I honestly am not getting the extreme hatred for Oregon. Academically they are no Stanford but they are AAU members and have USNews ranking of #105, which is similar to Col, Ariz, ASU, Utah and better than Nebraska.
Ok, So academically it probably made more sense for the Big Ten to add the snobs at Stanford and Berkley and have Oregon go to the Big 12. But the comments that Oregon is not much better than a junior college are just ridiculous.
I was the one who called them a Community College so I'll answer for it.
First, as
@Cincydawg said it was hyperbole, but not by much.
Second, your statement that they are #105 in USNR is completely irrelevant to me. As I stated upthread, the academics that we *SHOULD* care about are research because that is where the money is.
I listed it earlier and don't care to look it up again right now, but Oregon's research spending is dead last in the expanded B1G and by such a large margin that they are literally closer to a Community College than they are to any other B1G school. That is why calling them a CC was hyperbole, but not by much.
Finally, their viewership numbers are ok but not great and this is a time when their athletics are better than they have ever been due to Phil Knight's money. If they return to their normal after he dies as they likely will, they will be:
- By far the weakest academic member of the B1G, and
- One of the weakest and least watched athletics programs in the B1G.
- Located in one of the least populous states of any B1G school.
It was a colossal unforced error to add them.
Kudos to Wisconsin for apparently being the only B1G institution to see the stupidity of this move and voting not to allow it.