Big 10 Report: Conference Realignment

[Mr. Laz]

A source in St. Louis familiar with the situation told NewsCenter 16 Thursday afternoon that Missouri will leave the Big XII and soon join the Big 10. Other schools expected to follow the Tigers are Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers and Nebraska.

Many have speculated that such an expansion would include Notre Dame but ND athletic director Jack Swarbrick told me today that the Irish prefer to stay independent in football and in the Big East for other sports. Swarbrick said maintaining football Independence is such a part of what Notre Dame is.

He went on to say the Big East is a great partner for the University in other sports.

"We do have to monitor what is going on," Swarbrick said. "There will be significant shifts. "Hopefully we can navigate them by keeping our football independent and keeping our Big East affiliation because that is what we care about."

The move of Syracuse, Pitt and Rutgers to the Big Ten from the Big East could categorically change the landscape of the Big East itself. Thus, what Swarbrick is referring to when stating the University must continue to monitor what is going on.

The interview with Swarbrick was done before the late afternoon announcement.

http://www.wndu.com/sports/headlines/92447574.html

[mikeyis4dcats.]

http://www.tmz.com/2010/06/10/oklaho...otball-big-12/

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by ArrowheadHawk

I wasn't even going to dignify that with a response.

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by Wickedson

I'd be fine with that. Or Boise...

Even though Boise is going to be tougher to deal with year in and year out than Nebraska.

[luv]

I've decided to just plant myself in the corner, watch, and wait.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Colorado leaves. Big deal. Nebraska leaves. Definitely a bigger deal, but not irreparable.

Add two schools and we all continue to call Texas our daddy.

Orangebloods.com Columnist

The exodus west by half of the Big 12 has started.

Colorado was the first to make it official. The Buffaloes won't be the last.


Colorado is the first to commit to the Pac-10, but the Buffs won't be the last.
"This is an historic moment for the Conference, as the Pac-10 is poised for tremendous growth," Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. "The University of Colorado is a great fit for the Conference both academically and athletically and we are incredibly excited to welcome Colorado to the Pac-10."

"On behalf of The University of Colorado students, faculty, alumni and fans, we are proud to accept this invitation from the Pac-10 and join the most prestigious academic and athletic conference in the nation," said Philip P. DiStefano, chancellor of CU-Boulder.

"The University of Colorado is a perfect match - academically and athletically - with the Pac-10," said University of Colorado President Bruce D. Benson. "Our achievements and aspirations match those of the universities in the conference and we look forward to a productive relationship."

A formal press conference was scheduled for Friday at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colo.

Sources tell Orangebloods.com, the Pac-16 conference would commence in 2012.


TEXAS, TEXAS A&M MEET

Also on Thursday, Texas and Texas A&M were meeting alone together in the morning, according to sources, before also having a meeting in the afternoon with Texas Tech and Baylor officials.

If Texas and Texas A&M are on the same page in their meeting about going to the Pac-10, then the second meeting - with Texas Tech and Baylor - could be the courtesy notifation to BU officials that the other Texas schools in the Big 12 South are moving on.

Sources close to Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech told Orangebloods.com throughout the last week that if Nebraska moved on to the Big Ten, the Big 12 was dead.

And that's what Texas president Bill Powers and Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds told UT coaches in a meeting Wednesday afternoon.

If Texas and Texas A&M emerge from Thursday's meeting united, there could be announcements almost immediately that Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are heading west.


PAC-16 TO GET 2 BCS BIDS?

In a related development, sources close to the Pac-10/Big 12 merger say the new, 16-team super conference could push for two BCS bids with the Big 12 dissolving and losing theirs.

In that case, you could have a BCS bid for the Western Division winner among USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State.

As well as a BCS bid for the Eastern Division winner among Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State.

That will be met with resistance from the other BCS conferences as they try to expand and could lead to the formula of each division winner in one of the newly formed super conferences receiving a bid into an 8-team playoff.

There will need to be some representation of the non-BCS schools or legal wrangling and government hearings will overwhelm the process.

But as Orangebloods.com laid out over the weekend, there are athletic directors involved in this whole process who see this coming.


DOOR CLOSING ON BAYLOR

Baylor officials were hoping beyond hope that some 11th-hour change would happen to either save the Big 12 or allow them to get on the train out west.

But one Baylor official told Orangebloods.com, "It's probably 90 percent sure the other Texas schools are gone, but we have to hold onto that 10 percent that something could change."

Orangebloods.com was the first to report Wednesday that Baylor, which has strong ties to the Baptist church, was being met with some resistance in the Pac-10, namely Cal-Berkeley, because of its religious affiliation.

Baylor loyalists, in their argument against Colorado being invited, have pointed out that Colorado's academic and athletic performance lately hasn't been anything the Pac-10 should embrace.

In an announcement Wednesday by the NCAA, Colorado was the only school in the BCS to have scholarship reductions in football for poor Academic Progress Rates. And CU was one of two schools in the BCS to have scholarship reductions in basketball.

There's talk that some Pac-10 schools are down on Colorado's academics and overall sports programs, but sources say Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott wants the Denver market.

