[College Football] Big Ten, Texas have initial talks

This is what it comes down to for this Aggie. I cannot imagine the football schedule coming out and Texas (and Tech) not being on it. It just feels wrong.

Obviously if the SEC is offering a better financial package, that becomes a different story.

 

I'm with you on this...all this talk about the academics is a joke to me. There's no integrity in it at all.

No conference gabs more about academics than the Pac 10...yet they're home to third tier Oregon State and are talking about adding in Tech.

No one has thought less of UT because they shared a conference with Tech.

No one has thought less of Stanford because they shared a conference with Oregon State.

We're playing football...not mathletics.

 

move to the SEC and keep playing UT out-of-conference.

people are short-sighted talking about this. looking at what A&M had done lately and saying "they'll never be able to compete in the SEC" is ridiculous. they'd do just fine, given some time and good coaching and ad hires along the way.

 

If A&M goes to the SEC and becomes the new Mississippi State of the West division, it will go down as the biggest blunder in school history.

If they go to the SEC and commit to winning and turn things around (arguably within 5 years or so), it will go down as the smartest move in school history.

Big risk, big reward, imo.

 

very true. i just think it opens them up to new possibilities for recruiting in Texas by distinguishing them from UT.

honestly, they have to improve regardless.

btw...i grew up rooting for the Horns and, thus, against the Ags. i could see myself absolutely rooting for the Ags to do well in the SEC. that's just antecdotal and personal...i'm not saying that would be meaningful to the university though, as stated earlier, this is ultimately all about me.

 

Yeah I was thinking about this as well. I'm an aggie grad living in Austin, most of my friends are Longhorns. If we were in different conferences I would have zero problems rooting for the Horns, and it would actually be fun. We could still have our rivalry game (which I would watch at home with the fam), and it would still be a rivalry, but we would have our own thing at the same time.

Maybe I'm tired of having to compete with UT and losing every year, and thats fine, but the more I think about the SEC the more I like it. I see no reason the Aggies can't be at least as competitive as we've been the past 10 years in the SEC. Anyone remember Reggie's 4 win season, including a savage beat down from the Iowa State Cyclones in 05? I sure as hell do. Not gonna get much worse than that guys.

 

Honestly I think this split could actually *intensify* the UT/A&M rivalry.

Think about it. The two siblings would be in different conferences that stand for and represent *completely* different cultures, values, and priorities. Beyond that, the timezone difference, the geographical differences, it's a massive chasm between UT and A&M if this move goes down. As if they needed anymore reason to dislike one another. An unceremonious split of conferences would create enough bad blood to last generations.

I love the idea. Love love love it. I don't really care for either school (UT is more my style but I feel for A&M's plight of being slighted) but I would be extremely excited to see UT/A&M play if this were to happen. Not only would it be two different schools facing each other, but two entirely different conferences squaring off. It would be a civil war to the 'enth degree. Make it happen!

 

A school like A&M should not be worried about going to a conference because the competition is too tough. A&M is a large state school with tremendous resources, and that should drive them to seek out the most competitive conference in the country. A school like A&M thinks about national championships, not what conference is easiest to win in. The top basketball players in the world don't strive to play in the D-league, they want to prove themselves against the top players in the NBA. The A&M program is down right now, but seeking out the best competition is what all top programs should be doing.

 

Essentially, it comes down to money and opportunities. This is most visible in the Big10 - joining that gets you access to the CIC, which is a huge partnership of grants and funding for research. I believe it is worth tens of millions for each school in the conference.

For the Pac10, it's a little different - you don't get direct access to money, but you do get direct access to the UC system and partnerships with Stanford, Cal, etc. While they are athletic conferences, schools within a conference also tend to have more ties to each other academically.

