New Conference re-alignment thread

[Saulbadguy]

The old one has AIDS.

Anyways, Chip Brown from Orangebloods.com reports OU may apply to the Pac-12 by the end of the month.

Oklahoma will apply for membership to the Pac-12 before the end of the month, and Oklahoma State is expected to follow suit, a source close to OU's administration told Orangebloods.com.

Even though Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Friday the Pac-12 was not interested in expansion at this time, OU's board of regents is fed up with the instability in the Big 12, the source said.

The OU board of regents will meet within two weeks to formalize plans to apply for membership to the Pac-12, the source said.

Messages left Sunday night with OU athletic director Joe Castiglione and Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder were not immediately returned.

If OU follows through with what appears to be a unanimous sentiment on the seven-member Oklahoma board of regents to leave the Big 12, realignment in college athletics could be heating back up. OU's application would be matched by an application from Oklahoma State, the source said, even though OSU president Burns Hargis and mega-booster Boone Pickens both voiced their support for the Big 12 last Thursday.

There is differing sentiment about if the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors are ready to expand again after bringing in Colorado and Utah last year and landing $3 billion TV contracts from Fox and ESPN. Colorado president Bruce Benson told reporters last week CU would be opposed to any expansion that might bring about east and west divisions in the Pac-12.

Currently, there are north and south divisions in the Pac-12. If OU and OSU were to join, Larry Scott would have to get creative.

Scott's orginal plan last summer was to bring in Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and put them in an eastern division with Arizona and Arizona State. The old Pac-8 schools (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State) were to be in the west division.

Colorado made the move in June 2010, but when Texas A&M was not on board to go west, the Big 12 came back together with the help of its television partners (ABC/ESPN and Fox).

If Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were accepted into the Pac-12, there would undoubtedly be a hope by Larry Scott that Texas would join the league. But Texas sources have indicated UT is determined to hang onto the Longhorn Network, which would not be permissible in the Pac-12 in its current form.

Texas sources continue to indicate to Orangebloods.com that if the Big 12 falls apart, the Longhorns would consider "all options."

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe held an emergency conference call 10 days ago with league presidents excluding Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M and asked the other league presidents to "work on Texas" because Beebe didn't think the Pac-12 would take Oklahoma without Texas.

Now, it appears OU is willing to take its chances with the Pac-12 with or without Texas.

There seemed to be a temporary pause in any possible shifting of the college athletics' landscape when Baylor led a charge to tie up Texas A&M's move to the Southeastern Conference in legal red tape. BU refused to waive its right to sue the SEC over A&M's departure from the Big 12, and the SEC said it would not admit Texas A&M until it had been cleared of any potential lawsuits.

Baylor, Kansas and Iowa State have indicated they will not waive their right to sue the SEC.

It's unclear if an application by OU to the Pac-12 would draw the same threats of litigation against the Pac-12 from those Big 12 schools.

Stay tuned.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

The thing is Gary Pinkel is the big one behind the SEC push. He knows damn well that he can stay in the Big 12 cruise through the new Big 12 North with Louisville and Cincinnati as new rivals along with KU, KSU, and ISU. Play Oklahoma or Texas in the Big 12 championship game about every year and have a pretty good shot at BCS Bowl and 10 wins each year, and still recruit Texas like crazy. And with all of that, he still wants to take the program to the SEC. That should tell you something right there.

In all honesty, I'd love to see Pinkel coach for another 5 years, bring in Christensen to run the show and slide up to the AD's role.

I liked him well enough when I was at Truman, but I've developed an incredible respect for him since I've come to Columbia. He's really a remarkable guy.

As soon as it became apparent that Pinkel was on board, I was full-steam ahead on this thing. If he's up for the challenge and if he thinks ending his coaching career in the SEC is worth doing, then I believe him.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP

Two questions for you:

Who has a better football program, West Virginia or Missouri?

West Virginia.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by eazyb81

So kids from Texas will sign with Mizzou because they want exposure in their home state, but kids from Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, etc absolutely will not do the same.

Got it.

You are on a roll.

Proximity matters, a lot. This whole "of course kids in Texas want to play in the SEC!" argument doesn't fly, because aside from LSU and Arkansas (proximity), they don't go to SEC schools in significant numbers now.

If you really think that a good talented kid in the deep south, with a lot more options in the SEC than a Texas kid has in the Big 12, will choose to go to Columbia over all the deep south SEC schools, then I don't know what to tell you.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

Jesus.

Stick to basketball, squawk.

translation: "I don't have an answer. I believe Pinkel will beat all the SEC powers and convince kids to go to SEC's siberia through the magic of wishful thinking and unicorns"

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

West Virginia.

