When Can We Leave The Big 12?

[Tear Down This Wall]

News that we could expand by as many as four schools is disheartening. The conference will be like the C-USA/AAC/MWC plus OU and Texas. It's truly pathetic.

Why do our "leaders" stand for this? Leaving now would finally do what has needed to be done for years - crush the Big 12 and push us and Texas into one of the other four viable conferences.

At that point, FBS has to face reality and split between those of us who have taken care of our programs since the early 1990s and those who have not but somehow want to jump on for the ride.

It's not our fault that the Houstons of the college football world couldn't get their sh*t together until recently. It really isn't. And, they still have a crappy little stadium, no made how new it is. We shouldn't be in the same conference with schools with smaller facilities and no real football history.

I'm sorry, but if it was totally okay to ditch Nebraska and the long, storied tradition we had with them in conference, then it is more than okay to ditch what is left of the Big 12.

Sickening.

[deweydw]

Two former BIGXII teams may want back in, according to Bill Snyder (http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/7/20/12235032/big-12-expansion-candidates-colorado-whaaat).


Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder not only stumped for the conference, but claimed multiple teams that have left wish they hadn’t:

"I may be wrong and other people may see it differently, but I don’t think anyone could be in a better situation than the teams we have in our conference. I’ll tell you what. There are teams that left our conference right now that wish they could get back in our conference."

When asked to clarify, he said, "Two I know of."

The coaching legend has been saying for a while that he’d like to reconvene the gang, specifically wanting Nebraska to return from the Big Ten.

The other team, Colorado.

[BoulderSooner79]

Both NU and CU fit better in the big12 than the conferences they are in now. I'd much rather see that then Houston and BYU even considering CU's current hard times. Probably just a pipe dream though.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Both NU and CU fit better in the big12 than the conferences they are in now. I'd much rather see that then Houston and BYU even considering CU's current hard times. Probably just a pipe dream though.

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/tom-hermans-not-happy-with-uh-attendance-7871103

No. You guys, nothing says puke more than Houston. They only averaged about 28,000 in attendance last year in their putrid 40,000 seat "new" stadium. What in the f*ck are we doing even considering these lame f*ck programs?

Houston sucks at damn near everything. No one in Houston even gives a f*ck about Houston. For pete's sake, no one in Houston even f*cking speaks English anymore anyway! You'd get larger crowds for international soccer matches or cricket in Houston than college football! F*cking f*ck! I hate Houston. It is an absolute *** wart of a city and school.

Please...if this is what it has come to, pay whatever it costs to get out of the Big 12 and beg into any of the other four P5 conferences. The Big 12 will crumble anyway letting in the putrid likes of Houston or Cincinnati or UConn...whatever. It's horrible.

[badger]

I know that you hate the Big 12 TDTW, but the biggest reasons to stay are that the status quo is probably the easiest, not to mention that all Big 12's members signed over their third-tier TV rights to offer the conference stability. Would another conference take OU knowing that there's a legal fight ahead over third tier rights? Would OU want to leave knowing that they are a big fish in the Big 12, but will just be a n00b in another conference? Would OU want to pay the Big 12 exit fees?

I would love it if Colorado and Nebraska came back. I'd hope that the Big 12 would roll out the (go big) red carpet and guarantee an annual football game with OU every season to further entice them.

Houston: Yes, attendance sucks and it would give the conference an unprecedented fifth member from the same state. Even the Pac 12 only has four California schools. If the Big 12 wants Houston, I'd say that we have to dump one of the others first. Baylor, please. I would like to think that Big 12 opposing fans would fill whatever stadium we play in against UH, whether it's the Texans' NFL stadium or UH's home field.

BYU: As The Oklahoman noted today, BYU is facing a lesser-than-Baylor, but still undesirable, sexual assault situation of its own:
http://newsok.com/could-byu-witch-hunt-keep-the-cougars-out-of-the-big-12/article/5510440

Absent inviting old members back, BYU's only Power 5 option is likely the Big 12, because I don't forsee the Pac 12 inviting any members with a religious affiliation. It kept Baylor and BYU out of the Pac 16 discussion last go-around.

