I still don't understand why the conference just didn't tell TX to go away before members started bolting. 1 school leaving vs. 4 (so far)

TV money is going to fall, and we don't have the population to support the team through the bad times.

Betts, I've been going to OU football games for 50 years and have seen a number of bad times stretches. The population hasn't been a problem and the support will not wane if that happens again.

I probably wasnt clear enough, although I remember some pretty bleak John Blake years. If we have a less impressive conference, our television money will drop with the next television contract. We've already agreed to more revenue sharing with the lesser schools. It could become a vicious cycle where our conference isn't impressive enough to attract lots of high level recruits, we end up in lesser bowls where we're not bringing in as much money and we're sharing more of what we do get. Then, we don't have the population to ensure that money rolls in no matter what and so our facilities don't keep up and we get even worse recruits. That becomes a vicious cycle. The players being recruited now were six when OU won their last national championship. They don't care what OU was in the 50s and 70s. It may be a worst case scenario, bit I don't think it's that far-fetched and it worries me. If I were in charge we would have been in the SEC the day the PAC-10 said it wasn't interested.

I still don't understand why the conference just didn't tell TX to go away before members started bolting. 1 school leaving vs. 4 (so far)

Because no one has the guts to stand up to Texas. If the Big 12 decides to just stick with 10 teams it is an obvious victory for Texas...especially since many other schools want 12. I think it is about time I just go back to rooting for MAC schools. LOL At least they don't move around all that much - core has been together for decades. Yeah they aren't elite programs, but that doesn't make the football any less entertaining.

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/32845433

In related news, Missouri has proceeded to the next step according to Dodd's article above. University chancellor was given authority to negotiate contracts in regards to conference realignment.

At this point the Big 12 just needs to get the invites rolling out. The only issue we have is that WVU, UL, and Cincy will be locked into the Big East until 2014. So that means two seasons with just 9 teams. Perhaps it is time to just go to 14 schools by 2014 and invite Boise State and another school that won't be tied to the Big East's long wait time. That will give us 11 teams to live off of until the 2014 season and it bulks us up for stability purposes. Or maybe we entertain an agreement with the Big East like the CUSA/MWC arrangement. Granted that would tie up two AQ slots which won't fly.

EDIT UPDATE - KWTV reported tonight that Missouri has stated if they switch conference they WILL play in the new conference next year. So the Big 12's thinking that they will remain until 2013 was a pipe dream.

I probably wasnt clear enough, although I remember some pretty bleak John Blake years. If we have a less impressive conference, our television money will drop with the next television contract. We've already agreed to more revenue sharing with the lesser schools. It could become a vicious cycle where our conference isn't impressive enough to attract lots of high level recruits, we end up in lesser bowls where we're not bringing in as much money and we're sharing more of what we do get. Then, we don't have the population to ensure that money rolls in no matter what and so our facilities don't keep up and we get even worse recruits. That becomes a vicious cycle. The players being recruited now were six when OU won their last national championship. They don't care what OU was in the 50s and 70s. It may be a worst case scenario, bit I don't think it's that far-fetched and it worries me. If I were in charge we would have been in the SEC the day the PAC-10 said it wasn't interested.


I guess we'll just agree to disagree then. I'm not buying that scenario. I was in favor of the PAC-12 move but would never support the SEC. I just have to hold my nose thinking about them no matter how much money they have. I have confidence in the leadership at OU to make sure that they will come out fine.

Betts you are completely wrong. OU has tradition whichgoes a long way towards donations. OU football is a successful brand. They could succeed in any conference. What happened 20 years ago matters a lot b/c tradition builds a brand that sustains success. Having said that, OU is still better off in a stronger conference, but OU does not need it to succeed. Down years happen, but no program can buy what OU already has. Do you think Missouri will become a better program than OU if they leave the Big 12 for a better conference? Nope. B/c they can never build the excitement and fan base OU has b/c they lack the brand, the tradition.

