Bevo 12-2 Crumbling Already?...New A&M SEC Talk

[gostangs]

Rice is not in this discussion in any way. They add nothing. And dont drag baseball into the discussion - baseball is an afterthought. I think there is a shot BE adds a travel partner for TCU - either us or UH - and i think they would choke on UH.

[couch 'em]

If true it puts the ACC in an interesting spot. Do they grab Syracuse out of the BE as they originally wanted to do when they were forced to take VT? My guess, they raid Syracuse and leave the BE having to make some more moves to save itself, and since Syracuse is big in hoops it really sticks a knife in the BE. Now the BE has to add another team or four to fill out its football roster. Do they suck it up and go all in for Texas by adding UH, SMU, and Rice? Or do they hedge their bets and take UH and ECU and call it a day? And what does the UT conference do? This year's hoops and football will mean a lot. Hopefully, Doh will get this very young team to be very scary by the end of the year and JJ gets us either the championship or in that game again. A win over the Frogs would be very nice for that resume in both sports. Talk about dominoes falling. Wow.

That you would throw out Rice as a potential for anything scares me. They are not trying to win at DI FBS football. They are lower than UTSA at this point. Pre-Orsini so were we.

I'm so thankful we are free of the Copeland era.

[RGV Pony]

Syracuse leaves, BE could add UCF, SMU & UH.

[bubba pony]

were is Syracuse going? why would they leave?

[gostangs]

That may be, but we'd jump in a second. 8 million a year in BCS money - we'd take any BCS invite.

How about SMU backfills Clemson's ACC spot if they go SEC? ACC can do the BE move of adding an important new state to their footprint. We'd be a good fit in academics, basketball (eventually/hopefully) and could compete in football in a couple of yrs, if not now.

[westexSMU]

So if A&M and Clemson go to SEC, UT will probably go independent. Maybe OU also, " who says they will do what Texas does." So where does that leave Tech, Baylor, Okie ST., and the rest of the North of the old UT conference ? Obviously, they have got to add some teams and try to form a new BCS conference right ?

[East Coast Mustang]

Clemson doesn't make a lot of sense for the SEC. They already have South Carolina and the SC media market isn't exactly NYC. But it's not outside the realm of possibilities- Clemson obviously has a large fan base and travels well. I think FSU would probably be the SEC's first target in the ACC, however.

A&M to the SEC seems like a logical fit in my opinion from an institutional basis. I can't imagine the A&M folks were all too pleased with that talk of them going to the "Pac-16" last summer, and vice versa. From a political standpoint, would the TX legislature allow them to bail on Texas and put the Big 12 (along with Tech and Baylor) in such a difficult position? OU and OSU won't separate for the same reason IMO

[leopold]

Gentlemen -

None of this is true. If anybody wants to bet me a paycheck on this (especially all you lawyers and bankers out there) let me know.

1) Texas is not going independent any time soon. Period. They are arrogant, not stupid.

2) Yes, the SEC would commit murder to get Texas or A&M in. And A&M absolutely WILL keep their options open. But A&M is getting a sweetheart deal right now, and the money keeps going up for the 10 remaining members of the Big XII. Frankly, as it stands now, A&M might be making more than many SEC schools are right now, and that's worth more than promises and conjecture.

Texas A&M, as long as their ego's don't go beserk, will not do anything drastic

3) Clemson is maybe 5th? 6th? on a list of schools that the SEC would go after, not counting A&M. FSU, OU, Va Tech, Ga Tech, and maybe one or two others would come before Clemson.

Only the idea that there will be more investigation into SEC schools is plausible.

[NavyCrimson]

Good points leopold

[East Coast Mustang]

1) Texas is not going independent any time soon. Period. They are arrogant, not stupid.

I agree.

2) Yes, the SEC would commit murder to get Texas or A&M in. And A&M absolutely WILL keep their options open. But A&M is getting a sweetheart deal right now, and the money keeps going up for the 10 remaining members of the Big XII. Frankly, as it stands now, A&M might be making more than many SEC schools are right now, and that's worth more than promises and conjecture.