I agree that West Virginia presently has a better football team.

I don't think they have a better program.

Let's not forget that MU just had 2 players go top 10 in the NFL draft and lost on the road in overtime against a very strong Arizona team (a game they should have won) and stuck to within 10 against a pissed of OU team in Norman.

MU's future is very very bright, SEC or otherwise.

[eazyb81]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Proximity matters, a lot. This whole "of course kids in Texas want to play in the SEC!" argument doesn't fly, because aside from LSU and Arkansas (proximity), they don't go to SEC schools in significant numbers now.

If you really think that a good talented kid in the deep south, with a lot more options in the SEC than a Texas kid has in the Big 12, will choose to go to Columbia over all the deep south SEC schools, then I don't know what to tell you.

Good point. Mizzou is very close in proximity to Texas.

Fun tip: Columbia is almost 200 miles closer to Atlanta than it is to Houston.

[kstater]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

d lost on the road in overtime against a very strong Arizona team (a game they should have won) and stuck to within 10 against a pissed of OU team in Norman.

Moral victory!!!

[ArrowheadMagic]

Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP

Question for you: Who has a better football program right now, West Virginia or Missouri?

W.Virginia and the kids they get from FL are the ones that have offers from Fl International and Atlantic.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by eazyb81

Good point. Mizzou is very close in proximity to Texas.

Fun tip: Columbia is almost 200 miles closer to Atlanta than it is to Houston.

re-read my post. deep south kids have a ton of options. Big 12 kids do not, unless they think they can be the man who rebuilds Baylor or Okie State.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

In all honesty, I'd love to see Pinkel coach for another 5 years, bring in Christensen to run the show and slide up to the AD's role.

I liked him well enough when I was at Truman, but I've developed an incredible respect for him since I've come to Columbia. He's really a remarkable guy.

As soon as it became apparent that Pinkel was on board, I was full-steam ahead on this thing. If he's up for the challenge and if he thinks ending his coaching career in the SEC is worth doing, then I believe him.

When Pinkel first came to Missouri, I didn't think he would last at all. Couple of my teammates were recruited by Mizzou, this would have been Pinkel's second year or so, and they were the biggest douchebag coaches I had met. Yost is a complete ****head IMO. Pinkel was a dick basically as well. I think Aaron O'Neils's death changed how they did things in Columbia, bc they have took a complete 360 from where they used to be. I run into Pinkel all the time during the summer at the Lake, he is a different guy than he was 10 years ago. He will never take Mizzou to a National Championship level but he is in that solid next tier below those guys for sure.

[Mr_Tomahawk]

Is shit real yet?

[eazyb81]

Originally Posted by alnorth

re-read my post. deep south kids have a ton of options. Big 12 kids do not, unless they think they can be the man who rebuilds Baylor or Okie State.

I'll reread your post when you stop ignoring the numerous counterpoints to your stupid and ignorant posts on football recruiting.

You seriously have no clue what you are talking about.

[BigCatDaddy]

Sorry if this has been said, but IMO the best thing for MU would be to force the Big 12 back into 2 divisions where they would spearhead the north. With Nebraska gone they would be favored most years to win it and eventually they are gonig to beat a south team a year here or a year there and get their BCS Bowl game I really just have a hard time seeing a path to a BCS Bowl game for them in the SEC.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

Sorry if this has been said, but IMO the best thing for MU would be to force the Big 12 back into 2 divisions where they would spearhead the north. With Nebraska gone they would be favored most years to win it and eventually they are gonig to beat a south team a year here or a year there and get their BCS Bowl game I really just have a hard time seeing a path to a BCS Bowl game for them in the SEC.

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showp...postcount=3960
That should sum it up for you.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by kstater

Moral victory!!!

Nope - losses.

But they're points worth making when discussing the overall strength of a football program. We're not going out there and having teams like Georgia Tech set records against us.

Mizzou, even when it loses, isn't getting embarrassed. It's all about the evolution of the program. Teams go from getting their asses kicked by everyone (KU), to beating bad teams but getting stomped by elite teams (the Daniel era Tigers) to beating the bad teams and hanging with the elite teams (hopefully where we are now) to simply winning against anyone (OU, Alabama, Florida).

It's fair to point out that the MU program has progressed a great deal over the last decade to the point where we can absolutely claim to be as good or better than WVU and all but about 20 programs in the nation.

But that's okay - enjoy the smack talk while you can. Grandpa Bill ain't gonna live forever and you fellas will go back to the kids table soon enough.