Betts you are completely wrong. OU has tradition whichgoes a long way towards donations. OU football is a successful brand. They could succeed in any conference. What happened 20 years ago matters a lot b/c tradition builds a brand that sustains success. Having said that, OU is still better off in a stronger conference, but OU does not need it to succeed. Down years happen, but no program can buy what OU already has. Do you think Missouri will become a better program than OU if they leave the Big 12 for a better conference? Nope. B/c they can never build the excitement and fan base OU has b/c they lack the brand, the tradition.

Well said, Kilgore. I agree completely. Betts has good points but she doesn't have the long term Oklahoma roots to understand why OU is somewhat unique.

Traber mentioned this article on the Sports Animal the other night. The story doesn't say where OU ranks but we know it isn't in the Top 5.

http://athleticbusiness.com/articles/lexisnexis.aspx?lnarticleid=1519609556&lntopicid=136030023



A NEW WAY TO KEEP SCORE IU professor's groundbreaking study values nation's college football programs

An Indiana University finance professor has done what some say is a first-of-its kind analysis of the value of college football programs. The 242-page dissertation puts a price tag on them as if they were for sale on the open market, and it's filled with nuggets sure to grab the attention of academics, sports business experts and fans alike.

...

The study concluded that the University of Texas, valued at $848.3 million, has the richest football program. With its huge stadium, massive fan base and immense revenue stream, Texas far outdistanced the No. 2 school in Brewer's study, Georgia, which had a valuation of $483.6 million.

Penn State, Florida and Louisiana State rounded out the top five.


3 teams in the Top 5 are in the SEC.

Found this list:

*private schools are not ranked since their data is not public information.

Big XII teams are in Red
SEC in Green

http://www.ibj.com/the-score/2011/10/12/college-football-financial-listing-reveals-winners-losers/PARAMS/post/30084

1. Texas $848.3 million
2. Georgia $483.6 million
3. Penn State $446.9 million
4. Florida $421.8 million
5. LSU $397.4 million
6. Michigan $393.5 million
7. Alabama $374.3 million
8. Auburn $359.4 million
9. Oklahoma $343 million
10. Tennessee $321.3 million
11. South Carolina $316.8 million
12. Ohio State $292.8 million
13. Nebraska $284.7 million
14. Texas A&M $245.9 million
15. Iowa $245.8 million
16. Michigan State $239.4 million
17. Arkansas $235.7 million
18. Oklahoma State $155.2 million
19. Wisconsin $153.3 million
20. Kentucky $152.5 million
21. West Virginia $141.2 million
22. Washington $136.2 million
23. Mississippi $136 million
24. Virginia Tech $134.2 million
25. Clemson $131 million
26. Minnesota $126.5 million
27. Colorado $122.7 million
28. Illinois $122 million
29. Arizona State $105.7 million
30. Oregon $102 million
31. North Carolina State $101.8 million
32. Texas Tech $100.4 million
33. Missouri $99.4 million
34. Arizona $93.2 million
35. Georgia Tech $85 million
36. Indiana $77.8 million
37. Oregon State $73.4 million
38. UCLA $66.1 million
39. North Carolina $65.2 million
40. Boise State $64.8 million
41. Iowa State $59.9 million
42. Kansas State $59.8 million
43. Cal Berkley $55.9 million
44. Purdue $55.5 million
45. Central Florida $53.8 million
46. Utah $44.8 million
47. Pittsburgh $44 million
48. Mississippi State $43.3 million
49. South Florida $38.9 million
50. Washington State $32.1 million
51. Louisville $30.4 million
52. Virginia $28.2 million
53. Wyoming $24.7 million
54. Florida State $23.6 million
55. Fresno State $23.1 million
56. UTEP $18.7 million
57. Cincinnati $15 million
58. Maryland $14.99 million
59. Kansas $14.9 million
60. Idaho $14.5 million
61. San Diego State $11.8 million
62. Eastern Michigan $9.1 million
63. San Jose State $6.9 million
64. Florida International $6.3 million
65. East Carolina $6.2 million
66. Troy $3.1 million
67. UAB $2.6 million
68. Louisiana Tech $2.3 million
69. Nevada $1.1 million
70. Bowling Green $876,287
71. Ohio $696,035
72. Arkansas State $0
73. Ball State $0
74. Central Michigan $0
75. Colorado State $0
76. Kent State $0
77. Marshall $0
78. Miami of Ohio $0
79. Middle Tennessee $0
80. Buffalo $0
81. Temple $0
82. Akron $0
83. UConn $0
84. Louisiana Lafayette $0
85. Louisiana Monroe $0
86. Memphis $0
87. New Mexico $0
88. North Texas $0
89. Southern Miss $0
90. Toledo $0
91. Western Kentucky $0
92. Western Michigan $0
93. Rutgers -$19
94. New Mexico State -$2.2 million
95. Houston -$4.3 million
96. Utah State -$7.1 million
97. UNLV -$13.1 million
98. Hawaii -$18.7 million
99. Florida Atlantic -$22.2 million
100. Northern Illinois -$32.3 million

