(Insert Keith Jackson “Whoa, Nellie!” here.)
A decade after major conference realignment shook up college football, big changes might again be on the horizon.
Texas and Oklahoma of the Big 12 have both reached out to the Southeastern Conference about potentially joining the powerful league, a high-ranking college official with knowledge of the situation told the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday.
An announcement could come within a couple of weeks concerning the potential addition of UT and OU to the league, the person said, which would give the SEC 16 schools and make it the first of a national super-conference.
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Well, that would certainly make things interesting. I’d imagine it would jumpstart another huge batch of realignments.
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It would be the death of the Big 12, for starters.
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Sankey takes aim at Bowlsby:
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Only if we drop 2 maybe 4 current teams – open to suggestions.
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Are you kidding? If this is real, Sankey grabs them, no conditions attached.
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Considering the financials of the conference. Yes. But as a fan. It’s a No for me. I still don’t accept Mizzou and A&M. Regional appeal and all that. I’d rather have Clemson and FSU. But I understand that their markets are already in the thumbprint.
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I’m with you. I’d love to kick out TAM and Mizzou, move two current East teams (Vandy and Tenn maybe) to the West, and pick up FSU and Clemson in the East. A man can dream though.
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I actually think TA&M is a good fit, but agree with the Mizzou comments. My guess is that Sankey will force A&M to sign-off on the UT entry as it will be a done deal. Besides, A&M will get to play Texas again.
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100 percent agree. As a fan, zero interest in a 16 team league. Zero interest in having Texas or OU in the SEC. What do they add that is worth having, really? 14 is too many, though I get the added tv markets we got with MO and TAMU made it too hard to pass up. Ark and SC added zero other than the chance to have an SECC game. That was a bold move that worked. Me, I would pass on both the late to the party crashers and sleep like a baby.
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Agree with much of what you’re saying, but I think Sankey is reading the conference realignment tea leaves and would rather bring these two historical powers into the SEC rather than seeing them go elsewhere. Time will tell if it’s a good decision, but money talks and lots of money screams and hollers.
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I’m intrigued by the chaos of adding Texas and OU, but I wouldn’t be upset if it fell through.
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Vandy, Mizzou, Arkansas, & A&M
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Bring it.
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This year hopefully. As soon as we can. Premier League is imminent
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God, what an awful idea.
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Oh fuck.
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I really, really don’t want this.
It cannot be stated firmly enough how much I don’t want this.
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Why not bud?
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Because while it made a kind of sense for TAMU to join the SEC, UT and OU joining the SEC makes absolutely no sense at all. The only sense it makes is the kind of sense that’s spelled cents.
This makes far less sense than Mizzou joining the SEC.
If this happens, I can actually see Mizzou leaving for the Big-10, as the Big-10 are most likely to take on Kansas and Iowa State.
So that leaves the SEC at 15. Who do they add then to get to 16? 15 creates an incredibly unbalanced scheduling system. Is it Kansas State? Hell no. Do they go raiding the ACC for a team in North Carolina?
Probably WVU is the best we could hope for, which does add a nice geographic rivalry for Kentucky but not much else.
If this happens… all hell will break loose, and when it’s done, nothing will make sense and CFB will truly be broken.
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The B1G would have to want Mizzou first and they were pretty clear they weren’t interested before. I think Mizzou is stuck with us and we’re stuck with them, but I’d rather have WVU anyway.
Also, imagine how Texas is going to feel when they find out nobody in Bham gives a shit what they think and they’re just going to have to just do what Bama says? LOL.
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This is another reason I don’t think this is happening. Texas isn’t going to play second fiddle to Alabama with the conference brass.
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Oh snap!
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I smell a break from the NCAA
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Assuming that happened and they ended up in the West it will REALLY suck to be Arkansas. Although we could take the two Alabama team in east. wth should we do with Mizzou?
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Divisions should be done away with at that point (they should be already)
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Maybe, maybe not. Two 8-team divisions would be workable.
