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Message: [QUOTE="Bryanw1995, post: 4672308, member: 9107"] Oregon is a cut below Nebraska and Iowa at the bottom of the B1G in ARWU, though significantly ahead of Nebraska in USN&WR. We could call that a draw. They're a Flagship AAU school, both of which are starting to get in very short supply, and their Athletic Brand is very strong. I wouldn't call them a "shoe-in" (sorry I had to), but they won't get blocked for Academic reasons. Oregon also has Geography on their side, they're a new market and they're a perfect companion for Top Tier Target Washington. As for the "many, many more Academically qualified schools", how many of them are AAU Flagships or co-Flagships? Cal? They don't bring the cheddar, everyone knows that UCLA is the Athletic Flagship in that State. UNC and Washington are both top tier, they're getting invites, while UVA is very similar to Maryland and probably gets an invite. Are there any others in the Pac/Big 12/ACC that are Flagship AAU and also clearly superior Academically to Oregon? Utah is the only 1 I can think of, but they're a Flagship in name only, they're 2nd fiddle in their own (small) state to BYU. Think of Academics as a disqualifying factor rather than THE REASON the B1G wants to send you that golden ticket. If you're not a Flagship AAU, if you don't have a very strong Athletic Brand that will bring ~ $70m a year worth of value to a Conference, then you could be Harvard or Yale Academically and you're not getting an invite. Interestingly enough, Stanford is the ideal test case for this standard. Top half Ivy Academically, all-time dominant in Olympic Sports and the Sears trophy rankings, but their Brand is probably half the average of the new B1G contract. Will tOSU eat a couple million a year for the distinction of associating with Stanford, or would they rather associate with a Flagship AAU state school like Oregon that doesn't cost them any money and might even make them a little bit? [/QUOTE]

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