Beyond that, there's also standards for student athletes. The SEC and the old Big 8 had relatively low standards because the schools in general were lower quality. The Pac10 and the B10 have much higher standards, as does Texas. When Texas joined the B12, it was one of the big areas of disagreement between them and the northern schools, and has always resulted in a rift where everyone in the old Big 8 resents Texas - because we forced them to raise standards. With the SEC, there's no way they would raise standards, so Texas would be at a competitive disadvantage or be forced to lower standards.

The goal for Texas has always been to associate with higher caliber schools - athletics is a means to that end, and this is a once-50-years opportunity to improve on that front. They want to be known as one of the greatest public schools in the country, and a big part of doing that is associating with those kinds of names. The Big10 is loaded with them; the Pac10 has a bunch of them. The SEC and old Big8 have very few.

Here's an article from way back in January from the B10's perspective on Texas:

http://frankthetank.wordpress.com/2...-expansion-index-a-different-shade-of-orange/

The relevant part:


Academics are also an extremely important selling point for Texas. The issue with the academic standards in the Big 12 is that there are no academic standards in the Big 12. Texas is the highest ranked Big 12 school in the U.S. News rankings tied at #47 (the Big Ten schools ahead or tied are #12 Northwestern, #27 Michigan, #39 Illinois, #39 Wisconsin and #47 Penn State) while every single other school in the Big 12 except for #61 Texas A&M is ranked lower than every other Big Ten school (the lowest ranked are Indiana, Michigan State and Iowa tied at #71). No one else in the Big 12 comes even close to the academic research abilities of Texas. The potential entry of Texas into the Big Ten would include membership in the CIC, which opens up a whole new level of academic research opportunities for the school that simply doesn’t exist in the Big 12. The first general rule that I mentioned about discussing Big Ten expansion was that people need to think like a university president as opposed to a sports fan. If moving to another conference would (1) make more money for the athletic department AND (2) improve the academic standing of the university, you’ve made quite a powerful argument to the Texas university president.

 

On Friday I read a couple of articles that said that UT officials indicated that they would not schedule A&M out of conference for quite some time.

So, while I understand that this is the natural thought and feeling, the powers that be in Austin have indicated that is not likely to happen for a while.

 

i think that's all talk at this point....similar to the "TCU would keep BU out of the MWC" crap.

(i'm at Disney in 7 days, Ref!)

 

We obviously don't have any inside info, but I'm guessing this is a negotiating ploy. There's too much money - and too many alumni that have too much money - that will want this game to be played. In the end, I don't think there's any way UT risks pissing those people off. There might be a hiatus of a few years, but I'd guess within 4 or 5 years, the game would be scheduled again.

 

This is the correct answer.

The legislature will bend UT's arm until they play A&M OOC every year.

Besides, I doubt UT wants to look like they're ducking A&M.

 

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Maybe, but if A&M is ignoring the legislature's preference to keep Tech, UT and the Aggies together, then couldn't it be seen as A&M digging their own grave in regards to the rivalry? I just think that if they don't step in now over the SEC/ PAC 10 thing, I can't imagine they'll be inclined to step in over scheduling. I could obviously be wrong, though. Also, it would be interesting to see if Texas were to schedule them, if they'd try to keep it as a Turkeyday game or not.

 

A&M has said they will continue to play UT OOC, so how are the Aggies at fault for ending it? The ball is in UT's court.

And trust me, the legislature WILL twist UT's arm to play them. The purse string holders are all powerful. Keeping UT/A&M in the same conference is a lot more meddling/intrusive and probably less of a priority than getting them to play each other OOC. Nothing is keeping them from playing each other if they aren't in the same conference except for if one of the school's wants to act bratty and refuse.

 

Trust me, UT OU and TT have all told A&M if they go to the SEC they wont play them in any sport for the next 50 years. It's not just UT.

Good riddance to A&M, I dont care if we never play them again.

 

UT's got to protect their strength of schedule.

I expect UT will play A&M earlier in the year and could see UT try to get a Thanksgiving game with OU so that the end of the year means something regarding the conference.