There are bad ideas

And then there are downright absurd ones. I'm not normally one to rip on someone's opinion. However this column by Jake Simpson deserves all the thrashing in the world. First, I will preface this by saying I have no problem with Conference USA as a whole. However, academically and athletically the reputations of the Big 10 and Conference USA are like night and day. Let's review, all of Simpson's reasons individually and take them apart.

First off, we have Northwestern's lack of success in the big sports. It is true that Northwestern has been a traditional athletic doormat. However, NU has been to 5 bowl games since 1995 and has been to the Rose Bowl more recently than 5 other Big 10 schools (Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota, Iowa, and shockingly Penn State). What about basketball, you say? In basketball, once again we have Minnesota which hasn't made the tourney since Clem Haskins was kicked out for academic fraud. Michigan hasn't made the tourney since either the mid 90's or late 80's depending on when you consider the record book to be vacated. Penn State hasn't made it since the late 90's with the Crispin brothers.

Now the size issue. Yes Northwestern is the smallest school in the Big 10. However in Conference USA, they'd be the 3rd smallest school only ahead of Rice and Tulane.

Academics? Northwestern is the best school academically in the Big 10 according to US News with a ranking of tied for 14th. Rice is the best Conference USA school at 17. However, the Big 10 also has UM (25th), Wisconsin (tied for 38th), Illinois (tied for 38th), and Penn State (48th) all ahead of C-USA's next school which is Tulane at a tie for 5oth. What's more, C-USA has schools like East Carolina that are 4th tier schools nationally. The Big 10's worst school is Indiana which is 75th nationally.

Finally, what about travel? According to google maps, the farthest distance for NU to travel in the Big 10 is Penn State which is 602 miles away. Conversely, the closest C-USA school is Marshall which is 514 miles away. Even worse would be the road trip to El Paso which is 1,529 miles away.

I have no problem if Northwestern wanted to switch conferences. However, 99.99% of Northwestern's fans know that Conference USA would be a terrible fit.