Bob Stoops sounds like a man with one foot outside the Big XII’s door already.
“(The Big 12) has been great for us. We have been in a good number of Big 12 championship games and won a number of times. Obviously, it’s been good for us,” Stoops said. “But the more people are talking about (the Pac-10), the more people are thinking, ‘That’s exciting. That’s pretty cool. That has a chance to be special.’ It’s win/win. Best of everything.”
Stoops says a chance to play against Pac-10 schools in conference could open the window to one of the nation’s largest recruiting hotbeds, California. With the Big 12 South schools expected to join OU in the event of a merger, the Sooners would keep their traditional recruiting base of Texas strong, too.
“When I first heard it, I thought it was exciting. Thought, that has a chance to be pretty good, by bringing the West Coast recruiting into play,” Stoops said. “For us, especially to play down in Texas, has always been positive. I think that has a chance to be the best of everything, a good number of games we have in the South and then out West.
“It brings everything out West into play, particularly California.”
But it’s Missouri and Nebraska that need an ultimatum. Right.
Get The Picture 
listened to an interview of tom osborne, and he sounded less like a guy who was pondering whether to leave the big 12 than a man trying to figure out if they will get an offer from the big 10.
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I’ve pretty much accepted the fact that the big 12 is toast. They’re jumping ship like they just found the plague on board over there
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Well the Big12 is toast so long as ND doesnt join the Big10.
Big12 is probably still done even if ND does join but expanding the Pac-10 to the reported 16 is going to be really messy and unlike in the SEC which only needs 9 of 12 to expand, Pac-10 needs everyone on board.
Thus, Texas is thinking they need to be getting in on the ~$20+ million a year that the SEC and Big10 are getting (last public payout was ~11 million for UT). With unanimous approval required figure uneven sharing is out the window which means the new Pac-16 needs a TV deal worth over $300 million a year. Is that kinda deal out there?
Also conference expansion is power politics. With a defacto veto vote right now no school in the current Pac-10 is going to easily give that up and do you really want to give the 6 new schools that same power?
Adding one or two teams to get to a SEC/ACC model is relatively simple. Going all out to 16 teams adds at least double if not quadruple the amount of complexity and mess.
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After all the fawning over Notre Dame and Texas as the “heavies” who are driving this train, it looks like Tom Osborne’s announcement on Friday could be the catalyst that ignites the firestorm. Nebraska to the Big 11 wouldn’t be so significant if the Big 12 weren’t so fragile, but I don’t think their jittery, insecure nerves can stand to lose one of their powerhouses without others jumping ship.
ND could trump this move if they were to make a decision to reverse before Friday. If they do, I think the Big 11 simply adds a championship game and everything settles down. If Nebraska leaves, I think Texas leaves and starts the dramatic change everyone fears. Could get wild before the end of next week. Makes for an exciting “quiet period” doesn’t it?
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What it will be like when Stoopsie gets staff ready for the trip…
What it will be like when the Okies head west…
What it will be like in Westwood waiting on the arrival of the Stoops clan…
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Wander down this road for a second (first, plant tongue in cheek… then, proceed)…
What if the Big 10 accepts Nebraska and Missouri, and Texas, instead of jumping to the Pac 10 decided to stay put. The Pac 10 still offers membership to Utah and Colorado… basically leaving the Big XII North with Iowa State, Kansas, and Kansas State, and the team would be in need of three teams.
I say add BYU, TCU, and SMU. Relegate them to the all-religion division with the Baylor Baptists. Texas A&M could stay in the Religion division because they have some cult-like traditions/behavior. Texas Tech represents all the unbelievers out there, and now you have full division. The conference championship game could be called Armageddon.
Then, Texas, Oklahoma, Okie State, Kansas, Kansas State, and Iowa State can form the non-denominational and otherwise non-committal division. Texas can create its own television network and roll around in the money it makes, the state of Kansas breathes a sigh of relief, and Boise State is now forced to enter into the below average MWC conglomerate that broke apart several years ago.
Laughter ensues.
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The scuttlebutt today is that Nebraska will announce on Friday that it’s jumping to the Big Ten… and that the Big Ten will stop with the one addition. Where that would leave the Big XII is anyone’s guess, although most believe that if Nebraska leaves, the South will flee to the Pac-10.
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The question I have in all of this is why not A&M. I remember that scene from a Beautiful Mind where Russell Crowe tells his nerd buddies to go after the hot chick’s friends, that way they all get lucky vs. knocking each other off going after the one hottie. If you look at A&M its a huge school with a huge fanbase and isn’t as far away as Austin. They also don’t have the arrogance of UT. If the SEC could get them I say jump and grab a foothold in Texas. I don’t think UT would ever go “slumming” (from their perspective) in the SEC but I think A&M would jump at the chance. Also if A&M has a soft landing spot I don’t think the politicians in Austin would complain too much about UT and A&M being in different conferences. To balance everything out you could grab another Texas school, which one doesn’t matter and then the two Fl schools and you’re done. I know UT is supposed to be the prize but like most “prettiest girls at the dance” a lot of baggage comes along with UT.
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The problem with expanding the SEC to 16 is can you redo the deal with ESPN/CBS to add roughly 70 million a year. I mean I can kinda see A&M being able to pull their weight but are their three other teams out there who are legitimate options, besides UT, that could?
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Actually there probably aren’t three others that could pull their weight initially. Taking A&M off the table the other choices usually boil down to FSU, Miami, Clemson, a random
texas school, and GT. GT is a non starter.
they are a second rate draw in a second tier conference.. yawn. FSU actually moves the needle so they may pull their weight. Miami has a street level “alumni” that makes them compelling as well. Clemson is to be blunt worthless. They bring no market or interest outside of SC where the SEC already has a huge footprint. I plead ignorance as to how much a Houston or TCU etc would bring but at least it would open a untapped market to the SEC. Also remember Arkansas and SC were relative dregs before admittance and since they have both improved markedly. As a matter of fact every SEC team has upped their game so to speak since we went to 12 teams. Vandy is competitive, UK is on a historical bowl streak, SC has had their best run in memory. I think if you bring in some recently middle of the road teams like an A&M etc and raise their standards so to speak they will respond much like Ark and
SC did. Its a risk but less of one than standing pat
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“The Love of money is the root of all evil.”
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It will all still be in Texas’ hands. If/when Nebraska goes to the BigTen Texas will have to decide if they want to head down the (short) rod to a playoff or not. Because, if they bolt to the Pac10 with 5 other teams the SEC and BigTen will respond and head towards 16 as well.
The SEC will go after FSU and Miami…and 2 of these 3: Clemson, VT, GT.
The BigTen will then have a decision to make…after Mizzou to make 13 will they look west or east? Utah, BYU, and Kansas. Or do they go east for Pitt, WVU, and RU/UConn/SU.
If they goes east then you will get a crazy 4th conference with the remains of the ACC being the eastern division and the reorganized MWC being the western division (Utah, BYU, Boise State, TCU, Fresno State, Kansas State, then maybe Hawaii…Baylor…UH…Iowa State…Colorado State…who knows)
But it will all be up to Texas…they are the domino that will decide how many others will fall.
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Oh yeah…add Notre Dame to the BigTen list of schools in a 4 16-team conference world.
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