With reports from the Chicago Tribune that the Big Ten is increasing the pace on conference expansion, with something happening in as soon as 2011, what situation is best for Penn State?  The biggest gain, other than adding Notre Dame, might be adding the old time rival in Pitt.  At the end of the day, right now Penn State does not a consistent year to year rival.

While we might think it is Ohio State and/or Michigan, we know they view one another as a rival and Michigan drops off our schedule every so often.  The only other potential 'rival' might be Michigan State, the team Penn State plays every year at the end of the regular season.  But the Spartans don't view Penn State as a true rival that would either be Michigan or Notre Dame.  So adding Pitt, maybe even a game Thanksgiving weekend, would be an opportunity to put Penn State into the spotlight during one of the biggest rivalry weekends of year.

The other teams which would bring back some history to Penn State's independent days would be teams like Syracuse and Rutgers, both consistent staples on the schedule pre-Big Ten.  While these teams don't add much from a football landscape (well maybe Rutgers, but once Schiano leaves, they will return back to being doormats), 'cuse does add another basketball power to the conference.  Logically, considering their location, all three of these teams would be in the side of the conference with Penn State.

Penn State Football Tickets | Penn State vs Alabama Football Tickets

The next major consideration which Penn State has to think about is how they will divide up the teams.  If you assume the conference ends up with 12 or 16 teams, you have to think that Pitt, 'Cuse, Rutgers and Penn State are all in one side of the conference.   That leaves 2-4 more teams to be added to that side of the conference.  The other two logical choices geographically (the most 'eastward' schools would be Ohio State and Michigan). After those two, it would be Indiana and Purdue.  So, how would Penn State fair in a conference with Michigan and Ohio State, wow that might be tough going, but at least we would then be guaranteed to play them each year (to be the best you have to play the best).

All in all, expansion for Penn State would be a good thing; we would add a consistent rival and likely be in one of the most dominant 'sub' conferences in the country.  I look forward to the challenge.

WE ARE PENN STATE

Enjoy this post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed and never miss another! Or sign up to get exclusive PennStateCentral.com Sports Analysis straight to your inbox!