[College Sports] Aggy to the SEC

[Skinypupy]

Apparently a real billboard that's gone up in Waco:

[Grifman]

Read that UConn is really pushing to get into the ACC. Looks like the handwriting is on the wall for the Big East.

[pr0ner]

My Notre Dame grad friend says that growing scuttlebutt has Notre Dame vastly preferring to go to the ACC over the Big Ten if they're forced to go anywhere.

[Pyperkub]

My Notre Dame grad friend says that growing scuttlebutt has Notre Dame vastly preferring to go to the ACC over the Big Ten if they're forced to go anywhere.

Really? With all the Big 10 rivalries and the money? I'd really want to see that sourced.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

[ImLawBoy]

My Notre Dame grad friend says that growing scuttlebutt has Notre Dame vastly preferring to go to the ACC over the Big Ten if they're forced to go anywhere.

I hear the opposite from the ND grads in Chicago. I'm not going to believe anything other than an official statement from ND, though.

[pr0ner]

My Notre Dame grad friend says that growing scuttlebutt has Notre Dame vastly preferring to go to the ACC over the Big Ten if they're forced to go anywhere.

Really? With all the Big 10 rivalries and the money? I'd really want to see that sourced.

It's pretty much fan rumor at this point.

Stewart Mandel had this interesting line in his College Football Overtime over at cnnsi.com today, though:

At what point will the Big East no longer be palatable to Notre Dame? And would Swarbrick place his first call to the Big Ten's Jim Delany (the one commissioner who's continually maintained ambivalence about the latest expansion mania and in fact spent Saturday golfing) or to Swofford, whose league quietly held discussions with Notre Dame back in 2003 about the possibility of joining as a partial member.

[Sarkus]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/n ... acc_091911

Mainstream piece at Yahoo! about why the ACC might be preferable to Notre Dame.

[Inverarity]

From a rivalry perspective, it makes more sense for Notre Dame to go to the Big 10, should they go anywhere. They have a guarantee of two games a year: USC and Navy. No matter what, they will play those two games. From there, if the Big 10 requires them to play 9 in-conference games, they get to keep their games against Michigan, MSU and Purdue as part of their in-conference schedule. Plus they renew their Penn State & Northwestern matchups at least semi-annually. All this leaves them one game on the schedule to rotate in Stanford, Pitt, BC, Air Force, etc.

If they go the other way and go ACC, they can keep their BC and Pitt matchups (far less important, historically), but they're sure to be giving up playing either Michigan, MSU or Purdue every year. And very possibly, two of those three. And to fit in two of those teams, if that's even an option (depending on how many in-conference ACC games they'd have to play), means no Air Force, no Stanford, etc.

Of course, neither option is as attractive - in terms of rivalry games - as staying independent.


In other news, here's the MWC commish talking about a possible playoff with Conference USA for the suddenly vacant BCS spot (formerly owned by the now 7-team Big East): http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... nces-shift

[GungHo]

Apparently a real billboard that's gone up in Waco:

I admittedly have trouble following aggie logic, so help me out with this: Baylor doesnt want to go to the SEC, they're interested in preserving the status quo.

Not sure how that billboard makes any sense really(though I give em points for the Biblical spin).

[noxiousdog]

Apparently a real billboard that's gone up in Waco:

I admittedly have trouble following aggie logic, so help me out with this: Baylor doesnt want to go to the SEC, they're interested in preserving the status quo.

Not sure how that billboard makes any sense really(though I give em points for the Biblical spin).

please. If baylor had a bcs conference invite, they wouldn't be whining about a&m.
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

[GungHo]

Apparently a real billboard that's gone up in Waco:

I admittedly have trouble following aggie logic, so help me out with this: Baylor doesnt want to go to the SEC, they're interested in preserving the status quo.

Not sure how that billboard makes any sense really(though I give em points for the Biblical spin).

please. If baylor had a bcs conference invite, they wouldn't be whining about a&m.
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

They do. It's called the Big 12.

[Scuzz]

Now the MWC and CUSA are talking merger............

[noxiousdog]

Apparently a real billboard that's gone up in Waco:

I admittedly have trouble following aggie logic, so help me out with this: Baylor doesnt want to go to the SEC, they're interested in preserving the status quo.

