USNWR 2009: Looking at the Top Strata IV (Year of Founding)

[UCBChemEGrad]

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I think Notre Dame has played in just 1 major Bowl in the last 15 seasons.

Where have you been, Alex? Notre Dame has gone to a lot of major bowls over the past 15 seasons…their record isn’t wonderful, but Notre Dame still gets the money.</p>

<p>1993 Cotton Bowl
1994 Cotton Bowl
1995 Fiesta Bowl
1996 Orange Bowl
2001 Fiesta Bowl
2006 Fiesta Bowl
2007 Sugar Bowl</p>

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Other schools that would fit the bill are the University of Pittsburgh or the University of Texas-Austin (although they are unlikely to leave the Big XII).

UT-Austin was planning on joining the Pac-10 just before the Big XII was formed.
[Power</a> brokers: How tagalong Baylor, Tech crashed the revolt](<a href=“http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/MYSA081405_3N_SWCbaylor_tech_1ca3e1c_html8528.html]Power”>http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/MYSA081405_3N_SWCbaylor_tech_1ca3e1c_html8528.html)</p>

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First, the Longhorns looked west, to the Pac-10. Berdahl found it appealing that seven of the 10 schools in the Pac-10 were members of the American Association of Universities, a group comprised of the nation’s top 62 research universities. </p>

<p>Distance was the main drawback. The University of Arizona, located in Tucson, was the nearest Pac-10 school to Austin — and still 788 miles away. Eight of the 10 schools were in the Pacific Time Zone, meaning a two-hour time gap with most of Texas. </p>

<p>“Texas wanted desperately the academic patina that the Pac 10 yielded,” recalls Berdahl, who went on to serve as chancellor at Pac-10 member California-Berkeley. “To be associated with UCLA, Stanford and Cal in academics was very desirable.” </p>

<p>Still, expansion in the Pac-10 depended on unanimous approval of the member schools. And Stanford, which had long battled UT in athletics as well as academics, objected. For UT, the way west never materialized.

The Longhorns next turned to the Big Ten.
Having added Penn State in 1990, the Big Ten was now made of universities that, in the view of UT officials, matched UT’s profile — large state schools with strong academic reputations. Berdahl liked the fact that 10 conference members belonged to the American Association of Universities. </p>

<p>Yet, distance remained a disadvantage. Iowa, the closest Big Ten school to Austin, was 856 miles away — but the appeal of having 10 of 12 schools in the same time zone was seen as a plus. </p>

<p>But after adding Penn State in 1990, Big Ten officials had put a four-year moratorium on expansion. Although admitting interest, Big Ten bosses ultimately rejected UT’s overtures. </p>

<p>That left the SEC as a possible relocation target for the Longhorns — until Berdahl let it be known that UT wasn’t interested because of the league’s undistinguished academic profile. Only two of 12 schools in the SEC were American Association of Universities members and UT officials saw admissions standards to SEC schools as too lenient. </p>

<p>“We were quite interested in raising academic standards,” Berdahl says. “And the Southeastern Conference had absolutely no interest in that.”

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