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It would essentially be two conferences tied together by some geography and history with a championship game.
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Like I said below… this is going to break CFB. It’s going to destroy why we love it.
Divisions or no divisions, this is the beginning of the end.
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You do math poorly. Only one of the Alabama teams would join the East, and it would most likely be Auburn. Mizzou stays in the East.
There is no way in Hell the ADs at Floriduh, Georgia, Sakerlina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Vandy would agree to Bama joining the East.
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LOL. It’ll depend on what Alabama wants, man.
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Moving the AL teams to the east preserves UGA/AU and Bama/TN while doing away with the permanent cross division scheduling issue that UF hates so much.
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Those gators getting beat is what I like about it. We are tough enough to handle it.
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You do geography poorly. Why would Mizzou stay in the East? It doesn’t belong there now, and hasn’t been there long enough to have any rivalries. Having Auburn move east is legitimate and preserves intact a rivalry that we have had some concern would go away.
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That may be, but that’s not what you said. Had you said that, it wouldn’t have seemed as if you can’t do simply math.
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Just take the “L” and move on.
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I think Arkansas would be happy with this. It brings back their biggest traditional rival and adds another more geographically logical rival in Oklahoma.
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How about a SEC football championship tournament?
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This smells of bath salts and poor life choices. I’d like to subscribe to this newsletter.
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But why? They are Roosters in their hen house now?
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$$$$$$
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Chronicle runs that and espn runs this…
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/31845340/how-texas-sec-college-football-top-conference-formed-perfect-fit
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The timing makes me feel like they’re trolling A&M with this article
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So, this is either completely true and they will be joining the SEC shortly or this is a play for these two programs to get a bigger slice of the pie from the Big-12 to stay in the Big-12.
Those are the only two possibly truths.
If it’s the latter, the Big-12 will cave because less of what they have now is better than the none they would have with no longer belonging to a P5 league.
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No thanks. I’d still like to kick A&M and Mizzou out, not add more teams.
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This isn’t happening unless the Longhorn Network becomes a part of the SEC Network. No way will Alabama, Florida and Georgia allow Texas in with their own TV network.
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TAMU chancellor Bjork is already saying no way to Texas.
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Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork on news that Texas and OU could be coming to the SEC: “We want to be the only SEC team from the state of Texas.”
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Thanks for the clarification on Bjork’s role – I saw that same quote.
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I had just read it on twitter, so I pasted it.
Does Sankey care what Bjork wants?
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A&M AD on Finebaum now. Says it could happen.
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“We love being the only school in the state of Texas in the SEC…we’re going to maintain that position, but we’re also going to make sure that we’re a leader in college athletics and we’ll see what the future holds.”
-Aggie AD Ross Bjork weighs in on Texas and Oklahoma
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He softened his position quickly.
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That likely means this is real.
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When I hear this I picture Bjork as Ben Affleck’s character in Dazed confused, Texas as McConaughy and OU as the guy with the GTO judge.
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Bingo…
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Screw a conference and a regular season. Just make the whole thing some kind of year-round playoff called Redundant Madness in Infinite Perpetuity where different weapons are periodically thrown on the field, players go in a penalty box like hockey if they choose to use a weapon on an official, and coaches are fair game to be hit at any time. Each new season starts no sooner that 5 days after the previous one ends. I don’t know what I’m talking about but I’ll be damned if I will allow myself to be surprised when these things are actually discussed as possibilities in the next 10 years.
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As long as we can play at Auburn five times in a row to facilitate this, I’m in. Maybe postpone our first road game against A&M until the 2050’s, too.
Would like to see us drop UK & Vandy for this and then realign conference strictly based on East / West geography.
Those 32 team CFP brackets can’t get here soon enough.
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Actually, make that Vandy and Mizzou
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UK ain’t going nowhere. You forgot about round all.
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I regret that I can only “like” this post once. Legit laugh on the Auburn snark.
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Why would you want Texas with their bloated ego?