It's my understanding that the SEC can renegotiate its TV deal after the current BCS arrangement expires in 2014- and it could be a mammoth deal, if you take into consideration what conferences like the Pac-12 have gotten since the SEC signed its last contract with CBS/ESPN. Remember, the TV market footprint for the SEC is considerably smaller than other conferences in terms of major metropolitan areas, and they still will command tons of $$$. The SEC is without question the top TV draw in the college football landscape, and that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon. If you add A&M and the DFW/Houston markets to the equation, well, ka-ching. And the Aggies' inferiority complex has to be at an all-time high considering the ESPN/Longhorn Network deal.

3) Clemson is maybe 5th? 6th? on a list of schools that the SEC would go after, not counting A&M. FSU, OU, Va Tech, Ga Tech, and maybe one or two others would come before Clemson.

Yeah, I don't think Clemson would be one of the SEC's top priorities. One thing to keep in mind here is state politics, though. I doubt VT would leave the ACC, since UVa was forced to bend over backwards by then Va. Gov. Mark Warner to get them into the ACC over Syracuse back in '03. I don't think OU and OSU will split, either. Would the Texas legislature let A&M walk and put Texas and the Big 12-2 as a whole in a bit of a bind? I don't know. I'd be interested to hear some other people's thoughts on this. Would Governor (soon to be President?) Perry give such a move his blessing?

On a somewhat unrelated note, if A&M went to the SEC, it would undoubtedly give them a trump card in recruiting for years to come that Texas wouldn't have.

[CA Mustang]

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.co ... n-network/

[EastStang]

My goodness could you see a Reville Network? Lots of pictures of scantily clad sheep or sheep wearing khaki uniforms with maroon and white trim when no sporting events are going on. And if VT is added to the SEC, suddenly two cults would be in the same conference (they are a milder Virginia version of A&M with the really rabid version being VMI). The pregame sheep parade would be something else when those two meet.

[East Coast Mustang]

And if VT is added to the SEC, suddenly two cults would be in the same conference (they are a milder Virginia version of A&M with the really rabid version being VMI).

So true...I had the opportunity (misfortune?) of going to a Hokies game in Blacksburg once- it's a strange place. And by strange, I mean a place I wouldn't want to live for four years. However, they probably have the coolest entrance in all of sports. Right before the team runs out of the tunnel, the entire stadium (students, old people too) start jumping up and down and you can actually feel the stadium shake. It's nuts. And then Metallica's "Enter Sandman" comes on and the players run out. Really, really cool. I'm not sure that words do it justice.

[reddevil]

From si.com today:

The stars are aligning for Texas A&M to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. The Longhorn Network-ESPN deal is bad for them, and the SEC has a clause to renegotiate their deal. The $10 million dollar question is who comes along -- Clemson, Virginia Tech, Louisville?
-- John, Plantation, Fla.

Are we really going down this road again? Already?

I know many of you don't want to believe it because it ruins everyone's favorite college hot stove game, but conference alignment has stabilized for the foreseeable future. (Except in the WAC. The WAC may never be finished realigning.) Last year, when it looked like all hell was about to break loose with the Pac-10 possibly annexing nearly half the Big 12, A&M and Oklahoma did have serious discussions with the SEC. By all accounts, the SEC was ready to pull the trigger -- but only if the Big 12 was certain to implode. The SEC did not want to be the aggressor, and it has no motivation to be one now. If it wants more money from ESPN now that the Pac-12 has rendered the SEC's own two-year-old deal outdated, all it has to do is ask. It need not expand.

I certainly understand why A&M is peeved about the Longhorn Network. As I wrote last week, the implications for college football (and the Big 12 in particular) are extremely troubling. I'm sure its administration will explore options to counter it, and maybe that will include reaching back out to the SEC, but unless Oklahoma comes as part of the package, that call won't last very long. More realistically, either A&M looks into beefing up its own media distribution, as Oklahoma is already doing, or it teams with Oklahoma and the other remaining Big 12 schools to start some sort of joint collaboration as has been discussed in the past.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... z1SfZqs5JA