I am shocked Iowa State is that high, I wonder if Kansas and Kansas State are still paying something off or just spending more per year to not be the conference doormat. I do wish a little more could have been posted about all the metrics that went in than sure we did the basic stuff, what they know that was not reflected in the report and the other factors can be important. Revenue and expenses would have been good to put where available.

No one man should have all that power. (yes, that is a reference to Kanye West)

Betts you are completely wrong. OU has tradition whichgoes a long way towards donations. OU football is a successful brand. They could succeed in any conference. What happened 20 years ago matters a lot b/c tradition builds a brand that sustains success. Having said that, OU is still better off in a stronger conference, but OU does not need it to succeed. Down years happen, but no program can buy what OU already has. Do you think Missouri will become a better program than OU if they leave the Big 12 for a better conference? Nope. B/c they can never build the excitement and fan base OU has b/c they lack the brand, the tradition.

I hope you're right and I hope I'm wrong. But, perhaps because I haven't lived here all of my life, I'm not looking at things through OU-colored glasses. My point is that the media is all about the here and now. They're faster than anyone to jump on a new bandwagon, and ESPN especially has reason to try to hype the SEC. My point is that kids teams are recruiting, who are 15 through 18 years old, have very little understanding of OU tradition unless they've been raised in the state of Oklahoma. And our school is dependent on out of state recruits for its success. Let's imagine 10 years down the line. Bob Stoops has retired and they pick Brent Venables to replace him. The team isn't doing so well, and we're playing teams like Louisville, Boise State, Iowa State and Kansas every week on television. Let's say Texas has a few bad years that happen to coincide with our bad years. All of a sudden we're no more glamorous than the Big East. You'll hear people complaining about us having an automatic BCS berth. Why? Because Texas is the only state in the conference with population of any significance. And we're little school/little population heavy with respect to the other conferences. That leads to less money. And conferences that have grown, like the SEC, with big state schools with lots of population (adding Texas A&M and Missouri is brillliant in that regard) will be rolling in money and television attention. I think this is a dangerous course and I can only hope that it's not a huge mistake. Because, if we're going to move conferences, we need to do it from a position of strength. We don't have enough television sets to be attractive to another conference, unless OU has had at least a 5 to 10 year history of winning big. Hope I'm wrong.

Geez...so now it appears MWC/CUSA are actually wanting to join up with the Big East to compete for one AQ slot.

http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/32854353


Under the plan being circulated by the Mountain West and Conference USA to FBS administrators, those two conferences would hope to join forces with the Big East in a grouping of 28 to 32 schools in football only. The Big East is still pursuing a 12-team football league.

The idea is for the three conferences to stay viable to the BCS for automatic qualification to a BCS bowl or bowls. For now, call it the Global Conference.

Those conferences would reorganize to compete in four, eight-team divisions or four, seven-team divisions. It’s not clear from the document how many automatic bids would emerge out of the group.

Geez...so now it appears MWC/CUSA are actually wanting to join up with the Big East to compete for one AQ slot.

http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/32854353

:LolLolLol might as well.

This is what happens when you have 124 teams competing for 8 slots and 1 championship.

This is what happens when you have 124 teams competing for 8 slots and 1 championship.

