Blog article out of West Virginia with comments from WVU AD regarding ongoing Big 12 expansion discussions and league tv rights at http://www.wvillustrated.com/story/1729 ... transition

Its bittersweet for yall, but for me its just sour...I loved skipping Thanksgiving with my family and driving to Austin or B/CS for that game. I've grown up with it and am sad to see it go. I understand why A&M did what they did (though I disagree with how they did it, signing an agreement to stay and then bolting a few weeks later) , they are more SECish than anyone else in the Big12 and have strived to be on the same playing field at UT for decades in more ways than one. So getting away from UT is good for yall in a way but catch 22 yall lose a ton of traditions tied into the rivalry. From the many, many Aggies I know, the young ones love the move to the SEC, while the old ones aren't crazy about it or even down right hate it. While I understand why yall left, and why we won't play yall anymore (just read a few threads back) for a while anyways, it doesn't mean I like it. Personally I wanted the legislature to pass that law requiring us to play, therefor UT doesn't look like it caved and A&M doesn't look like they "needed us".

So I hope yall enjoy your move next year, but I'm gonna have a hard time rooting for yall in Sept but after that I might come around when yall start playing Bama/Aub/Mizzou (lesser of two evils). However I am rooting for yall as a follower of recruiting, as long as we aren't going head to head on a kid I'm rooting for yall (along with LSU/Arky) to keep the talent away from OU.

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ESPN blog article with comments from WVU AD regarding possible future Big 12 expansion at http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/ ... -to-expand

Wonder how DeLoss Dodds likes the newbie spouting off.

Pretty innocent stuff. He just says that with the conference at 10 while the other conferences are at 12 (Pac 12, Big Ten), or 14 (ACC & SEC)...and with even CUSA/MWC going to 16-24, MAC at 14-1 for now, Sun Belt aiming for 12/13...that the Big 12 do the same to at least get to 12.

If you read his comments as subtext, you can claim it as "spouting" since the schools that would be top candidates to leave are the torch bearers, since it's not like Iowa St., Kansas, KSU, Baylor, TCU are going anywhere. Sure, if the SEC went to 16, there's a chance WVU is on the list. But it's Texas w/ TTech and Oklahoma w/OSU leaving for the Pac-12 that is the only real flight risk.

And he's right...if the Big 12 added Louisville and could convince BYU to join, it means that if something radical ("radical" only in the new TV contract, killer exit fees, etc) and UT/TT/OU and OSU left, the Big 12 would still be in a good enough spot as the #5 conference with:
WVU, Louisville, Iowa St., Kansas, Kansas St., TCU, Baylor, BYU. Can add Boise St & Houston to a west division, Cincinnati and Memphis to the east, and the Big 12 is at 12.

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Could WVU’s AD Luck be auditioning for a new role? This sounds like a guy wanting to possibly take over the Big 12.

If you want to help a team escape the Big East, Luck is your man that knows how to get the job done and just have fast that must take place before new contracts are negotiated by the Big East.

Luck is a graduate of both WVU and the University of Texas Law School. He could help both of these schools by taking over the Big 12 and ensuring the Big 12 is on solid ground going into the future.

Hmmm,
Less just pencil in Louisville for one of the schools as WVU needs a replacement rivalry for Pitt.

Which team would Luck want as number 12 if he were in fact placed in charge of the Big 12?

If I recall, Luck was in favor of adding BYU to the Big East. Cincinnati would make an easy travel trip for WVU. Rutgers is very old traditional eastern rival of WVU.

I am going to place my bet on Rutgers as the 12 member if Luck were the Big 12 Commissioner and helping promote expansion.

Ok how to split the divisions?

East: WVU, Louisville, Rutgers, TCU, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma

West: Texas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Kansas State, Kansas

Love it, Lash. WVU, UL and Rutgers give a strong enough east coast penetration to rival the BC/Syracuse/Pitt in the ACC, and Temple/Uconn/Navy in the Big East.

Furthermore, I love the Oklahoma/OSU seperated from Texas/TTech. I might swap TCU for Iowa St. though.
OR, maybe even give Texas the national prime time they want (deserve?) with them and Texas Tech in the east side...get's the prom queen program on all those northeast TVs even more and helps legitimize the push by the conference to the east.

