You mention our athletic peers. We can also tie in academic peers. Anyway, I asked this question twice on the board over the past year and got very few answers: Who are Virginia Tech's peers? I got very few responses. IMO, we have peers in all three major conferences (SEC, B1G, and B12). So, we could fit in anywhere. But who would have us? Obviously the most likely answer is the B12, where, like it or not, we probably have the most peers (considering both academics and athletics). The B1G is loaded with schools with over 1B in research expenditures. And almost every school is AAU. Of course VT is neither of these. But we are no slouch, either. And if we use other variables, such as acceptance rates, we look better than a number of B1G schools. But in order to join the club, we need near the top, not just better than some. Ditto for football. Think athletics (football) in the SEC. They have a ton of 80k+ stadiums that are always full, and most of their big time programs have won national titles in the modern era. We just aren't there. I see our peers being mostly in the B12: Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, Iowa State in both academics and athletics. In athletics only, I'd add WVU, OkSt, K-State, Texas Tech. I'll leave the other schools out of my analysis for now. Still hoping for a P2 invite and I think we still have a shot at that with plenty to offer. Onto the topic of bigger conferences. I've always said that conferences in the modern era are either too big, or too small. In my mind, go back to round robin conferences with no title games. Or, make conferences large enough to have two district divisions for a legit conference title game (none of this rematch garbage). I'd recommend 10 conference games (meaning 22 teams overall, 11 in each division). But if you want just 9 conference games, then do 20 teams. Anyway, just one man's opinion. ** Edited by Maroon Baboon at 4/19/2025, 2:36:57 PM