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money.
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Austin in the Fall?
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Fuck Austin. Most overrated city in America.
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Been to Athens lately?
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What the hell are you talking about?
If you’re calling Athens overrated, you’re in the wrong place, friendo.0
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Simpleton
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LOL.
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Austin is a liberal town. Who cares?
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Dude, all colleges are “liberal towns,” and Austin isn’t liberal, it’s much further Left than that.
Not that it’s not the reason I said it’s overrated. It’s just played-out; full of hipster douche bags and Texas frat bros, which is an awful combination.
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Agreed, Austin is overrated not because it is liberal but Texas Ego and Texas Frat boys.
I’m not so much opposed to 16, a 4 pod model could help save some rivalries but to hell with Texas.
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Yea. I have. I live 1.5 hours away
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Reforming the old SWC makes more sense than this. Put Texas, A&M, Arkansas, Baylor, Rice, Houston, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech back together and add Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. There’s the solution.
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No. Fuck no.
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Super conferences are coming – boys and girls. Now watch for the Big 10 to pick out who they want from the Pac12 and for the ACC to grab Central Florida and Memphis. And with both trying to convince ND to join them.
And then watch the NCAA go “poof” overnight, with new TV deals being written and for the little guys to struggle to field teams going forward.
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Son of a bitch, can’t have anything nice anymore
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Preach it! Brother
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Would it even be possible to calculate the tv deal this conference would be able to bring? If the SEC broke ties with ESPN and made it’s own channel it would be “The Longhorn Network+“
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Maybe 5 or 6 super conferences and no more NCAA. That is the future.
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Agree, but think more like 3-4 Super Conferences and all the rest.
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I guess that means that UT will have to play TAMU again. LOL!
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16 teams and pod scheduling instead of two 8 team divisions. ESPN/Disney already owns the Longhorn network rights. Texas would have to give up those rights to be in the SEC.
I did a spreadsheet and write up on 4 super conferences a couple of years ago (P5 becomes S4 with 64 teams). Specifically what the S4 with pod scheduling would look like
1. including how to balance the 4 team pods (2 traditional powers, 2 non traditional powers per pod). This maintains almost every teams traditional rivals in a conference.
2. How many conference games (9).
3. Two OOC games against other S4 teams and 1 optional non D2 team (ie 1 G5, 1 cupcake, or 1 traditional rival etc) after a certain amount of years to play out current contracts.
This leads to a potential to a scheduling czar for the 2 S4 OOC games (Think SEC vs Big10 basketball type matchups for the entire league)
It makes too much sense from a dollars and cents standpoint, not so much a fan standpoint. The whole idea started around television rights and a 8 team playoff and how media rights would be best served to grow the product (CFB). I figured it would take until 2024 ish to happen when everyone was renegotiating next set of contracts.
I wanted OU (there is not a law they have to be in the same conference with OSU) and I really wanted KU for the 16th team in order to add a traditional Basketball powerhouse. I didn’t want to deal with The headache of Texas and figured they could write their own ticket to the PAC 12/16..iE PAC 12 headquartered out of Dallas.
NCAA is probably dead and this would enable the first super conference (SEC) pave the way to have an additional minimum stipend/ salary for players above current allowances. Somewhere between 10k-25k per player or a sliding scale based on class (SR, JR, Etc) not position.
Not saying I support it, but it’s where the money is headed. CFB in 2031 will look nothing like today.
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If this happens, here’s how it shakes out:
SEC – OU, Texas
ACC – ND, West Virginia
B1G – Kansas, Iowa St.
PAC – BYU (who will get over playing on Sundays), Texas Tech or Baylor
K-State, Oklahoma State, TCU and TTU/Baylor get left out in the cold.
Bob Bowlsby and Fox is going to do whatever they can to keep this from happening.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
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If you really think about it, the Group of 5 may love this because they would get two automatic slots in a 12-team playoff. Another reason the Power 5 may decide another round of expansion at each other’s expense is a really bad idea.
