Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

then they really don't want to be with the big boys enough to be one of the big boys

just be a little boy and cry about being left out

I can see it now: "Well our conference can't take them, they're broke. They don't have the good sense to actually schedule enough home football games to pay the bills. But man, they were impressive going 8-4 four years in a row before finally going 10-2."

I think it they win 10+ games a year for 2-3 years the B12 will come calling.

Why?

then they really don't want to be with the big boys enough to be one of the big boys

just be a little boy and cry about being left out

You’re essentially saying unless they are willing to do away with all practicality and common sense that they just don’t want it enough.

Well, it's possible the B12 is going to stand pat no matter what.  I think UC fits in pretty well overall if they can bring a pretty decent product to the field of play.

Why not?

For the reasons that bwar pointed out-- they're a net negative to the conference.

The only reason for expansion/realignment, is to make more money.  UC would not generate more money for the conference, than they took away.  So every school would actually make less.

The B12 currently distributes more money per school than all but the SEC and the B1G, and that's not even counting the Tier3 rights which B12 schools retain.

There's no financial reason to expand, which means there's no reason to expand.

 It's a no-win for a school like Michigan to schedule Cincy, or Appy State.

Or Toledo. Or the Utes. 

The Bearcats have one good year and want it all.  Screw that.  Utah went 12-0 TWICE and was still left out.  So they were proactive and joined the PAC-10.  NOW if Utah goes 12-0, they're in the party.  NOW there is no doubt. 

Cincinnati went 33-7 in one three year stretch.

They've won 30 games the past three seasons. 

(The idea that Utah was simply "proactive" and suddenly got the golden ticket seems ... simplified to the point of lacking meaning)

B12 just went through the exercise of looking for expansion candidates about 2-3 years ago. They determined that all existing applicants were more likely to dilute their conference rather than strengthen it.

I don't think a few years of strong play by Cincinnati, particularly if they might be subject to getting their coach [who got them there] poached at any moment, to be something that would have the B12 "come calling".

I was hoping that the Big 12 would add two "eastern" teams to give WVU some conference neighbors.  Cincinnati was a possibility.  So was Louisville before they got into the ACC.
And, yeah, the financials weren't promising.  Not in the short term, anyway.
But it seems like short-term thinking is part of the reason there are aren't still 12 teams in the Big 12.
TCU is a good example of a mid-major that played its way into a P5 conference.
But they don't really bring financial benefits to the Big 12 either, from what I can tell.