Not sure how that billboard makes any sense really(though I give em points for the Biblical spin).

please. If baylor had a bcs conference invite, they wouldn't be whining about a&m.
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

They do. It's called the Big 12.

are you being serious, or just messing with me?

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

[Crabbs]

Continuing with a wild week (and it's only Tuesday:

From Tait's Blog

11:37 a.m. Update:

Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports is reporting that multiple Big East sources have told him that West Virginia applied for entry into the ACC and SEC and was denied by both.

No word on why just yet. Maybe they don't fit the cultural or academic profile. Maybe those conferences are done with expansion. Maybe those conferences already have deals in place with other schools.


12:04 p.m. Update:

Getting back on track, this report indicates that talks of a Big 12/Big East merger are heating up and that, if such a scenario were to unfold, it would take place by way of the Big 12 absorbing the Big East's remaining football schools, not the other way around.

1:12 p.m. Update:

A couple of potentially major developments here in the last few minutes.

The first, a Tweet from Mike DeArmond of the Kansas City Star, who said he was working on a story about Missouri having an offer from the SEC but that the SEC was wanting to wait until the Big 12 dissolved.

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/09/20/31 ... r-but.html

Speaking of that... Berry Tramel, of The Oklahoman, writes that T. Boone Pickens says the Big 12 is not dead and that, believe it or not, Texas A&M may be "sobering up."

http://newsok.com/article/3605929?custo ... aking_news\

It's important to note the language of the Mizzou to the SEC story... It's my belief that the Tigers asked the SEC to wait on the outcome of the Big 12 here, not the other way around. If Mizzou wanted to bolt, they would've jumped at this opportunity and probably announced the move tomorrow.

But, as I've been told all along, the Tigers want the Big 12 to live on, and with reports starting to surface that point toward that end, it's very possible that Mizzou may tell the SEC thanks but no thanks, especially if OU and Texas return to the Big 12.

Long way to go before we get to that point, but multiple sources have told me that they've been impressed by the loyalty and dedication to the Big 12 that both MU AD Mike Alden and MU chancellor Brady Deaton have shown throughout the past couple of months.

[ImLawBoy]

I'm not sure that any of this is ultimately for the benefit of college sports, but it's certainly a lot of fun watching while it goes down!

[triggercut]

Tait has it backwards. Mizzou didn't ask the SEC to wait, the SEC asked Mizzou to wait.

[tru1cy]

Are the academics that bad at WVU? I'm surprised (if true) that the ACC and SEC turned them down

[ImLawBoy]

Are the academics that bad at WVU? I'm surprised (if true) that the ACC and SEC turned them down

While I have some issues with their methodology (I think there's an inherent bias against state schools), the US News and World Report rankings probably offer the best/easiest guide to seeing where universities rank among each other.

They show WVU at 163, which is lagging behind all (I think) the other schools in the ACC and SEC.

[Crabbs]

Tait has it backwards. Mizzou didn't ask the SEC to wait, the SEC asked Mizzou to wait.

Oh he admits it's speculation, but his reasoning for Mizzou holding on is:

Here's the other thing to remember about Mizzou's pause regarding the SEC offer, if it is, in fact, on the table.

If the Tigers go now, they open themselves up to lawsuits and exit penalties. If they wait for the Big 12 to implode, they ride off into the sunset unscathed.

Not saying that's what's going on... Remember, multiple people within the conference that I've talked to have said that MU is all-in on keeping Big 12 alive.

Just trying to show both side here. After all, an actual offer from the SEC changes things quite a bit. Easy to be loyal to Big 12 when you don't have other concrete options. Now, though.... New ballgame.

Oh now it's getting petty

First Mizzou & SEC

2:33 p.m. Update:

According to Tweets from Clay Travis, who covers Tennessee, "SEC now denies it has given Missouri an offer to join SEC. League not happy about this story going public."

Another from Travis: "SEC wants to wait for Big 12 to implode before pursuing Missouri. Not happy with leak."

And another: "Missouri spoke out of turn. With legal issues, SEC likely furious."

Travis' Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/#!/ClayTravisBGID

Then A&M responds to T Booger Pickens:

According to Chuck Carlton, of The Dallas Morning News, a Texas A&M responded to Oklahoma State alum T. Boone Pickens' comments about the Aggies "sobering up" and considering not leaving the Big 12.

The response: "Texas A&M has made our intentions perfectly clear. We do not intend to be a member of the Big 12 past this season"

Can't say it any clearer than that. Good. Now we can get back to the business of sorting out the other 47 schools who hang in the balance here.

