the Big Ten culturally, academically and for scores of other reasons, not the least of which would be preserving those long-standing rivalries with USC, Michigan, Michigan State, etc. These occasional Ohio State games would be ratings bonanzas.
Now that the Big Ten's spanned all the way to another ocean, what's stopping the league from sliding down the Oregon Trail and grabbing the Ducks and U-Dub?
Nothing.
Geographic logic and the facade of giving a damn about the demands put on student-athlete are out the window anyway, so why not further gut the Pac-12 and create a true Big Ten West?
But there's another school out there that ought to be an A-list priority for the Big Ten, every bit as much as Notre Dame, if you ask me.