Denver has never been a college TV market, much less a Colorado Buffaloes TV market. It's all about the Broncos and pro sports.

But the thought is if you pair Colorado in games against Texas, Oklahoma and USC, the Denver market will tune in.


A&M LAST PIECE OF PAC-10 PUZZLE

The only potential stumbling point for the six Big 12 schools to move west if Texas A&M's heart was in it.

The Aggies have been talking to the Southeastern Conference. Gene Stallings, who won a national title as coach at Alabama, is a regent at Texas A&M who has been VERY active in all the talks involving the Aggies and where they could land if the Big 12 fell apart.

Orangebloods.com has been told by sources that Gov. Rick Perry would encourage his alma mater to go where Texas goes to keep harmony in the Texas Legislature.

There is a state-run, multi-billion dollar mineral rights endowment for both Texas and Texas A&M called the Permanent University Fund, which was threatened by lawmakers the last time realignment happened (when the Big 12 was formed) if the two schools split up.

One thing that should be reassuring to Texas A&M is that in a move to the Pac-10 Texas all but loses its chance to start its own TV network.

That was a point of contention for A&M, which has an athletic department $16 million in debt and had to borrow that money from the school's general fund to pay it off.

That became a big rift at A&M between the administration and athletics department and may have contributed to the forced resignation of A&M president Elsa Murano, who wanted the athletic department to be more diligent in paying the loan back.

A&M was not excited about having Texas, with $125 million in revenue and its coffers overflowing, starting a TV network and adding yet another revenue stream that A&M couldn't match.

But with all schools on an equal revenue playing field in the Pac-16 (or whatever we're going to call this league), A&M's worries probably subside.

[Jerm]

@Dave_Matter: Mizzou sends email to MU officials reminding them to tell media: "We are proud members of Big 12."

[underEJ]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Yes, and I would appreciate if you addressed us in the proper manner. It's called the Big Televenwelve now.

My Big 10 fan coworker would like it to be the Big Televenwelveteen. Just in case.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by Jerm

@Dave_Matter: Mizzou sends email to MU officials reminding them to tell media: "We are proud members of Big 12."

Nice and everything, except there is no more Big 12.

[Tactical Funky]

Originally Posted by Metrolike

The world is ending in a year and half anyway. Don't waste that time worrying about things.

If those damn Mayans are wrong, I'm going to be pissed! I love a good armageddon to break up the monotony.

Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP

Well, bye..

I never said I was done with college athletics, but I'm certainly less interested than I was during the heyday of the Big 8/Big XII. Hell, maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic and upset that 100 year-old rivalries are essentially dead in the water and the conference I support is about to get pilfered leaving many schools twisting in the wind for no real fault of their own.

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by ChiTown

PAC-16 TO GET 2 BCS BIDS?

In a related development, sources close to the Pac-10/Big 12 merger say the new, 16-team super conference could push for two BCS bids with the Big 12 dissolving and losing theirs.

In that case, you could have a BCS bid for the Western Division winner among USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State.

As well as a BCS bid for the Eastern Division winner among Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State.

That will be met with resistance from the other BCS conferences as they try to expand and could lead to the formula of each division winner in one of the newly formed super conferences receiving a bid into an 8-team playoff.

There will need to be some representation of the non-BCS schools or legal wrangling and government hearings will overwhelm the process.

But as Orangebloods.com laid out over the weekend, there are athletic directors involved in this whole process who see this coming.

What would be better is if there are 4 "super-conferences" then each has a Conference Championship Game, and the winner from each goes into a 4-team, plus-one style format.

It's weak to have all these "super-cons" when they'd really be nothing more than 8 8-team conferences.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by Jerm

@Dave_Matter: Mizzou sends email to MU officials reminding them to tell media: "We are proud members of Big 12."

he sounds like a Nazi propaganda machine...

[chiefsnorth]

Originally Posted by Tactical Funky

If those damn Mayans are wrong, I'm going to be pissed! I love a good armageddon to break up the monotony.



I never said I was done with college athletics, but I'm certainly less interested than I was during the heyday of the Big 8/Big XII. Hell, maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic and upset that 100 year-old rivalries are essentially dead in the water and the conference I support is about to get pilfered leaving many schools twisting in the wind for no real fault of their own.

So MU and KU keep playing in football every year. Rivalry still on.

[luv]

Originally Posted by chiefsnorth

So MU and KU keep playing in football every year. Rivalry still on.

If it's a non con game, it will seem watered down.

[Los Pollos Hermanos]

A source in the OK State athletic department tells TMZ Sports the move is a "done deal." The Pac-10 just made it official that Colorado is also jumping off the Big 12 ship.

We're told it's "just a matter of time" before the OK State announcement is also made. It's been rumored that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M will also join the new super conference. Nebraska, it's widely believed, will go to the Big 10.

As for why this is all going down -- our source says "everyone wants a playoff system ... and this is the first step toward doing it."

http://www.tmz.com/2010/06/10/oklaho...otball-big-12/

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by Metrolike

Nice and everything, except there is no more Big 12.

"We are proud members of the Big 12 ... er, Big 11 ... er 10 ... 9 ... 8 ..."