What? More Ro*Tel O'Meter updates? How can that be?
The Ro*Tel O'Meter never waits. The Ro*Tel O'Meter never rests. The Ro*Tel O'Meter never stops. It will follow you. It will find you. And it will dip you in melted cheese.
How, you ask, can the O'Meter have moved so positively since nothing has happened and the big realignment has been over for a week now? Because, you fool, this isn't about realignment. It's not about the Big Ten or the Big East. It's not even about Syracuse. It's about JoePa.
It's always about JoePa. And JoePa got what we wanted, in a roundabout way. He got a 12-team conference with a title game. And now he's got Syracuse on the schedule without giving up any concessions. The missile silos are closing and the terror alert is returning to a brackish shade of green. JoePa is happy.
But there's also the threat of more. I think we can all agree that Texas' move to remain in the Big 12 was a stopgap and not an actual end to ultimate realignment. Between a 10-team Big 12, an SEC that's feeling a little left out of the fun and a Big East that's still walking on eggshells, the other shoe will drop eventually. Arkansas, Notre Dame or West Virginia will make a move and the dominoes will keep falling.
Notre Dame's AD Jack Swarbuck knows.
"This isn't over," said the 56-year-old former lawyer with un-lawyer-like directness. "That's not to suggest there's anything near term. I just believe that all the forces that were in play this time continue to exist, and will continue to exist through the range of my career at least. This will be back around."
He clings to Notre Dame's mantra of football independence, but not stubbornly so. He invests in helping build a harder shell around the fragile Big East, but knows the core must also grow stronger if it wants to stay on the sidelines of college sports' version of Fear Factor. But he also marvels at how cheap the glue was that held decade-long alliances in place that either fell apart or were saved at the 11th hour.
The article all but admits Notre Dame will probably go all-in the next time The Great Purge happens. And when they do, don't expect them to go Big East. And so things will happen, allegiances will change and Syracuse will play Penn State or Duke every season.
Oh, the other great part of the article...
What the Big East has going for it is strong leadership and Paul Tagliabue. The former NFL commissioner for 17 years is unearthing business plans that will help take advantage of the fact that the Big East's footprint touches 40 percent of the U.S.'s population.
HAHAHAHA. Because when you think of strong leadership, you think of this.
For now, the Big East carries on. Ever-evolving, ever-progressing, ever-knowing that sooner or later the shit will hit the fan. And for now, the shit looks like it will hit later. So feel free to keep using that fan.