Can you say "playoffs?".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3-eavMSBnk

What are the arguments for and against playoffs?

Is trying to schedule a month full of playoff games during a month of college finals one of the biggest issues?

What are the arguments for and against playoffs?

Is trying to schedule a month full of playoff games during a month of college finals one of the biggest issues?

Why don't you research that for us and come back with a full report. ;-)

Conference Championship games are usually the week to 10 days before finals. If you had an 8 team playoff, the first series could occur in place of conference championship games, so there's one week. Then, give them the next week off for finals and play a semi-final game two weeks later, which is usually when bowl season begins anyway. Then you could have a week or two off after the semi-final game and play the final game the first week in January, about the time the National Championship game is played anyway. Most schools don't start until the third week of January, so there's almost a month when teams aren't even in school. Since they already play their Conference Championship games during the school year, it's hard to argue that the first round couldn't be pre-finals.

The reason I'm in favor of a limited playoff is because at this point in time, one loss can spell the end of a season, and sometimes those teams are better than teams that have won every game (not talking about OU here, but past seasons). If there's a playoff, teams with a loss or two would still have hopes of making the tournament. The problem with a tournament is that when it's single elimination, sometimes the best team doesn't end up as national champion. But, the way it's set up now, sometimes the best team doesn't even get to play for a national championship. I'd personally love to see a playoff instituted.

A playoff system would still have to use the BCS because the teams have to be seeded somehow. You can't use the bowls in any of the playoff games because people can't travel to 2 or 3 bowl games. The playoffs would have to be home games. If you take the top 8 teams out of the bowl picture the the top tier bowls (Orange, Fiesta, Rose, Sugar) are going to played with 2 and maybe even 3-loss teams. That in turn will make every bowl game go down in the quality of teams playing and there probably isn't enough teams with winning records to even play every bowl game.

http://brett-mcmurphy.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/29532522/32936807

SSDD. WVU will be extended an invite to the Big 12 a day after Missouri leaves. Now they just need to announce what they are doing so people can move on.

Yeah, they need to hurry up and move on. The sooner the better, they're just making us wait.

This is so simple - it's stupid.


If West Virginia informs the Big East of its intention to leave before the league adds Navy or Air Force, the Mountaineers would only be held to a $5 million exit fee. If the Big East has added Navy or Air Force before the Mountaineers notify the Big East, they would have to pay $10 million. Either way, the Mountaineers would not be able to leave the Big East until June 30, 2014 – the same time frame as Syracuse and Pittsburgh.

Without West Virginia, Pitt, Syracuse and TCU, the remaining football league members are UConn, Rutgers, USF, Louisville and Cincinnati.



Invite Lousiville and Cincinnati to join the Big XIII. Then have the Big East schools meet again to adopt a new by-law that lets any school leave immediately without any financial penalty. Surely West Virginia, Louisville, Cincinnati, Pitt and Syracuse would vote for it and the measures passes 5-3, Bob's your uncle, and all the teams move.

New wrinkle... http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7148200/big-12-accept-west-virginia-early-tuesday


West Virginia will be accepted into the conference as a replacement for Missouri, which the conference believes is departing for the SEC. However, according to the source, West Virginia's acceptance into the Big 12 is not contingent on Missouri leaving.

Sounds like they are moving to go to 12 teams now (hopefully). WVU reported to accept Big 12 invite as early as today.

New wrinkle... http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7148200/big-12-accept-west-virginia-early-tuesday



Sounds like they are moving to go to 12 teams now (hopefully). WVU reported to accept Big 12 invite as early as today.

That would be nice if Missouri stayed and we got West Virginia. However, I know Missouri has already pretty much announced they were going to the SEC.

We still need to go to 12 teams! West Virginia is clearly a replacement for Mizzou, who will be announcing that they are leaving soon.

I just now thought of this but if Missouri goes to the SEC, then the SEC will have 3 teams who are called the Tigers.
We were listening to the LSU-Auburn game on the way up to OKC on Saturday and the LSU announcers kept saying "Tigers ball" or other similar things and always clumsily added LSU or Auburn to the end of whatever they said.