Anyways, wait and see, even if it hate the Big 12 :P It might turn out all right after all. Or, it might turn out horrible. As is the case right now, OU is still Big 12 football champs, a College Football Playoff invitee, a Final Four MBB team, national champs of softball and both gymnastics and a finalist in men's tennis. Not too shabby for being in such a shabby conference, eh?

[deweydw]

BYU and UH seem to be chomping at the bit to get in the Big 12. Problem with BYU is that they would end up being football only, since they don't play any sports on Sunday. Since they don't play sports on Sunday, that would be a scheduling problem for the Olympic type sports.

As for U of H, I wouldn't mind them getting in the conference. Since I live in the Houston area, I would get to attend an OU game every other year. :applause:

Otherwise, bring back Nebbish and the Buffs.

[badger]

Don't say Notre Dame for the next 20 years.
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/17102933/acc-espn-agree-20-year-rights-deal-lead-2019-launch-acc-network


The ACC's new grant of rights also automatically extends Notre Dame's contract with the conference as a member in all sports but football through 2035-36, a source said. If the Irish forgo football independence in the next 20 years, they will be contracted to join the ACC.

Or anyone else from the ACC for the next 20 years, either. (i.e. Florida State and Clemson):

The conference's grant of rights makes it financially untenable for a school to leave, guaranteeing in the 20 years of the deal that a school's media rights, including revenue, for all home games would remain with the ACC regardless of the school's affiliation.

[Tear Down This Wall]

None of the proposed school draws dick in TV ratings either:

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-tv-ratings/

[S008NER]

The rumored reasons the conference voted to expand:

1) ACC Deal-GOR extension
No chance expanding with FSU or Clemson now.

2) Expansion bring more money to conference
Look for the conference to add 4 teams as oppose to 2 to maximize TV money on current contract.

3) Houston meeting with PAC-12
The fact that PAC-12 commissioner even granted them an audience suggests that they might be on their radar. Along with whorn Chip Brown's source that says PAC-12 looking to get into central time zone.

But this really not that big of deal. There were no mentions of extension of the GOR, nor is likely that OU or texas will accept any extensions. So less then 10 years and we are out.

I don't have a problem with Houston in fact out of all that were mentioned they are going to be the most competitive in the conference if they can hold on to their coach till then. Trying to use tx politics to muscle their way in is another story through....



http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/big12/2016/07/21/big-12-expansion-texas-governor-greg-abbott-houston-cougars/87389168/

[BoulderSooner79]

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/tom-hermans-not-happy-with-uh-attendance-7871103

No. You guys, nothing says puke more than Houston. They only averaged about 28,000 in attendance last year in their putrid 40,000 seat "new" stadium. What in the f*ck are we doing even considering these lame f*ck programs?

Houston sucks at damn near everything. No one in Houston even gives a f*ck about Houston. For pete's sake, no one in Houston even f*cking speaks English anymore anyway! You'd get larger crowds for international soccer matches or cricket in Houston than college football! F*cking f*ck! I hate Houston. It is an absolute *** wart of a city and school.

Please...if this is what it has come to, pay whatever it costs to get out of the Big 12 and beg into any of the other four P5 conferences. The Big 12 will crumble anyway letting in the putrid likes of Houston or Cincinnati or UConn...whatever. It's horrible.

I don't think I was clear - I meant to say I'd like to see CU and NU return to their rightful conference - *NOT* to add Houston/BYU. Just not going to happen. OU shouldn't have put themselves in the middle of friggin' Oklahoma*!