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That was my thinking as well. Fewer conferences probably means the SEC gets at least 2 and perhaps as many as 4 teams into an expanded CFP.
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First step to pulling the Power 5 away from rest of CFB IMO. I don’t think Group of 5 will get a seat at the playoff table anymore.
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I was running through this earlier, just with the teams that would be left in the Big 12. Agree on Kansas to the Big 10 because they are an AAU school, but I could see them thinking Iowa State and the others as being beneath them. Also predict WV to the ACC. The PAC 12 may consider Okie St. and Texas Tech, but not sure because of some of the same arrogance with the Big 10. Don’t see BYU in the PAC 12 or the Big 10 because of the political/social pressure over their honor code. That’s the reason the PAC 12 snubbed them last time when they added Utah.
If Texas and Oklahoma were to actually leave, most of these schools’ best bet would be to try and hold the conference together with the remaining eight and add the best group of five schools they can find, like SMU, Houston, and maybe UCF.
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This^^. The Big 12 adds Houston and SMU and survives.
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The Academic snobs in the ACC and Big10 would let their conferences burn before taking WVU. The SEC took Mizzou over WVU due to academics.
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Good point. I just think college sports is about money now. For the ACC or the Big 10, they need local eyeballs for their conference channels.
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I’m just over here thinking about all those Oklahoma fans sarcastically chanting, “SEC” every time they scored in the Rose Bowl. Huh.
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I’m starting to think I’m not going to like OU fans much.
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We had border seats at the Rose Bowl so two older Ok fans were sitting next to us. About ten minutes into the game, one of the women asked my wife if we stood the whole game. E, a dedicated Bulldog, replied: oh hell yes, in the SEC, football games are a partipation sport. Actually, they left just before halftime.
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Are they doing this for the children?
SEC Championship now includes quarterfinals.
Road to MNC is going to be 20 games.
P5 will breakaway. Mark Emmert will be found hiding in a bunker in NW Indiana by an elite kill squad from the Group of 5.
Bama, UGA, gators and Auburn in the East to counter LSU, Texas, TAMA and OU in the West.
Big Ten will grab FSU and Miami for the South NY division.
Phil Knight will fund the Pac 12 to keep them afloat and grab some of the Big 12 teams and rebrand as Nike West.
Notre Dame better find a chair before the music stops!
The Jerry Dome just became a neutral site for the annual Georgia – OU game our grandchildren will travel to for golf and tailgating. A golden bbq smoker goes to the annual winner.
Georgia – Florida goes home and home while the Gator Bowl hosts Texas – Florida.
As part of the deal, Nick Saban will coach both Bama AND Texas.
I’m starting to think this is about the money.
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The boats have already been burned, might as well go all in. I would take Texas/OU and a 10 game SEC schedule in a heartbeat.
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According to Orangebloods, it’s a done deal. UT and OU letting the Big-12 know they won’t be renewing 1st and 2nd TV rights in 2025, meaning in three seasons, they’ll be in the SEC.
Wonder what this means for the SEC’s contract with ESPN? If Sankey didn’t include the option to renegotiate upon expansion, he should be fired immediately.
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For shits and giggles, here’s what the SEC will likely look like in 2025:
SEC West: Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas, Missouri
SEC South LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas
SEC Central: Alabama, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Tennessee
SEC East: Georgia, Floriduh, Sakerlina, Kentucky
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4 pod – 16 team SEC is the wave of the future
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OU ain’t changing conferences without Okie State. The OK legislature won’t let that happen.
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Apparently that isn’t a thing.
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https://twitter.com/jasonkersey/status/1418024131296174081
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All I know is college football is going full on Disney and there is a reason that it’s the only sport I still watch. I get the money factor and athlete comp, but tradition is public enemy #1 to this generation. Heading towards back yard Cornhole being my only enjoyable pastime.
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Which generation are you referring to? I don’t think millenials are the ones driving conference expansion, but I could be wrong.
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