Barry Alvarez: Big 10 expanded because we didn't want to lose Penn State to ACC

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Just when we thought Barry Alvarez had made enough headlines for one week, the Wisconsin athletic director/interim football coach gave us another delicious gem.

Speaking Friday to Wisconsin's athletic board, Alvarez said the Big Ten's recent additions of Maryland and Rutgers were motivated in part by the concern of losing Penn State to another conference. Alvarez didn't specify which league, but everyone knows it's the ACC.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

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"Jim [Delany] felt that someday, if we didn’t have anyone else in that corridor, someday it wouldn't make sense maybe for Penn State to be in our league. That they would go into a league somewhere on the east coast. By doing that, it keeps us in the northeast corridor."

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Interesting stuff.

From talking with a Penn State trustee and others affiliated with the school, it doesn't sound like there was any imminent desire to leave the Big Ten. But the Penn State/ACC rumor was out there the week before the Big Ten added Maryland and Rutgers.

Delany wrote in a text-message to ESPN.com on Friday that he's not commenting on what others are saying about the Big Ten's expansion rationale. But I asked him Nov. 19 -- the day the Big Ten added Maryland -- whether there was any concern about losing teams.

"No, not in my view," Delany said. "But I do think that you need to build, and this build really solidifies the expansion we’ve done in the past. We've done one in the East, we've done one in the West [Nebraska in 2010]. I would say the driving force is demographics, but when you look at it, you can't help but think this is good for Penn State as well."

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