*FYI for the thin-skinned, that's a joke

[SoonerorLater]

Texas just keeps on giving us more reasons to leave this cesspool of a conference. Now Texas Gov Abbott saying no B12 expansion without Houston.


http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/texas-gov-says-no-big-12-expansion-without-houston/ar-BBuCxzF?li=BBnba9I

[Mazeppa]

Texas just keeps on giving us more reasons to leave this cesspool of a conference. Now Texas Gov Abbott saying no B12 expansion without Houston.


http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/texas-gov-says-no-big-12-expansion-without-houston/ar-BBuCxzF?li=BBnba9I


Wasn't it a Texas Gov that gave us Baylor? That's working out really well.

[Tear Down This Wall]

No school being considered adds anything to the competitive mix of the Big 12. Maybe - MAYBE - BYU. But, their screwed up in their "won't play on Sunday" mindset won't fly.

It's just terrible. Please, just stay at 10. None of these programs draw dick in attendance or television viewers. It's just a big sh*t sandwich all the way around. Do not bite it, please.

Those idiots Castiglione and Boren should have f*cking jumped to the SEC in 2011 when they had the chance. Stupid f*cking idiots. We're stuck in Southwest Conference 2.0 because of those two buttwipes and their miscalculations about the Pac-12 wanting us without Texas.

F*cking idiots.

[badger]

The magic number is 8 --- 8 of the 10 Big 12 schools must approve a candidate.

That means that the Texas schools can veto any candidate, but they cannot approve a candidate on their own. They would need to convince at least four non-Texas state schools to go along with the Houston plan.

Once again, NO conference worth mentioning has more than four schools in a single state --- the ACC has four North Carolinas (Duke, NC State, UNC and Wake Forest), Pac 12 has four Cali schools (Cal, UCLA, USC and Stanford) and Big 12 has four Texans (UT, Baylor, Tech and TCU), but five would be unprecedented. It would be going backwards to the SWC.

This is not a knock on Houston, which is a prime recruiting area for OU and others and there's plenty of OU and other Big 12 school alums down there that would love to have a more Sooner/Big 12 games there. However, Houston is late to the party and other Texas schools beat them to the Big 12. If they wanted in, the years to do it were 1996 or 2012. You missed out; sorry. The only way we can take another Texas school now without going against what it means to be a conference, a Power 5 conference at that, is to force an existing Texas school out (BAYLOR! BAYLOR! A THOUSAND TIMES BAYLOR!).

As it is now, Colorado is highly rumored to be wanting out of the Pac 12 experiment and their sh!tty non-bigtime-revenue-generating TV network... and if we get them, perhaps we can get Utah as well.

Why are the only Big 12 expansion candidates being mentioned mainstream from the mid-majors? Let's go after the available Power 5s. If we're stuck in the Big 12 (and make no mistake about it, WE ARE; stop talking like we aren't), let's make the most of it.

[SoonerorLater]

The magic number is 8 --- 8 of the 10 Big 12 schools must approve a candidate.

That means that the Texas schools can veto any candidate, but they cannot approve a candidate on their own. They would need to convince at least four non-Texas state schools to go along with the Houston plan.

Once again, NO conference worth mentioning has more than four schools in a single state --- the ACC has four North Carolinas (Duke, NC State, UNC and Wake Forest), Pac 12 has four Cali schools (Cal, UCLA, USC and Stanford) and Big 12 has four Texans (UT, Baylor, Tech and TCU), but five would be unprecedented. It would be going backwards to the SWC.

This is not a knock on Houston, which is a prime recruiting area for OU and others and there's plenty of OU and other Big 12 school alums down there that would love to have a more Sooner/Big 12 games there. However, Houston is late to the party and other Texas schools beat them to the Big 12. If they wanted in, the years to do it were 1996 or 2012. You missed out; sorry. The only way we can take another Texas school now without going against what it means to be a conference, a Power 5 conference at that, is to force an existing Texas school out (BAYLOR! BAYLOR! A THOUSAND TIMES BAYLOR!).

As it is now, Colorado is highly rumored to be wanting out of the Pac 12 experiment and their sh!tty non-bigtime-revenue-generating TV network... and if we get them, perhaps we can get Utah as well.