OU Slams Big12 Beebe (Big12 Commish)

According to Berry Tramel, of The Oklahoman, OU has said publicly that it would consider staying in the Big 12 if and only if the conference removes Dan Beebe as its commissioner.

... and yeah it'a slow ass day at work. My desk is clean, patients treated, & I'm bored waiting for my D3 invite.....

[triggercut]

Mizzou schedules special Board Of Curators meeting for Thursday, with executive session planned.

http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/news/public ... lic_notice

This is NOT a regular BoC meeting--that next scheduled one is in October.

[Crabbs]

Mizzou schedules special Board Of Curators meeting for Thursday, with executive session planned.

http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/news/public ... lic_notice

This is NOT a regular BoC meeting--that next scheduled one is in October.

Chip Brown @ Orangebloodsmight have an answer to that meeting:

There is a serious effort being made, led by Missouri chancellor Brady Deaton, to try to save the Big 12, according to a high-placed administrator at a Big 12 school.

It will either be the Big 12's Hail Mary or its last gasp.

ALl this posturing is making my head spin.... you know it's bad when a KU fan is rooting for Missouri to be able to hold this shit together... hahaha 'cmon Trigger keep working those connections!

[Skinypupy]

I'm not sure that any of this is ultimately for the benefit of college sports, but it's certainly a lot of fun watching while it goes down!

Sure, if you're already on the inside. I actually feel a little bad for the BYU fans around here, as there hasn't been much chatter about them jumping on this super-conference ship lately. Getting left out this go-round is going to be disastrous for any program, much less an independent like BYU.

[Pyperkub]

In other SEC news - the Sugar Bowl may have been just as corrupt (if not more so) as the Fiesta...:

Football Bowl Association lawyer/spokesman Bruce Bernstein on camera (see the clip above) with evidence that the Sugar Bowl — beneficiary of more than $6.8 million in subsidies from state and local governments in Louisiana from 2007-10 — was involved in the same brand of illegal influence peddling that put the Fiesta Bowl in the sights of the Arizona Attorney General's office, among others.

[triggercut]

Crabbs, I don't think our BoC is meeting Thursday to discuss not moving.

In fact, SEC reps were meeting with MU lawyers in Columbia on Monday.

And then here's where Boom Goes The Dynamite, from the Birmingham News:

"The Southeastern Conference and the University of Missouri have informally agreed that, barring new developments, the school will join the league and that Auburn University will move to the SEC East Division, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

A majority of presidents has endorsed the informal agreement, the sources said."

[triggercut]

[Crabbs]

Gotta love "barring new developments..." good on ya Tigers! I'll miss The border War though, now we'll have to go back to real hostilities.

[GungHo]

Apparently a real billboard that's gone up in Waco:

I admittedly have trouble following aggie logic, so help me out with this: Baylor doesnt want to go to the SEC, they're interested in preserving the status quo.

Not sure how that billboard makes any sense really(though I give em points for the Biblical spin).

please. If baylor had a bcs conference invite, they wouldn't be whining about a&m.
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

They do. It's called the Big 12.

are you being serious, or just messing with me?

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

Both, honestly.

I dont think Baylor is any more or less greedy and focused on #1 than any other school in all of this, but I do believe that even if they could go to the Big East(rumors there, but just like anything else, there's nothing concrete) and even if it was for the same amount of $ they get now in the Big 12, that they would prefer to keep the Big 12 going.

In other words I think Baylor's stance is 'Fine A&M, go to the SEC. Just when you're backing that truck up to the bank, don't run us over on your way there.' As opposed to, 'Screw you A&M! If we cant be in a big time football conference, at least we'll hold you hostage from getting what you want.' It's a fine line, but the first stance is about money, the second is about pettiness. I'm sure we'll find out which is correct sooner or later.

And honestly, I'm at the point where I think we've run through just about every conceivable scenario and with so much smoke in the air it's quite literally impossible to know exactly how this will play out. So until I see official word from the university president level or higher(which in CFB these days would be God) from multiple universities, I'm not assuming anything...including that the Big 12 is dead. That may be naive but I have been sufficiently cornfuzzled by all this talk that I have zero sense of how things are going to go.

[Skinypupy]

ESPN reporting the Pac 12 officially announcing they will NOT be expanding. Whew...

