Texas (the state) should just get their own conference.

Baylor isn't part of the package, they are a private, not state, university. No where does it say that Pac-10 offered them a bid (they were hoping to get one instead of Colorado, but we know how that played out). With UT-A&M-Tech the Pac-10 would contol a majority of the Texas college football markets (or they would have IDK how big a factor TCU plays). OU also got a bid along OSU.
I'll try to think of a way to simplify this.

The Texas legislature arguing that Baylor is part of the package with Texas/A&M/Tech is like Washington saying Gonzaga is a part of a UW/WSU/insertanyotherpublicstateuniversityhere package. Ridiculous. Baylor is a private, religious institution that has little in common with the other Texas schools mentioned. Another conference will pick them up.

For those confused, there are a variety of scenarios out there. Here's the way I see it...

IMO Colorado did the right thing by making a proactive decision and not waiting for Texas and Nebraska to make up their minds. This move for them makes total sense. A considerable number of Colorado students are from other western states, so there is potential for great rivalry.

Nebraska will leave, and then Texas will have no other choice but to leave, and take A&M and Tech with them. I think Oklahoma and OK St. will go with Texas to preserve the rivalry. The SEC will likely be too big to take them all, and they won't want an odd number of teams. So I think they will go to the Pac-10 because they won't have another choice if they want to stay together. That leaves the Pac-10 with 16.

Missouri, Kansas, K-State, Iowa St. will prob. join Big 10 (really Big 11), giving them 16, as well.

The SEC, not wanting to miss out on this excitement, will make an attempt to grab Florida State and Miami and bring them into their logical fold.

I can see Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor and Texas A&M going to the SEC.

OhnoitsJess,

Sorry for any miscommunication, but I don't think I said, and I didn't mean to imply that Baylor or any of these schools other than Colorado has been offered a bid. Again, I apologize if that's how it came across or if I said that (I'm middle aged and losing it, so maybe I did- LOL). It does look like they are going to offer bids to all of the school you mentioned next week, but they haven't officially offered them yet.

What I meant and didn't state well is that these are the schools that have been discussed as additions to the Pac 10 (discussed - not offered). There was some indication early on that Baylor was only being considered because the Texas legislature sounded like they wouldn't let UT go without the other schools including Baylor. That doesn't have to do with the legislature having any say over Baylor, but Baylor having some say with the legislature and pushing through them to be included as a package with the other 3 schools. Here is the link http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1091903. Nonetheless, I agree with you in that I don't see anyway Baylor will be given a bid.


PeppyGPhiB - Your Gonzaga scenario is a good analogy, and again, I don't see Baylor getting a bid, but imo it has less to do with being private and religous than it does with size, tv markets, and football. Notre Dame is private and religous, but I guarantee you ANY conference would pick them up if they wanted in.

I think you're dead on about the way the rest of this is likely to play out. I think we are eventually headed to four regional super-conferences.

Gracious I hope that doesn't happen. I would like to see us pick up A&M and possibly a team out of Florida or maybe Clemson. Add one team to the East and West. That would preserve the balance of the East and West and there wouldn't have to be any major realignments within the conference itself. I like it separated the way it is now.

As a life long PAC-10 fan, I totally wish this shake up wasn't happening. In Az, new stations are boasting about the Money that our two biggest Universities will get, and how TEXAS schools, all of them that may be taking part in the move, will help sell out All their games played here in AZ with their big fan base. The same is said about OK schools, but Texas (all schools in question) fans, are very apparent in AZ.

If every one accepts, the "PAC-10 East" is proposed to be, Arizona, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Colorado. This would make my beloved Sun Devils, a doormat in the conference. Even as an optimistic fan, I know Texas and OK will steal the show on all levels. But Az Universities are hurting for the moola, so now they have a "whatever it takes" attitiude.

Sorry if I came off as rude. :\ Like Tuberville said we're in Limbo.... I don't like to be confused about whats going on with my own campus (as no one does).

Maybe its the friendly family comepetition that I have with my Bear cousins (literally), but I can't see them going to the SEC. I can see them (maybe its just me) going to the Mountain West, probably because of the private and religious institutions (BYU and TCU) that are in the conference (the both have really good teams too) . I think the only teams that we have that SEC "worthy" (if you will) are UT and OU. The both have great academics and a storied athletics on par with what is already in the SEC, followed by the Texas Tech/A&M/OSU group (but these still are not ready to go for SEC-ness)

Oh, I didn't think you were being rude Jess. I just wanted to clarify what I meant. No worries. :)

Ummm...full*hearts - what were the Sun Devils last year in the Pac-10?:D Sorry, that's mean, I know, but as the Pac-10 fan of another Pac-10 school...I was obligated. On a serious note - I wish they would leave it alone too. I liked the natural divisions and rivalries with the Pac-10 and that we played everyone in the conference every year - true round robin, but this is a money issue, and it is major money, soo....