Why are the only Big 12 expansion candidates being mentioned mainstream from the mid-majors? Let's go after the available Power 5s. If we're stuck in the Big 12 (and make no mistake about it, WE ARE; stop talking like we aren't), let's make the most of it.

I don't think we are stuck. It's more a matter of what we are willing to do to get out.

[Mookie91]

Unless the PAC 12/Big 10 comes knocking pass

[Sabanball]

http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/lsu/article_4bed1c46-5108-11e6-b56b-ffc330b51903.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share

[badger]

I don't think we are stuck. It's more a matter of what we are willing to do to get out

We are as stuck in the Big 12 as the ACC teams that signed away their media rights for years. We did the same thing with the Big 12 to provide the conference stability. We all did. We're all stuck.


Unless the PAC 12/Big 10 comes knocking pass

Neither conference seems particularly desirable unless we're looking for a lot of increased travel time. Both conferences are looking more coastal than ever (B1G recently expanded to include more East Coast teams --- Rutgers and Maryland). Pac would probably be more interested than B1G in OU, as their current TV network seems to stink.


http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rou...ign=user-share
Relegation is an intriguing topic. For those who don't dabble in Premiere League, the top teams are in one league, and after each season, the lowest top league teams are "relegated" to a lower league, while the top lower league teams get a promotion to the top league. This would increase the level of competition for the top teams, but also subject the lesser hanger-on programs to lesser revenue, lesser TV, lesser exposure. In essence, the rich will get richer and the mid-majors that can upset programs will likely be fewer and far between.

OU would have likely been relegated in the 90s as well. It would be naive to think hard football losing times would never happen again (same for you, Rammer Jammer Bammer!), so it's something to keep in mind.

Good discussion all around :) But I am still firmly in the belief that OU is stuck in the Big 12 and that can be a good or bad thing depending on how the conference acts on its future. I say we steal other Power 5 programs first and go the BYU or heaven forbid, the fifth Texas state school routes as a second/last option.

[deweydw]

Schools in the Mountain West are looking to get in on the Big 12 sweepstakes. LINK (http://www.mwcconnection.com/2016/7/26/12291566/mountain-west-big-12-expansion) Possibly Colorado State and Boise State.


Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson spent a lot of time on the topic during his state of the conference address on the first day of Mountain West media days.

“A number of Mountain West institutions have expressed interest in looking at Big 12 membership,” said Thompson. “What’s going to happen? Nobody has any idea. ... No idea on what the timetable might be. No idea if if affects a current Mountain West member. We’re all playing this game that some people have said is similar to a sweepstakes.”

[badger]

Schools in the Mountain West are looking to get in on the Big 12 sweepstakes. LINK Possibly Colorado State and Boise State.
I remember when the Mountain West was all like "heeeeyyy forgotten five Big 12 schools! we'd LOVE to have you join us when the rest of your conference leaves for the Pac 16/SEC/B1G!"

That was nice (and self serving) of them, but nice (and self serving) Missouri leading the forgotten five sure forgot the others when it went SEC-ing. And who can forget how outspoken the Mizzy governor was at how great they would be for the Big Ten and eff the Big 12 and memories of the Big 8 ...before, yknow, the Big Ten picked Nebby instead. Good riddance all around, MWC and Mizzou. Nobody likes you!

[SoonerorLater]

Schools in the Mountain West are looking to get in on the Big 12 sweepstakes. LINK (http://www.mwcconnection.com/2016/7/26/12291566/mountain-west-big-12-expansion) Possibly Colorado State and Boise State.


If the B12 just had to add two teams I would vote for BYU and Colorado St. BYU is pretty obvious as they are the best program available and the football straw stirs the drink. I look at CSU as a bit of a project but they have a lot going for them. New stadium, a little small but trending in the right direction. It's a large state institution in an adjacent state with a decent population base. Also at this point CSU is for all intents and purposes is as good, maybe better than CU and that's as a Mountain West program. If they joined a P5 Conference they would easily surpass a floundering CU Athletic Program.