We were listening to the LSU-Auburn game on the way up to OKC on Saturday and the LSU announcers kept saying "Tigers ball" or other similar things and always clumsily added LSU or Auburn to the end of whatever they said.

Lol that would be a facepalm moment if he didn't add LSU or Auburn at the end.

Texas killed the Southwest Conference. So far they have destroyed half of the Big 8.
Boren please wake up! This is not the US Senate.

Texas killed the Southwest Conference. So far they have destroyed half of the Big 8.
Boren please wake up! This is not the US Senate.

And just what are you suggesting that Boren do?

And just what are you suggesting that Boren do?

Nuke Texas and any other state that wants to screw around with us!

Texas killed the Southwest Conference. So far they have destroyed half of the Big 8.
Boren please wake up! This is not the US Senate.

Interesting the Death Penalty being given to SMU is generally what I had heard was what caused the end of the Southwest Conference.

Missouri left us? Wow! What a dumb bunch of retards up there.

Interesting the Death Penalty being given to SMU is generally what I had heard was what caused the end of the Southwest Conference.

The conference survived for 10 years after SMU was penalized. What killed the conference was Arkansas moving to the SEC and whatever their reason was for moving. The conference collapsed 4 years later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Conference



The 1980s saw many of the conference's athletic programs hit by recruiting scandals and NCAA probations.[1][2][3] The only programs to escape probation in the 1980s were Arkansas, Baylor, and Rice.[1][2][3] Because of repeated major violations, the Southern Methodist University football program in 1987 became only the third program in NCAA history to receive the so-called "Death Penalty" (after Kentucky basketball in 1952-53 and Southwestern Louisiana basketball from 1973 to 1975). The NCAA canceled SMU's 1987 season, and limited it to seven road games for 1988. However, nearly all of the school's lettermen transferred elsewhere, forcing SMU to keep its football program shuttered for 1988 as well. SMU also remained on probation until 1990. At that time, NCAA rules prohibited schools on probation from appearing on live television. As a result, the conference's market share in television coverage dwindled.

The SWC's performance in football declined precipitously. The final eight SWC champions lost in their bowl games. After SMU's second-place finish in most polls in 1982, SWC programs usually were not serious contenders for the national title. Texas had strong teams in 1983 and 1990, Arkansas had a strong team in 1988, and Texas A&M was strong in 1992, but by the end of their respective seasons none were able to remain in the national championship hunt or the weekly football polls.

The beginning of the end came in 1990 when Arkansas announced it would leave for the Southeastern Conference. The death blow came in March 1994 when Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Texas Tech accepted invitations to join with the members of the Big Eight Conference to form the Big 12 Conference. Soon afterward, SMU, TCU, and Rice accepted invitations to join the Western Athletic Conference, while Houston joined Conference USA. In May 1996, after the completion of championship matches in baseball and track & field, the Southwest Conference was officially dissolved.

And just what are you suggesting that Boren do?

Exactly. We tried to go to the PAC-12 and got rejected. We probably couldn't get a Big 10 invite without breaking from OSU and everyone else. Boren, Stoops, and Castiglione don't want to the SEC. So, unless you're arguing for the SEC, maintaining the Big 12 seems to be our only realistic option right now.

Exactly. We tried to go to the PAC-12 and got rejected. We probably couldn't get a Big 10 invite without breaking from OSU and everyone else. Boren, Stoops, and Castiglione don't want to the SEC. So, unless you're arguing for the SEC, maintaining the Big 12 seems to be our only realistic option right now.

I doubt the Big 10 would accept us even without OSU cause we're to "dumb", even though I've heard a lot of Big 10 fans say they'd love to have OU. Obviously, the most realistic conference for us to end up if we were to leave the Big XII is the SEC and nobody at OU wants that as you mentioned. Unless the Pac-12 looked for expansion soon enough, which they said they were staying put for now so that's sorta blind hope if anybody is believing that will happen.