(hopefully that link works...trying to post from iPhone)

[triggercut]

Yep, that's it. The dysfunctional family that is the Big XII stays together for at least another year or two.

[theohall]

ESPN reporting the Pac 12 officially announcing they will NOT be expanding. Whew...

(hopefully that link works...trying to post from iPhone)

The Pac-12 decided it won't expand further late Tuesday because commissioner Larry Scott failed to get assurance that Texas would back an equal revenue sharing plan

Gee. What a surprise from Texas.

[tru1cy]

Is the Big 12 still BCS eligible?

[Crabbs]

Is the Big 12 still BCS eligible?

That was mt question, since they are now down to 9.

I think the Big12 (-3) needs to go on offense and poach 3 team to get back to 12 and solidify it's standing..... but whom to go after. Up to this point the Big12 (-3) has been the victim of poaching and Texas' swinging dick, that needs to change if the league is to survive more than 1more year.

[triggercut]

BCS eligibility at 8 teams.

[triggercut]

...and if you're Texas, why make *any* significant changes? Texas wasn't willing to do anything to sublimate themselves or share revenue to join a stable conference in the Pac 12 and make $5-10m more per year than they do now, why would they do anything to share or sublimate themselves for the Big XII when no one in that conference has any options or leverage now?

If you're Texas, you're feeling, if anything, more emboldened now.

[Crabbs]

...and if you're Texas, why make *any* significant changes? Texas wasn't willing to do anything to sublimate themselves or share revenue to join a stable conference in the Pac 12 and make $5-10m more per year than they do now, why would they do anything to share or sublimate themselves for the Big XII when no one in that conference has any options or leverage now?

If you're Texas, you're feeling, if anything, more emboldened now.

I think Texas runs the risk of other schools continuing to lobby for other leagues. Mizzou to SEC, KU keeps working the B1G, OU/OSU keep working the Pac-12, ISU the MWC, and leaving the state of Texas all alone in the bed they made

[Carpet_pissr]

I think Texas runs the risk of other schools continuing to lobby for other leagues. Mizzou to SEC, KU keeps working the B1G, OU/OSU keep working the Pac-12, ISU the MWC, and leaving the state of Texas all alone in the bed they made

Isn't that the way they roll in Texas? Independent? DON'T MESS WITH TEJAS!

[Isgrimnur]

But ... but ... Texas is open to a new revenue-sharing deal!

University of Texas President William Powers said Wednesday that creating stability is the top priority for the Big 12 and suggested Texas is open to a new revenue-sharing model.

A day after the Pac-12 said it had no plans to add any Big 12 members, Powers said one way to build stability is to restructure media contracts and Texas will work toward that.

"There are methods of doing that, including the way media deals are structured and we'll be working with our partners in the Big 12 and our media partners to structure something that has stability," Powers told reporters at the state Capitol.

When pressed on the prospect of revenue sharing, Powers said: "We are open to every idea ... We've never said that's off the table."
...
"A lot of these issues that you hear (about) whether its revenue sharing or whatever, we've been working on long before," he said. "We will continue to work on those. I'm not going to prejudge on how those will come out. There are not any preconditions for the conference coming back together.

"We want a stable, workable conference going forward," Powers said.

[Crabbs]

That's great to hear from Texas, but at this point actions speak louder than words.

[theohall]

But ... but ... Texas is open to a new revenue-sharing deal!

University of Texas President William Powers said Wednesday that creating stability is the top priority for the Big 12 and suggested Texas is open to a new revenue-sharing model.

A day after the Pac-12 said it had no plans to add any Big 12 members, Powers said one way to build stability is to restructure media contracts and Texas will work toward that.

"There are methods of doing that, including the way media deals are structured and we'll be working with our partners in the Big 12 and our media partners to structure something that has stability," Powers told reporters at the state Capitol.

When pressed on the prospect of revenue sharing, Powers said: "We are open to every idea ... We've never said that's off the table."
...
"A lot of these issues that you hear (about) whether its revenue sharing or whatever, we've been working on long before," he said. "We will continue to work on those. I'm not going to prejudge on how those will come out. There are not any preconditions for the conference coming back together.

"We want a stable, workable conference going forward," Powers said.

"We will continue to work on these" should read "We are keeping our money, so screw off."

[Crabbs]

To lighten the mood. Hat tip to the Sports Pickle