Sorry Utah!

AtM, Utah, Kansas but I don’t really care which one it is. I like the Utah-Colorado thing combined with the OK and TX schools. SLC is bigger and if TV is really driving this thing, than I think it will be them. Doesn’t Kansas always choke in March Madness anyways?

We need somebody to join who will actually appreciate the opportunity.

Fuck aTm and their nutgrabbing.

Seems like a good majority of A&M people want to join the SEC. Culturally, it’s not the right fit for A&M for them to be in an alliance with the pacific coast, but the curiosity might be appealing for TV.

Only trouble is, the SEC would have to take another school to balance out the conference and it’s not clear who else they would take. Oklahoma is going wherever Texas goes, and Texas is not going SEC.

Bottom line, keeping A&M with Texas in the same conference makes sense because their rivalry is a very valuable asset nationally and having 3 Texas teams helps solidify the conference. Utah and Kansas would not add as much value, because their football teams don’t have any tradition with the Pac-10 or Big 12 south teams.

One more thing.

Does anyone else think that the WAC will no longer be a viable football conference? The Pac-something will dominate the west coast, and with the Mountain West adding Boise State and potentially others, the WAC becomes completely irrelevant everywhere in the western US.

Birgeneau confirmed that the chancellors and presidents of the Pac-10 member schools will be holding a conference meeting on June 6 in San Francisco, and said that he would be "surprised if something did not happen that revolutionized college athletics."

May 31, 2010… A date, which will live on in eternity… not to be confused with Groundhog Day…

Birgineau quote

Stop acting like little bit**es. Everyone knows you need big brother Texas. Deep down, YOU know you need big brother Texas. This grandstanding bullsh** is making you look the a** of the Big 12 conference (although you are). Apologize to big brother Texas before they take OU, OkSt, and TTU along for the Pac-10 ride and the Pac-10 accepts KU or Utah. Then reality will kick in and the SEC will close all realignment talks since all it really wanted was OU and/or Texas and you will not receive a SEC offer. Then you will no longer have a Pac-10 offer OR SEC offer. Enjoy life in the MWC or Conference USA: you will have no one to blame but yourselves.

Utah would be more fun simply to answer the question of: how will a non-bcs team fair in a bcs conference? I think Utah would finish upper half in the division.

Competitively, Utah is the better football team, with the better recruiting territory, and better potential to recruit the west coast. Kansas will continue to recruit Texas, and I can’t imagine them opening a strong California pipeline.

Aggies are small minded and myopic, so the SEC should be fine for them.

1. Texas AM would strengthen the Southwest division of the new conference. Maybe not so much in terms of football quality (recently), but in terms of rivalry and cohesion. And traveling to Provo would be a burden for all the SW division teams. Don’t forget AM is a huge university, lots of strong athletic programs, has a strong (manic) following in Texas, and has strong academic departments. The biggest problem is cultural fit, but I think the diversity is actually appealing and don’t forget the Pac 10 has Washington State and Oregon State, so we know a little bit about chewing tobacco and spreading manure. I don’t see Kansas or Utah bringing much in terms of new eyeballs or rivalries. Too bad about the basketball, but maybe all are served by MWC getting better.

2. As I noted in another post, I think Texas has limited options. It doesn’t sound like an offer is coming from the Big 10 or SEC anytime soon, and the Big XII reconstituted would be a big step back. Independent does not seem possible. (A lot of these problems created by Texas needing to maintain links with other Texas schools.) Going with the Pac gives it a chance to get some positive results from a chaotic situation.

So, if I am right now I think it is all about negotiating the terms – where is Texas’ bottom line on having its own TV network, on the TV revenue split, the relationship between the divisions (in particular how integrated they will be), bowl priorities, and how to deal with non-football sports?

Any insights on what is going on with these issues? Is Texas able to compare offers from Pac-10 and other conferences (if other conferences are even able to offer anything?) Or is Texas just inwardly focused on the politics to get out of the Big XII and into a new Conference?

(Here is one idea I had: Pac8 and SWDivision play 7 division games and 2 intra-division games. Winner of the division goes to conf championship game (need to clean all the money off the table), but try to establish bowl tie-ins where Pac8 champ goes to Rose Bowl and SWDivision champ goes to Fiesta or Cotton or JerryJones-Bowl-to-be-in-Dallas. Of course, the winner of the conf championship may well go on to some sort of national championship game, but then maybe second place in division goes to the dedicated bowl. Conf should try to advance these understanding with Texas and Oklahoma while it has leverage. They may like the division focus, allowing them to keep their identity while getting the increased TV money and exposure.)

jh

ESPN is quoting a Texas paper alleging that the Mountain West is interested in picking up Missouri and Kansas, but have no interest in Baylor.

The Mountain West Conference was a geographical misnomer from the beginning, as it launched with San Diego State among its eight original teams before adding TCU in 2005 and Boise State on Friday.

The conference’s reach doesn’t appear to be stopping there.

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Kansas, Missouri and Kansas State are on the Mountain West’s radar amid a continuing shakeup of the Big 12.

But Baylor isn’t considered a candidate to join the conference, with TCU standing staunchly in its way, the Fort Worth newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources.

Now are you starting to understand just how irrelevant you are?

in one of the Texas univ blogs, that TCU might want to be the top school (after the 3 state universities) in Texas. It helps in recruiting, especially in-state.