I just want to know.. these schools that may be going to the SEC eventually.. is their recruitment as competitive as recruitment in the SEC or will this mess with our general "Wow, SEC recruitment is brutal!" outlook?

<grin>

KappaMD-We basically had one before the Big 12 (it was called the SWC), but it didn't work out very well $wise. The schools were getting very little exposure by being confined (mostly) to the state of Texas.

There are many rumors going around right now, but very few (if any) people really know how everything will fall into place. There appear to be several scenarios:
1a. Texas bullies A&M into moving with them to the PAC-10 instead of the SEC, Tech gets left behind, and PAC-10 invites Utah or Kansas.
1b. Tech goes with
1c. Tech and Baylor go with
Reasons for Baylor to be there: 1) it will give UT a support base, the P10 has already shown that it will do whatever it wants to by bidding Colorado, Baylor is another vote in the conference to support the Texas schools, and 2) while this study was put out by a Waco economist (pretty sure he isn't a Baylor alum), no Texas legislator wants to deal with the possibility of:
Waco’s potential loss of $196.7 million annually. Those losses include tourism — money spent at restaurants, hotels, stores, gas stations, etc. — television revenue and other areas.
Additionally, Perryman projected the loss of 5,764 jobs statewide and 1,677 in the Waco area if Baylor is not in the same conference as the other Texas Big 12 schools.
This is all assuming that Baylor ends up in a conference like the MWC or C-USA. As far as why the legislature has any power in this situation? UT is a STATE school. The government controls their budget. This could turn into: take Baylor with you or we start putting $$ pressure on y'all.

2. A&M continues pushing its move to the SEC, possibly bringing Baylor along. Baylor's problem here is that the SEC might not want to divide their $$ into another piece of pie, since their TV contract doesn't end until around 2016, for a school that brings fewer eyeballs to the table.

3. Neb and Colorado leave the Big XII, the remaining ten schools fire the current commish for being useless, and add Utah, BYU, or Boise State. The reason this could still be a possibility? The Big XII has an auto bid to the BCS, and this is an insanely good bargaining chip for the B12. Also, 9 out of the 12 schools (very, very) recently voted for B12 solidarity, I am sure that you can guess the 3 northern schools that didn't vote for that. Then again, who knows?

This is by no means comprehensive, but these appear to be the main things floating around--maybe with an over-sprinkling of hope for Baylor, but hope springs eternal, right?

LOL, you may have to create a recruitment powerhouse superconference in the NPC!

I am an Iowa State alum and this whole shakeup is extremely disconcerting to me. Iowa State (an AAU and Tier-1 research school) has the potential to be left out in the cold due to greedy bastards who don't care about the student athlete, they just want $$$$.

The only known certainty right now is that Colorado is Gone. Nebraska will most likely be gone as of this afternoon. As to what happens after that, nobody knows. There are so many rumors floating around that it's hard to say what's based in truth and what's complete crap. Unless the Pac-10 definitely decides to expand to 16 teams, I highly doubt that the Big 10 (or whatever they're going to call themselves now) will expand further.

There's speculation that this will eventually evolve into the creation of four 16-team "super" conferences that will form their own governing system, thereby nullifying the NCAA, and move toward a play-off style championship system. That is entirely driven by $$$ and the government would most likely start getting involved due to anti-trust issues. College athletics would lose their "not-for-profit" status.

To some conferences, it is about academics. The Big 10 has outright said that. But in reality, it's more about TV sets and expanding footprints to make more $$$ from athletics. Increasing $$$ for academics via grants and research is important, but secondary. Athletics (FB specifically) is completely driving this bus.

I hate it. I wasn't fond of the Big XII only because it wasn't a good relationship from the start. I miss the Big 8, but know those schools will never be back again.

and somewhat quietly (well compared to the chaos going on in the Big 12/Big 10/Pac-10)
Boise State moves to the Mountain West.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5276064

Nebraska is expected to make the official announcement they're joining the Big 10 any minute now.