ESPN, Yahoo Sports: Maryland, Rutgers in Big Ten talks

The other shoe has dropped, folks. It's going down. It's gird-loining time.

First, McSources and Andy Katz at ESPN:

The University of Maryland is in serious negotiations to join the Big Ten Conference, sources told ESPN.com on Saturday.

If Maryland goes to the Big Ten, Rutgers of the Big East is expected to follow suit. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers would give the Big Ten 14 members as the league gears toward negotiations on a new media rights deal when its first-tier rights expire in 2017.

No date has been set for an potential announcement, though it could come as soon as Monday.

Then there's the Yahoo Sports story:

Maryland and Rutgers are in advanced discussions with the Big Ten about joining the conference, multiple sources have told Yahoo! Sports. ...

"I would not be surprised, because [Maryland and Rutgers] was always the next step," said one prominent college athletic director. "And [it would explain] why Maryland voted against the $50 million withdrawal fee."

That backs up the tweets that have been coming from IMS all day long about a potentially "done deal," plus all the chatter from yesterday.

It's real, man. Whether you like it or not, it's real.

Everyone knows my opinion; I'm not going to go into it here. I'm going to get out of the way and let you guys discuss. More coming up later, but it sounds like this baby could be announced Monday or Tuesday.