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.

[Bambi]

Originally Posted by Pants

What's called getting the last laugh? Acting butthurt?

Coach fired in disgrace.
AD resigned in disgrace.
Our trophy display is not a barren wasteland.
Team is a disgrace. A coaching hire away from being fixed.
Crumbling Conference? Not as long as UT and OU are here.

Thanks for the congratulations. No amount of your butthurt will ever take that trophy away from KU. MWC? Maybe and maybe not. I guess we'll see, but I'm not too worried about it right now.

I was gonna go for:

"120 years of an athletic department in disgrace"

But yours works too.

[Saul Good]

History...err...the PAC 10 plane awaits!

[Pants]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

History...err...the PAC 10 plane awaits!

I don't understand how MU fans can throw the PAC-10 thing around. We're not the school that was all "See ya bundle of stickss!" only to find out they had been played.

[eazyb81]

Tom Shatel kills it in this article. Believe it or not, he actually uses logic instead of womanly emotion to make his point. CRAZY!

http://sports.omaha.com/2011/10/18/m-i-z-s-e-c-y-e-s/

M-I-Z, S-E-C, Y-E-S

BY Tom Shatel | 10:43 pm, Tuesday, Oct. 18

Mizzou to the SEC? Yes, if possible. Absolutely. Tomorrow. Whenever.

I’ve had some requests to comment on this story, since I may have spent some time in Missouri, or so the rumor goes.

I hesitate to jump on this for one simple reason: it’s not a done deal yet.
Lots of folks are talking and writing like this is going to happen by Friday. But nothing is over until the fat lady sings. Or leaves Shakespeare’s.

So let’s go with a small disclaimer: IF the SEC is offering…

Then this is a no-brainer. And I don’t say that lightly.

I’m a son of the Big Eight Conference. Grew up in KC. I was raised on the Big Eight Holiday tournament, then post-season shindig starting in 1977. I saw Kim Anderson and Jim Kennedy fly over the press table against KU, saw Stan Ray take down K-State, Derrick Chievous and Lee Coward take on everyone. That tournament, in that town, is one of the great events in college sports. I’ve never been to the Big East shindig at MSG, but I can’t see how it could be better, more passionate, more electric than when the sparks that fly when MU-KSU-KU get together.

Mizzou heads south and that tourney changes, even if it stays. All of MU’s old Big Eight rivalries/series are gone. Probably even with Kansas, the border war that goes back to the Civil War. All that history is history. I don’t take it lightly. I understand the significance.

But I think a move south is a natural move, and I’ll go over a few points and then we can get back to watching Minnesota film.

1. If you turn it down, you’re betting your future that the Big 12 stays together. What has recent history taught us? Texas and Oklahoma hold the league together. Texas will do whatever is best for Texas. So will OU. You can’t trust Texas. And now you can’t trust Oklahoma. Just last month, OU was gone. Leaving. If the Pac-12 had bit its lip on the Longhorn Network, there would be no Big 12 today. The Pac-12′s last-minute stonewall doesn’t change that. Things could change in a year, three years. It happens. OU could leave again. So could Texas.

Yes, the TV tier one and two rights have been promised, and Texas can’t leave as long as the LHN is tethered to Bevo’s tail like an anchor. But how long will the LHN last? Who’s going to watch it, who’s going to distribute it nationally? I could be wrong on this. But I don’t see a long future for the LHN. And when UT and ESPN settle the money and say it was a nice try, then Bevo is free to entertain all offers.

Why would Texas leave the Big 12? Why did Texas want out of the SWC? At some point, Bevo gets tired of carrying the water for TCU, Baylor and the rest, and now ISU, KSU and KU are along for the ride. Moreover, Texas lives on the cutting edge, always pushing the envelope. Texas will eventually get bored in the Big 12.

That’s my opinion. But if you’re Missouri, do you really trust your future on Texas and Oklahoma saying they’re staying put?

Answer: If KU, K-State or Iowa State could leave, they’d do it.

2. Okay, so the Big 12 breaks up one day. What happens to Mizzou?

This notion that the Big Ten is going to be there to scoop up Ol’ Mizzou is a reach, and possibly a catastrophic miscalculation, in my opinion. Look, Jim Delany isn’t going to pick up teams like scraps to fill out a 16-hole scorecard. He may have to go 16 if the Pac-16 does, but would you bet on it? The Big Ten marches to its own drummer. Delany is very particular about who gets invited to The Club.

If the Big Ten does go to 16, I’d be willing to bet a $70 parking space across from Camp Randall Stadium that Delany already has a plan on paper somewhere in his desk. And if that plan included Missouri, why weren’t the Tigers taken last year?

If Mizzou is part of the Big Ten’s plan, why wouldn’t you step in now and take MU before the SEC does?

More than likely, because MU is not part of the Big Ten’s plan. Now. Or ever.

Maybe the Tigers would get saved by Delany. But if you’re MU, would you bet the future on that? And, wouldn’t you already have done some research with the folks in Chicago to see if that was the case?

3. This notion that Missouri football is going to get buried in the SEC is ridiculous. And short-sighted.

Historically, Missouri football can compete with anyone. It just does it in doses. Alabama? The Tigers went to Dixie and beat Bear Bryant in the opener in 1975. In 1978, Mizzou led ‘Bama — a Bryant team that would win the national championship that year — at the half before succumbing in the second half. MU seemed to win everywhere back then — USC, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Nebraska, then come home and lose to Kansas.