Fact is, right now, the northeast is any conferences territory to take. The ACC seems to have taken the BIG lead with Pitt and Syracuse with BC. Big Ten has the biggest program, Penn St., but it's only 1. WVU is respectable from an on-the-field standpoint and give the Big 12 entrance into the region. And the Big East has UConn, Rutgers, Temple and Navy...a nice gel. But if the Big 12 went 2 steps further with Louisville and Rutgers, they might just rise to the top...especially if Texas is highlighted in the region as a divisional foe.

Funny how a school that almost lead a pack to the west coast Pac-10 would only be 3 moves away (add UL, add Rutgers, put Texas in "east") from being able to challenge as a regular big media draw on northeast TV.

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Quinn, the more we talk about Rutgers the more sense it makes for this school to be part of the Big 12. Unless Rutgers gets an invite from the Big Ten, the Big 12 would be a nice compromise. In addition, Rutgers is the flagship school of its state and has very good academics. Other than having an eastern culture the school is very similar to other Big 12 type schools.

Less try to map out your idea of allowing Texas in the East division which Luck would probably want to ensure both of his formal schools play a regular season game each year. Factor in that Texas was a big supporter of WVU being selected as the number 10 school makes very good sense.

For some reason Oklahoma State favors more Big 12 expansion to the east as well. Maybe for basketball requiting? For now will leave Oklahoma State in the west division with Oklahoma because the Red River rivalry will always be played each year regardless of which division Texas and Oklahoma are placed and you probably can’t have more than one permanent cross over game each year to allow flexibility in scheduling.

Since Oklahoma favored adding Louisville, in this scenario I am placing Louisville to the west division and keeping Baylor and TCU in the same division to allow all four Texas teams to remain in the same division. Permanent cross over games could be Texas/Oklahoma, Texas Tech/Oklahoma State, Baylor/Kansas, TCU/Kansas State, Rutgers/Iowa State, WVU/Louisville.

Lots of fun scenarios to select divisions as long as we keep Texas and Oklahoma separated.

South/East: Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Rutgers, West Virginia

North/West: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Louisville

If you split the Big 12 in the same scenario with Southeast and Northwest divisions really works great if BYU is selected as the 12 member. You can move Louisville back to the Southeast division to be in the same division and provide and geographic bridge with WVU and keep travel down with BYU only needed to make cross country trips for football every few years. With the new 9 or 10 game conference schedules, BYU is going to be less demanding and more accommodating to have security in one of the power conference leagues.

While I would like to see Rutgers get invited into one of the new power five football conferences, BYU has out performed Rutgers in both football and basketball and probably adds just as much value for TV.

Southeast Division:

Texas
Texas Tech
Baylor
TCU
West Virginia
Louisville

Northwest Division:

Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Kansas
Kansas State
Iowa State
BYU

I am posting on the Big 12 thread lately because this is probably the only major conference that may makes some moves this summer.

Since we have already discussed scenarios of Louisville and Rutgers and Louisville and BYU if the Big 12 wanted to get back to 12 members, there are a couple more options or rumors that need to be stated.

Regardless if you want to believe it, there is a lot of chatter around the Internet about Florida State and Clemson jumping to the Big 12.

While I do not necessarily believe this will happen, I am also not convinced this scenario is totally out of the question either. The ACC is becoming very Big East like every day and now is considering adding regular Friday night TV football games. For a conference that supposedly has great TV ratings for football, why would you have to move ACC games to Friday night just to get on TV? More proof of ACC decline in football is with the recent bowl alignments which both the ACC and Big East were replaced in the Gator Bowl. Factor in expansions of Pitt and Syracuse which either school do not bring much to the table for football and you have some ACC football schools that may have some benefits to jump to a better football league.

If Florida State and Clemson wanted to join the Big 12 would probably be best split by pure zipper form for balance of football SOS and geographically.

Red Division:

Texas
Oklahoma
Baylor
Kansas
Iowa State
Clemson

Blue Division:

Texas Tech
Oklahoma State
TCU
Kansas State
West Virginia
Florida State

In the zipper split, Florida State/Clemson and Oklahoma/Oklahoma State could play each year in permanent cross over games.