I absolutely do not want to see another Texas school in the B12. You can see what the powers that be in Texas have rammed down the B12's throat already. I can't believe these insufferable SOB's are trying to force feed us UH.

[badger]

If they joined a P5 Conference they would easily surpass a floundering CU Athletic Program

Hmm...
http://bsndenver.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Rams-5.png

Meanwhile in Boulder...
http://www.denverpost.com/2014/11/30/how-colorados-football-program-got-mired-in-a-decade-of-losing/

I have heard that CU is hampered by state laws that disallow longer state employee contracts, but CSU as a public institution would be hampered by those same laws. Basically, it protects the state against the sort of thing KU football is up against --- bad coaches taking up years of $$ long after they're fired for mediocrity. Thus, the state of Colorado limits the number of state contracts that can be multi-year. This likely would include the head football coach, but not his many highly paid assistants and thus... mediocrity, because nobody wants to coach without some job security, but at the same time, Colorado doesn't have to pay coaches that suck, and boy have they sucked lately at football.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Look, the ACC schools are not "stuck." They are in a good conference. They are not having to take on sh*theel schools that nobody else wants like Houston, Memphis, or any of the other puke programs mentioned as candidates for the Big 12 expansion.

It's sickening.

The ACC's Clemson has kicked the dogf*ck out of us two seasons in a row, once with a third team QB and recently with a rebuilt defense.

ACC is not hurting and having to take on mongrel programs to stay P5; Big 12 is.

If you take away Oklahoma and Texas, Big 12 is no different than the AAC or C-USA. It's really just a sh*tty conference now. Oklahoma props it up in football, Kansas in basketball. Texas owns the whole thing in reality and has made it as sh*tty as possible for its own financial gain.

Our misguided dipsh*ts named Boren and Castiglione really think they are somewhere by sticking with this conference. It's sickening. They have put us in the position to be Southwest Conference 2.0 because they were too f*cking stupid to go to the SEC in 2011.

As idiotic as it was then, it's pathetic now. Mizzou in the SEC, while the Big 12 "takes applications/bids" from the King of the Dipsh*t schools remaining from the realignments of five years ago.

There's no way to put it in a positive light. Sorry. To say the ACC schools are "stuck"...please. Please stick us with home conference games every other year with Notre Dame, Miami, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, etc. And, basketball with Duke, North Carolina, and the ACC.

Come on. The ACC schools are not "stuck."

Amazing.

[Mazeppa]

http://i68.tinypic.com/2meold4.jpg

[badger]

Clemson has kicked the dogf*ck out of us two seasons in a row

:( yes please don't remind me.


ACC schools are not "stuck."

Ah, you're gonna make me get the thesaurus out, eh?


Synonyms fast, firm, frozen, jammed, lodged, set, snug, tight, wedged

Related Words bonded, cemented, glued; anchored, clamped; embedded (also imbedded), entrenched (also intrenched), impacted, implanted; attached, bound, fastened, secured; immovable, unyielding

A lot of football words in there! If only our team could have been described as "unyielding" in the past few bowl games :(

Happy Friday anyway. Happy to banter about conference reallignment this offseason. I wish the Big 12 was in a better position. We'll find out soon if they are or aren't. Sure appears to be "not" at this point.

[Tear Down This Wall]

:( yes please don't remind me.



Ah, you're gonna make me get the thesaurus out, eh?



A lot of football words in there! If only our team could have been described as "unyielding" in the past few bowl games :(

Happy Friday anyway. Happy to banter about conference reallignment this offseason. I wish the Big 12 was in a better position. We'll find out soon if they are or aren't. Sure appears to be "not" at this point.

badger,
I do love you to death. But...