Mizzou football at its best, historically, has beaten the best. The problem
has always been consistency. And mismanagement. Coaches like John Cooper, LaVell Edwards and Joe Gibbs were passed over early in their careers for Warren Powers and Woody Widenhofer.

There’s absolutely no reason — none — that Mizzou can’t compete and beat Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Kentucky — and I’ll throw in Georgia and South Carolina at the moment. LSU? ‘Bama? These things go in cycles. Back in the 1990′s, ‘Bama and LSU weren’t doing much. The power was Florida and Tennessee. Who’s to say Missouri couldn’t have its run?

This will put extreme heat on Gary Pinkel. He’s built a nice program, but he’s done it in the Big 12 North. He’ll have to upgrade the run game and defense or else. But imagine Pinkel’s offensive imagination with a reliable run game and defense.

Missouri has long been considered a sleeping giant, an underachiever, much like Texas A&M. Pinkel has done a better job at in-state recruiting. The facilities are there. Imagine what MU could do with the SEC brand, and later an SEC Network, and so many games on ESPN and CBS. Instead of Fx.

Meanwhile, Missouri hoops would do very well in the SEC. It would be one of the big dogs right away. The other sports? Challenges, sure. But the SEC isn’t really an upgrade from the Big 12 across the board of Olympic sports. In fact, you could argue that, this season, Big 12 football is deeper in quality.

Sure, going to the SEC is a risk, an all-in gamble, but life in the fast lane could be just what the program needs to get to the next level. I’m sure the good folks down south don’t fear either MU or A&M. But what if those two realize their potential in the fast lane? Could be a scary thought.

Here’s a scarier thought and a bigger gamble: staying put, then watching Texas fly the coop in six years. And watching Delany turn to the east coast, or, scoop up Texas and Notre Dame and call it good.

If those things don’t happen, and the Big 12 lives, then historians will say Missouri blew it. Except that Missouri will still be in the SEC, an equal partner in a national power, rather than waiting to see if Texas wants 10 teams or 12 teams or all home games.

The only gamble here is not taking the gamble. Pass the grits.

[Frazod]

I'm not sure what's funnier - Raiders trolls trying desperately to defend Carson Palmer or KU trolls and their love/hate/love/**** you/don't leave me/we backed into a BCS bowl once endless loop of fail.

It's nearly a toss up at this point.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by frazod

I'm not sure what's funnier - Raiders trolls trying desperately to defend Carson Palmer or KU trolls and their love/hate/love/**** you/don't leave me/we backed into a BCS bowl once endless loop of fail.

It's nearly a toss up at this point.

Once again, different KU fans think differently. We're not a hive mind, frazod. I'm pretty sure we all have our minds made up. There is no loop that is not propagated by both parties.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Pants

Once again, different KU fans think differently. We're not a hive mind, frazod.

Looks like you and Wickedson are making up your own hive.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by frazod

Looks like you and Wickedson are making up your own hive.

Uhh, no. I've been saying since day one, that if you guys have an offer from the SEC and it involves your school making a crapton more money, you would be fools not to leave the B12.

Sometimes Wickedson posts facts along with his opinions. Just because I post the same facts, doesn't mean I agree with all of his opinions. I'm sorry that those facts sting you, but they are what they are.

But you can go ahead and think whatever it is you want to think.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Pants

I don't understand how MU fans can throw the PAC-10 thing around. We're not the school that was all "See ya pillowbiters!" only to find out they had been played.

KU is as loyal as its options. If you could get the **** out of town, you would. If

[Pants]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

KU is as loyal as its options. If you could get the **** out of town, you would. If

We already covered this. But since you like these "endless loops" so much, I'll say it again... yes, if B12 was crumbling like it looked to be a couple months ago, I would want KU to GTFO if any sort of possibility presented itself. Now? Not so much.

And it has nothing to do with loyalty. I'm a pragmatist. I don't like to delve into the ****ing drama of loyalties and scorned wives, that shit you guys do is ridiculous. I want KU to stay in the B12 because it's the best fit geographically and culturally for our fans.

[Saul Good]

If the Big XII-2-1-1 were crumbling?

The BYU, Texas, and West Virginia culture is the best fit for Kansas?

Just wow

[Pants]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

If the Big XII-2-1-1 were crumbling?

The BYU, Texas, and West Virginia culture is the best fit for Kansas?

Just wow

I'm sorry, did I not say that as long as UT and OU are in the B12, it will remain viable? Is that not the opposite of crumbling?

I don't know about BYU, but West Virginia is culturally a Missourah clone with a better athletic program, so yeah, I'm down with them. And yeah, I think KU is a better fit with other Midwestern schools than the white-hood-wearing deep South.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Pants

I'm sorry, did I not say that as long as UT and OU are in the B12, it will remain viable? Is that not the opposite of crumbling?

I don't know about BYU, but West Virginia is culturally a Missourah clone with a better athletic program, so yeah, I'm down with them. And yeah, I think KU is a better fit with other Midwestern schools than the white-hood-wearing deep South.

Yeah, no butthurt here. None at all.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by frazod

Yeah, no butthurt here. None at all.

There really isn't.

[eazyb81]

Originally Posted by Pants

I'm sorry, did I not say that as long as UT and OU are in the B12, it will remain viable? Is that not the opposite of crumbling?

I don't know about BYU, but West Virginia is culturally a Missourah clone with a better athletic program, so yeah, I'm down with them. And yeah, I think KU is a better fit with other Midwestern schools than the white-hood-wearing deep South.

And dumbass posts like this is why you constantly get lumped in with Wickeddumb.