IIRC, Cincinnati lost a chunk of change in the Fiesta Bowl trip two years ago when they were pasted by OU.
It's a horrendous paradox for a school in that situation, eg small school, low football attendance, non-power conference, because there's no buying the kind of exposure a BCS game gives you, but there's no replacing the tangible $$ lost in the required ticket sales. It's one thing to trumpet the payout each team receives for the BCS bid, but once the net gets computed from the conference splits, travel expenses, etc., that "big" number drops rather rapidly. Cincy is but one example.
This is getting very interesting. There's apparently little doubt that Gundy did, in fact, meet at his home with Tenn's AD for several hours over the weekend. Another story (legend?) has emerged that, supposedly (and this is ENTIRELY umpteenth hand and NOT being asserted as fact) that Pickens was furious that OSU blew their double-digit leads against OU, and he personally called Gundy to "discuss" it.
If that's true, regardless of my "loyalties," I don't think I'd necessarily want to work for the college equivalent of Jerry Jones, either, especially if someone else thought I was worth considering. If Gundy really left, put in his offense at Tennessee, and made them even just competitive again in the SEC, he'd be royalty in that state. That would be in stark contrast to winning your first conference title, blowing out your rival at home, then getting slow-played to get a new contract...
Gundy would have to assess the recruiting issues in Tennessee, noting that the HS system there isn't nearly as strong as it is in other states, and then foster some relationships throughout the rest of the SE to start attracting players. Not a small task. But then again, he's recruited a very nice stable of players to Stillwater, OK, so that may not prove to be so big a trick after all....
We'll see. Like I said, this is going to be verry, verry interesting. I think it has crept beyond hurt feelings.
For you OU fans....
If OU and OSU "shared" a Big 12 title and OU won head-to-head, ALL OF YOU would give OSU absolute HELL for claiming a shared title. That is not debateable. It's pathetic that when it benefits you, shared titles are great.
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