...at this point, no team from the ACC would want to jump to the Big 12. Conversely, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma State, us...we'd all be happy with an ACC invite - or at least, we should. I'm really worried that our leadership believes the Big 12 is viable longterm.

[badger]

we'd all be happy with an ACC invite
If the Big 12 folds, I'm sure we'd all be happy with having another Power 5 home, but as it is right now? The ACC has 16* teams.

*Notre Dame football thinks its special.

The closest team is Louisville*, which is a few states over.

*Please don't make me do the math to see if South Bend is closer, which only counts for not-football, because eff Notre Dame.

So do any of the 10 Big 12 teams really want to become the 17th ACC team? Sure, if they're uneducated :stunned:

[swardboy]

I saw somewhere that East Carolina is dying to get in the Big 12.

[SoonerorLater]

I think we're making it too complicated. If we absolutely, positively just have to add two teams then make it BYU and Colorado St. Under no circumstances sign a new GOR. Never, never, never. Under no circumstances make getting WVU a regional rival a priority as VWU will be gone if they get a better offer. East of the Mississippi is picked to the bone and no team I can think of makes any kind of sense......except

If we can add 4 teams without a new GOR then I don't care who they add. If we see this happen I think we might see the 10+4-2 played out with OU / Texas exiting.

[oudivesherpa]

As to Houston being a crappy University and town. While I'm an OU alumni (OU MBA) and season ticket holder living in Houston I disagree that U of H would be a bad addition to the Big Xll. U of H is a tier one University with 30,000 student in a Metroplex of 4,000,000 the fourth largest city in the US. Of all the group of five schools, Houston would be the best choice and as an added plus the addition would just p$&@ off all of the TexasEx's.

[Mookie91]

badger,
I do love you to death. But...

...at this point, no team from the ACC would want to jump to the Big 12. Conversely, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma State, us...we'd all be happy with an ACC invite - or at least, we should. I'm really worried that our leadership believes the Big 12 is viable longterm.

OU is the 3rd best team in the ACC for the foreseeable future while they will be the frontrunner in the Big 12. Add that to getting destroyed in Men's Basketball and I'd pass.

[badger]

OU is the 3rd best team in the ACC for the foreseeable future while they will be the frontrunner in the Big 12. Add that to getting destroyed in Men's Basketball and I'd pass.

Competition in-conference is not necessarily a bad thing. I'd say that OU seriously had to step up in the aughts due to Texas' recruiting, reputation and non-RRS dominance (for the most part). When Mack Brown decided that he'd rather coast into retirement instead of earn $5 million a year, I think both OU and Texas slid to a certain degree. Can you really work yourself up for a game against Baylor, KSU or TCU like you can for the hated whorns?

I assume you have us behind Clemson and Florida State. Clemp has earned the right to be ahead of us via the past two bowl disasters :mad: but Florida State? In the past five years, we beat them here we beat them there we'd be them anywhere, Sam-I-Am :D And we really seemed to be worked up for that game on a national stage, too.

[Tear Down This Wall]

OU is the 3rd best team in the ACC for the foreseeable future while they will be the frontrunner in the Big 12. Add that to getting destroyed in Men's Basketball and I'd pass.

I don't think so. Iron sharpens iron, which is why we were beating Florida State when the Big 12 had stronger teams, but getting our *** kicked now that the majority of good football school left and were replaced by TCU and West Virginia.

Watering down the conference even further with any of the current prospects makes the conference even weaker in the long run.

But, many people here are fine losing two or three during the season, then getting smacked down in the bowls, so...here's to the mediocrity being pushed on us by considering the likes of Houston, Cincinnati, Central Florida,etc.

[Mookie91]

Competition in-conference is not necessarily a bad thing. I'd say that OU seriously had to step up in the aughts due to Texas' recruiting, reputation and non-RRS dominance (for the most part). When Mack Brown decided that he'd rather coast into retirement instead of earn $5 million a year, I think both OU and Texas slid to a certain degree. Can you really work yourself up for a game against Baylor, KSU or TCU like you can for the hated whorns?