Again it may not happen, however, both Florida State and Clemson would have some valuable inroads into Texas requiting which both of their in state rivals of U of South Carolina and U of Florida are going to gain once Texas A&M is playing SEC football. If the SEC was not already a major advantage over the ACC in football, requiting will now have even more benefits in comparison of the SEC and ACC.

The only issue is if Florida State and Clemson became interested in joining the Big 12, would the SEC change its gentlemen’s agreement and try to get both schools before the Big 12 had a change to make a claim in some of the better SEC TV and requiting markets.

Lash, Florida St. and Clemson to the Big 12 seem more appropriate for the Dream Conferences thread. Both schools had the opportunity to join the Big 12 and passed. It's not like TCU and WVU were the top wanted Big 12 candidates, over Florida St. and Clemson. And we've seen Florida St. and Clemson vote in favor of adding Pitt and Syracuse. So, unless I'm missing something, lets try to keep the Big 12 a bit more realistic, albeit a future Pac-16 defection like we almost saw the past 2 summers, of the Big 12 adding schools from the available conferences: Big East, BYU (indy), CUSA/MWC. Throw in MAC, Sun Belt, WAC if you wish ...just seems very unlikely that a Power 5 conference school would leave for the Big 12 at this point, fresh after these conferences all recently "upgraded" their conference membership.

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Quinn,
You are probably correct on any teams leaving one of the so called power conferences because the benefits and cost are just not worth the effort. More important the 16 member super conference movement appears to be dead.

I am not sure I would place Florida State and Clemson leaving the ACC in the dream thread, and maybe just not a high flight risk to bolt the ACC due this very reason listed above.

One more point, at the time the Big 12 expanded with WVU and TCU, the Big 12 was in a totally different situation and tier rights had not been signed over and nobody including Clemson or Florida State could be totally sure Texas and Oklahoma would stay put or if the Big 12 would actually survive.

The ACC has by no means been on solid ground and arguably did a kneejerk and expanded with Pitt and Syracuse which I am totally convinced were replacement for both Clemson and Florida State going to the SEC to make up for a 16 member SEC super conference. No one will ever convince me otherwise. We will all just have to agree to disagree on this point.

Conference alignment this year is a lot more settled compared to last year and the fear of the “super 16 conference” becoming a reality is highly unlikely.

This is actually a good thing for both the ACC and Big 12 and possibly a bad thing for certain Big East schools that would like to have got a pass out of the Big East.

With that said, the other scenario is the Big 12 remaining at 10 and just not adding any teams is the other possibility.

Without the concerns of super conference movement the Big 12 actually ended up in pretty good shape with a perfect size 10 and the ACC ended up bloated with an oversize of 14. Go figure!

It just how the musical chairs of conference realignment stopped. If the Big 12 holds up at 10 which is a very good possibility, we all may be in for a boring stretch on this board.

Clemson & FSU have denied any B12 talk as Internet rumors, and confirmed they are staying with the ACC. Agree with Quinn's remarks in that why would a BCS school in a stable conference book to go to the B12 when once they get there, Texas and/or Oklahoma and their sister schools could be wheeling-dealing to land elsewhere. Actually, Texas was talking to the ACC last year, but could have been a ploy during the LHN fuss. The B12 have some outstanding schools, but need time to gel, let the new commissioner work his magic, and diligently find the right fits if they pursue expansion further.

Some of us would be satisfied, if a bit bored, with status quo among the ACC, Big10, SEC and Pac12. There are too many qualified schools to fit into 4 sixteen team conferences now that Utah, TCU and the Big East 8 have been admitted to the BCS club. Five conferences with some geographical anchor make sense. Wish the BE had stayed within the Storrs-Tampa-Dallas-Memphis configuration. We'll still have the Big 12 expansion issue as well as the shakedown of the BE membership to watch for. Also the MWC with or w.o. CUSA if you like.

And some of us would rather conferences stop at 12

16-team conferences are not conferences - they are scheduling/TV alliances