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/32948814

The summary. West Virginia had planned a news conference for today to announce their acceptance of a verbal invite by the Big 12. However, last night the Big 12 put things on hold claiming it needed further information on something. Now the speculation is that Louisville has made a major play to take the 10th spot instead of WVU. At this point I think the Big 12 just needs to say "whatever" and take both schools. If Missouri stays, great we are at 12. If they leave...call Cincinnati, Boise, Air Force, or BYU.

I don't mind keeping the Big XII together but I would rather the teams come from within the region. If it came down to it I would prefer having Tulsa over West Virginia. I woldn't even mind going to 16 teams and even doing it with 4 divisions.

In the division system you would have 4 teams in each divsion with two divisions in each conference. You would play the other three teams in your division twice each year (1 road and 1 home). You then play the 4 teams from the other division in your conference (2 road and 2 home). That is 10 games. You also play 2 non-conference games (could be from the other conference of a different league) which bring you to 12. The two conference champions play a league championship game. Winner goes to the BCS champioship game. Only the 10 games played against conference opponents count towards you league record.

South Conference
Division 1
Texas
Texas Tech
Baylor
Houston

Division 2
TCU
SMU
OU
OSU

North Conference
Division 3
Kansas
Kansas St
Iowa St
Tulsa

Division 4
Colorado St
Boise St
BYU
Air Force

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/32948814

The summary. West Virginia had planned a news conference for today to announce their acceptance of a verbal invite by the Big 12. However, last night the Big 12 put things on hold claiming it needed further information on something. Now the speculation is that Louisville has made a major play to take the 10th spot instead of WVU. At this point I think the Big 12 just needs to say "whatever" and take both schools. If Missouri stays, great we are at 12. If they leave...call Cincinnati, Boise, Air Force, or BYU.

This gets on my nerves. We need more than 10 teams, especially if the teams we get are not good enough to compete year in and year out, but these dumb officials in the Big XII are to busy playing with themselves in their big fancy office's to make a "good" decision, instead they're just as much a liability as Missouri has been. I was in favor of the Big XII sticking around but not with these dumb P.O.S running the conference. Now I'm starting to regret not accepting the Pac-12 or SEC invitations last year.

While Louisville makes a more sense than West Virginia regionally, the last thing we need to be doing is being jerks to legitimate candidates to come in and sure up the conference. If they plan on keeping the name Big 12, at least plan on getting 12 teams eventually, otherwise change it to something else. Possibly independent of the number of teams.

While Louisville makes a more sense than West Virginia regionally, the last thing we need to be doing is being jerks to legitimate candidates to come in and sure up the conference. If they plan on keeping the name Big 12, at least plan on getting 12 teams eventually, otherwise change it to something else. Possibly independent of the number of teams.

Exactly. That was my first though was "why in the world tell somebody to hold on after you basically accepted them and they had a press conference planned to announce their membership", I mean it's sorta like a guy who had been dating a girl for a long time then they break up and he can't get over her, then this other girl comes along who really likes him and is really sweet to him and would do anything for him and he starts liking her back and the same day he was gonna ask her out he decides he still has a shot with the girl that just broke up with him when in reality she's already fully committed to another guy. (I know I coulda used a better example but that one's the easiest to type out lol)

^And that's in reference to the Big XII still wanting Missouri even though they're basically gone.

So we want Missouri, unless they leave; in which case we want West Virginia, unless they don't want to come or if we get a better offer from Cincinnati; in which case we want Cincinnati; unless of course, we decide to go to 12 teams, in which case we want both of them, and Missouri, unless of course Missouri decides to leave, in which case we also BYU...


That doesn't sound desperate or unstable at all.

They need to stop screwing around and decide if they want 10 teams or 12 teams and stop all this scenario/what if crap. If the conference can't even decide how many teams it wants then we are all wasting our time. Once the Big XII decided how many teams its wants it need to put out an RFP and stop all the behind the scenes stuff. Just have any team that is interested submit a proposal by Nov 5, 2011 and pick how every many teams you need from that list.

I'm just hoping that this hasn't turned West Virginia away. I also hope that we add both Louisville and West Virginia in the following weeks.