I assume you have us behind Clemson and Florida State. Clemp has earned the right to be ahead of us via the past two bowl disasters :mad: but Florida State? In the past five years, we beat them here we beat them there we'd be them anywhere, Sam-I-Am :D And we really seemed to be worked up for that game on a national stage, too.

I'm an OU fan so I really hate this topic but in the last 15 years the football team has been embarrassed on the national level. The last 5-8 years the Big 12 has been so overrated.

[Sabanball]

Google Clay Travis( he's a Tennessee homer)and his blog out kick the coverage. He really makes a compelling case for how this will all play out, with you guys and the pokes coming to the sec and Texas and Kansas going to the big 10. Never thought it would happen but after reading it I came away convinced that he's on to something.

[JDawg2303]

Texas won't go to the Big 10. One reason could be the Longhorn Network but there are rules on how to get into the Big 10. There are two requirements. 1) Must be an AAU school. This is not as solid as it used to be because Nebraska used to be an AAU school but then lost it right before joining the Big 10. The second rule is the big one and that is that the school's state must be adjoining to a member's state. In Nebraska's case, there is Iowa. The more likely scenario is for Kansas (adjoins Nebraska) and OU (adjoining Kansas) to go Big 10. The Big 10 would wet themselves to have Kansas basketball and OU athletics and anyone who listens to Boren knows he's all about the academic prestige.

[badger]

Google Clay Travis( he's a Tennessee homer)and his blog out kick the coverage. He really makes a compelling case for how this will all play out, with you guys and the pokes coming to the sec and Texas and Kansas going to the big 10. Never thought it would happen but after reading it I came away convinced that he's on to something

If it weren't for politics that might actually happen. However, much like OU and OSU are tied together, KU and KSU are tied together. And Texas? That state's legislature would throw a Texas-sized tantrum if UT were allowed to go to a Power-5 conference without at least one (if not several) other Texas school(s) tagging along.

I don't mean to say that these schools are tied together unvoluntarily. Boren and Hargis (that's the Poke president) seem to have a very good relationship and work the state's legislature and voters together for the benefit of state education. That penny sales tax? If might have Boren's name all over it, but I can assure you that Hargis will encourage the Poke half of this state to vote for it just as readily.

Kansas and Kansas State I have no idea about, but I assume that when you're surrounded by Westboro Baptists and a cutting legislature (funding and taxes) that the two top higher ed institutes lean on each other for support across the state.

Texas seems to love its overlord status over its lessers. It probably is quite amused that Houston is willing to give up its exclusivity in H-town (that satellite campus talk) for a sniff at Big 12 membership. Hell, if TCU gave up having a full share of Big 12 money (at least initially) to get included, what would the other Texas schools do for UT to ensure that it is not left out of the Power 5 discussion.

We're flagships, yes... but we don't seem to dislike having our younger siblings around.

[Sabanball]

Texas won't go to the Big 10. One reason could be the Longhorn Network but there are rules on how to get into the Big 10. There are two requirements. 1) Must be an AAU school. This is not as solid as it used to be because Nebraska used to be an AAU school but then lost it right before joining the Big 10. The second rule is the big one and that is that the school's state must be adjoining to a member's state. In Nebraska's case, there is Iowa. The more likely scenario is for Kansas (adjoins Nebraska) and OU (adjoining Kansas) to go Big 10. The Big 10 would wet themselves to have Kansas basketball and OU athletics and anyone who listens to Boren knows he's all about the academic prestige.

Exceptions can be made and, simply put, I think right now it all hinges on what Texas does. No way is Texas coming to the SEC. Eventually they will have to join a super conference or go independent. Going the PAC 12 route looks unlikely at this point. I think ultimately the Big 10 takes them and Kansas, and the SEC will reluctantly take Okie State as part of the price to get you guys. The Big 12 is dead man walking.