[College Football] Big Ten, Texas have initial talks

AggieYell is getting out-scooped... all the way to the bank.

 

good point! :grin:

 

If A&M walks out the door...do they change their fight song? Do they stop with the "saw the horns off" stuff and "goodbye to Texas University?"

 

Unlikely.

If UT/A&M stop playing each other, it will be because UT doesn't want to anymore, not because of a conference change.

 

Depends entirely on what OU does.

I think of OU and UT stay together in the same conference, then A&M/UT games happen going forward. Though they might have a few seasons before that gets done...

But if OU and UT end up in separate conferences, I can't see UT putting both OU and A&M on their schedule, wherever they go.

 

Would be cool...

Would not be cool.

Please just form the Pac16 already.

 

If that involves UT giving up its network, that ain't happening with UT. Orangebloods was talking about that a few weeks back, saying Longhorn Network likely meant no connection with Pac-12 and its own conference network.

btw...some love for my friend who threw out ND yesterday morning, only to have Dodds talking about it last night to Orangebloods.

 

I just can't see how this is good for Aggie fans. I know they think they can play with the big boys, like all deluded Aggies do, and they're not entirely wrong. They won't be completely awful in the SEC. They'll be consistently better than Vanderbilt, and often better than Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State. But they'll be fighting with Arkansas for 4th place in the SEC West in good years, and with Tennessee for 5th place in bad years. They'll be trading 2 big brothers (UT and OU) for five (LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, and Georgia). And they'll be trading Cotton Bowl invites for Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl invites.

 

agreed entirely. awful timing for a program that was on the way back in a conference where one upset could have them playing for the national championship.

 

fox and espn sure think the big xii is dead, which is why they refused to give them millions of dollars for television rights.

 

I think, at the end of the day, they can work that out. From what I'm hearing, the Pac10 regional network is actually going to be a serious of regional networks: California-focused, Arizona-focused, etc. Perhaps they could shift TLN to be Texas-focused in general, which would allow the high school games too and still be dominated by UT sports if Tech is the only other Texas school in the Pac10. Regardless, I think if the two sides are really interested, they'll find a solution of some sort. Like A&M-to-SEC, UT has always had an interest in the Pac10. It's too natural a fit for them, and I think everyone sees the writing on the wall that we're ultimately headed to four 16-team super-conferences (thus wanting to avoid being independent).

 

You guys are making the Big 12 champion sound wholly unworthy of a national title, or even BCS, appearance.

 

From Jeff Howe, who is about as reliable as they come:

*A lot have been asking if A&M's departure would mean that Texas and Texas A&M would no longer play each other in sports, specifically football? I was told tonight that more likely it would be A&M that won't want to play Texas, citing the tough SEC East schedule. A&M sources believe though that the schools would eventually play, but it wouldn't be or a while. A&M sources say negotiations were far enough along last summer that the SEC had talked about keeping Thanksgiving weekend open so that A&M and Texas could play each other (similar to Georgia-Georgia Tech and Florida-Florida State).

 

it's just an easier road than the SEC affords...doesn't make it unworthy.

 

The last thing I heard about this was some blustering last summer from UT brass that if A&M left the Big 12, that UT would stonewall them from any athletic competition going forward.

 

who is doing that? do you disagree that the sec is a better football conference than the big xii?

 

Every other comment in this thread is about how freaking easy the Big 12 is compared to the SEC.

Way to talk up your league, I guess?

 

Schools like LSU and Auburn have no inherent advantage over A&M. The fact that those schools can pop up and win national titles in the SEC despite the big boys like Florida and Alabama (their UT and OU) suggests that A&M could be fine there. Schools like Auburn recruit well because they got good coaches, not because of great history or name brands. And then if you win, you continue recruiting well. But before Nick Saban, Alabama had gone through a decade+ of mediocrity. Florida might be on their way there depending on how the new coach works out (as they did with Ron Zook). Auburn went from great to terrible to great based on coaches. Georgia is consistently pretty mediocre.

Everyone looks at this from a "who's good now?" timeframe instead of "how will things look over the next 20 years" timeframe.

 

I understand the attraction, but I don't think there's anything natural about Texas in the Pac 10. I get that you disagree with that...just giving my $.02. It may happen because of cash...otherwise, I think it's entirely forced.

 

i'm really talking about the next 10 years.

i see this a lot like BU in the Big XII. BU folks were convinced that playing the better teams would necessarily mean better recruits...but here's the thing...if you get your ass handed to you, it becomes very difficult to recruit. BU has been in relative obscurity.

I'm not saying A&M = BU...not at all. Just that the notion that playing better teams will mean better recruits does not necessarily translate.