Exactly. That was my first though was "why in the world tell somebody to hold on after you basically accepted them and they had a press conference planned to announce their membership", I mean it's sorta like a guy who had been dating a girl for a long time then they break up and he can't get over her, then this other girl comes along who really likes him and is really sweet to him and would do anything for him and he starts liking her back and the same day he was gonna ask her out he decides he still has a shot with the girl that just broke up with him when in reality she's already fully committed to another guy. (I know I coulda used a better example but that one's the easiest to type out lol)

I read that Senator McConnell got involved (high-ranking Republican). That might explain some of the "hold up."

So we want Missouri, unless they leave; in which case we want West Virginia, unless they don't want to come or if we get a better offer from Cincinnati; in which case we want Cincinnati; unless of course, we decide to go to 12 teams, in which case we want both of them, and Missouri, unless of course Missouri decides to leave, in which case we also BYU...


That doesn't sound desperate or unstable at all.

They need to stop screwing around and decide if they want 10 teams or 12 teams and stop all this scenario/what if crap. If the conference can't even decide how many teams it wants then we are all wasting our time. Once the Big XII decided how many teams its wants it need to put out an RFP and stop all the behind the scenes stuff. Just have any team that is interested submit a proposal by Nov 5, 2011 and pick how every many teams you need from that list.

Exactly, there is no leadership in the Big 12 nor with the NCAA. The NCAA should be taking the reigns of this whole discussion and putting the smack down on all this nonsense

I read that Senator McConnell got involved (high-ranking Republican). That might explain some of the "hold up."

I started a new thread in the politics section related to this.

http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=27642&p=479548#post479548

Exactly, there is no leadership in the Big 12 nor with the NCAA. The NCAA should be taking the reigns of this whole discussion and putting the smack down on all this nonsense

Maybe if any of the organizations you mention were set up to do things logically, they are set up so that the colleges not the league has the majority of the decision making power. The NCAA rule book is a clear example of this, it takes the requests of thousand-ish of members and makes a rule book that is almost impossible to know the entire contents and impossible to follow to the letter. The best they can hope to accomplish is make it so that schools are treated equally; mostly geared to on the field, recruiting and preparation.

More news today...

SEC working on 13 and 14 team schedules: http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/32961199

Senators lobbying for Big 12 slots: http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/32959597

Venture, College Football Live just tweeted that the Big XII formally invited West Virginia today and they accepted. Have you heard this is yet?

CBS is reporting this as well. Welcome WVU to the Big 12-2-1+1-1(?)+1

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/32981848

The thing that is interesting, WVU is stating they will play in the Big 12 NEXT season, even though the Big East has a 24 month waiting period. I have a feeling something else is going on...which isn't a shocker since the Big East now has 5 football schools.

Missouri needs to officially say they are leaving now so they can invite Louisville and Cincy and be done with this. That also gets the door opened to accept Notre Dame in as a non-football member. Now is probably the time for the Big East to consider merging with the CUSA/WAC alliance.

Now maybe Louisville will get an offer to join the Big (?) hopefully.

looking past geography, i think wv is a good addition. i wonder if louisville is off the table? -M

It is sounding like this was a decision between UL and WVU and UL was told no. Still think they should get in either UL or Cincy (or both) to help increase the viewer market.

Seriously. 10 teams was so 2 years ago, we need to modernize and expand. Lol

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7159905/west-virginia-mountaineers-formally-invited-join-big-12

ESPN story does seem to solidify that we are staying at 10 teams. Can't really agree with this.

This was funny...someone at the SEC jumped the gun: http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbssports.com/images/collegefootball/MizzouSEC_Full.jpg

I hope the person who wrote that feels like a douche. Lol

Hopefully the 10 team stance is just legal posturing. There's been a lot of that lately. Hopefully 2 more teams are on the way.

West Virginia will probably just pay the Big East fines for early withdrawal. The extra money they'll make in the Big 12 will probably pay off the fines within a couple years alone....

Okay so maybe I was not too far of in my Boren this is not the US Senate comment. We are called the Big 12, should we not somehow someway get to 12 teams?