[Mark Wheeler]

The headline sounds crazy I know, but looking at the bigger picture beyond just sports.

Obviously, with the SEC adding Missouri, Oklahoma, and the Texas schools along with the Big10 adding USC and UCLA, geographical location isn’t a central focus of conference expansion.

I know we like to look at things just through the prism of how they relate to sports, but if there is a HUGE upheaval in NCAA sports and conference realignment, from an academic standpoint, Florida has more in common with Big10 schools than they do SEC schools.

While we all mostly focus on the TV money sports bring in, but that number is absolutely dwarfed by alliances these schools have in their conference outside of sports that helps bring in research and development money.

Those totals are in the $900 million-plus range for schools like UF, Mich, and OSU.

Being a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities was one of the criteria the Big10 was looking at during the last round of expansion when they added Rutgers and Maryland (both members) and are adding USC and UCLA (both members) this time, bringing their total to 14 schools who are members.

The SEC currently has four members (UF, Missouri, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt) and will be adding Texas.

Only three SEC schools are among the top 50 schools in research funding. 11 Big10 schools are in the top 50 currently.

If we see just total chaos in realignment, could it get so crazy that Florid feels like they are a better fit in the Big10?

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