Oh well I guess we can take that as gospel, seeing as how admitting they were working on a 14 team schedule would be admitting they have had negotiations with a 14th member.

The SEC Commissioner isn't a dumbass like Neinas. He's got his peeps in-line.

McMurphyCBS Brett McMurphy
by Dave_Matter
West Virginia to Big 12 w/in 24-48 hours after Missouri withdraws from Big 12, sources tell @CBSSports bit.ly/vPPq77

Chip Brown pulling out the big guns!!!

"Big 12 interim commissioner Chuck Neinas continues to voice hope that Missouri will remain in the Big 12. And there is speculation that Notre Dame's possible interest in the Big 12 for its non-football sports could entice Mizzou to stay put.

Sources said Missouri is being told it will be cut in on any rotation of football games involving Notre Dame and the Big 12."

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1283801

It will almost be like nothing has changed except for the travel time.

and breeding habits ohhh and hygiene.

Mike Slive is the Thomas Jefferson of Conference presidents.

Chuck Neinas is Chester A. Arthur.

'nuff said.

Thank God that someone hasn't invented "Smellivision" yet. LMAO

That's hilarious. The die has been cast. Missouri is not staying. Whomever these "sources" are should be relegated to the dumbass category.

Actually, that's the part that will be staying the same. :)

You seem to think magic wands are available for this. If adding another team means the other East teams have to add or drop a non con opponent, those type of negotiations do require some time. The less notice you give a non con, oftentimes there are penalties associated. Those dropped teams are then forced to scramble and find another team to play. Its not just a simple process of "insert Missouri here".

Why would adding another team force anyone to drop a non-con?

If they stick to 4 non-con games and play 6 'divisional' games, they have their 'rival' game against the other division and an additional non-rival game across the division (crosses fingers; hopes for Ole Miss...).

Sooner or later they'll likely switch to 9 conference games and 3 non-con, but absolutely nothing that happens over the next couple of weeks would mandate that.

Yeah, it probably is just a simple process of 'insert Missouri here'; especially since it would actually make conference scheduling much easier on balance. They could have it knocked out in a matter of hours, really. A computer algorithm would spit out a bunch of alternatives, they'd probably be able to boot several of them out immediately and have a schedule voted on and finalized by the end of the day.

It wouldn't be that difficult at all.

Does this mean that MU started the whole conference realignment 15 years ago with it's initial flirting with the Big 10?


http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/...ckval=GooglePM


Deseret News, The (Salt Lake City, UT) - January 16, 1993

MISSOURI INTERESTED IN JUMPING TO THE BIG TEN


<table border="0" width="100%"><tbody> <tr> <td>
</td><td class="basic-title" colspan="2">When University of Missouri officials talk about the Tigers' athletic future as it relates to the Big Eight, they use words like ``content'' and ``satisfied.'' They bring out the superlatives when that future is related to the Big Ten.``The Big Ten is uniformly high-quality public research universities,'' Chancellor Charles Kiesler said. ``That's what we think we are. When we...

Purchase Complete Article, of 466 words</td></tr></tbody></table>

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/sp...r=4&ref=sports

West Virginia Close to Leaving Big East for Big 12

By PETE THAMEL

Published: October 25, 2011

West Virginia is headed to the Big 12, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation, a move that leaves the Big East with five football programs and an uncertain future. The person said Tuesday that the Mountaineers had “applied and are accepted,” leaving only legal entanglements from making the move official. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been formally announced.

West Virginia is the Big East’s flagship football program, and losing its consistently strong performance will hurt the conference as it seeks to hold on to its automatic Bowl Championship Series spot. With the departure of the Mountaineers, who must pay a $5 million exit fee, the conference’s football members are Rutgers, Louisville, South Florida, Connecticut and Cincinnati. That gives it the same number of football teams it had when Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech departed in 2003.

The only good news for the Big East is that the Big 12 planned to stay at 10 teams for now, the person said. That will spare the Big East any more critical losses and give it a chance to build into the 12-team model that it would prefer.

While Missouri, a current Big 12 member, has yet to announce that it is applying for membership in the Southeastern Conference, that move is still viewed as inevitable. The Kansas City Star reported Tuesday morning that Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton said it could be “days or possibly a week or two” before Missouri’s application happened.

Legal problems are holding up Missouri’s move, as it has to negotiate an exit fee, and there is a concern among Big 12 teams about how to fill the void in their schedules that Missouri would leave. That creates two problems, as universities will have to scramble to find another opponent, perhaps from the Football Championship Subdivision. A victory over a team from that level would not count toward a Big 12 member’s bowl eligibility. It will also cause the Big 12 to fall short of fulfilling its television contract. Both could be costly for the league.

The SEC made it very clear during its courtship with Texas A&M that it would only accept the Aggies without legal issues, so Missouri must take care of those before joining.

The Big East now moves toward putting together its proposed 12-team model; it hopes to add Air Force, Navy and Boise State in football and Houston, Southern Methodist and Central Florida in all sports. With West Virginia gone, the new team most likely to emerge as a possible member would be Temple, which has received resistance from its Philadelphia rival Villanova. But with the league’s future in peril, it is hard to imagine that Villanova would have enough influence to thwart Temple, which boasts a rising football program, a strong basketball program and the Philadelphia television market. East Carolina and Memphis would be other candidates. Both have openly lobbied to join the Big East in the past.

Awesome upgrade here!

Yeah, just sucks that they're so far away. :(