Richard Justice: Big 12 Looking to Add Houston, SMU, or TCU

[NickSMU17]

There is nothing we can do....We bring nothing to the table....Unless the big time alum want to make a push through their private channels...we have nothing...

[SMU 86]

ESPN's Joe Schad just reported that if aTm goes to the SEC then Houston would probably get the first call because it could help replace the aTm market share.

[ShockerBOB]

ESPN's Joe Schad just reported that if aTm goes to the SEC then Houston would probably get the first call because it could help replace the aTm market share.

Now we're talking!!!

[StallionsModelT]

Absolute nightmare scenario. Incredible. We literally couldn't ask for a worse outcome than to lose Houston to the Big 12. Its incredibly sobering to see just how far down the list we really are.

[StallionsModelT]

The really scary thing is having to replace Houston with some puke-inducing combination of La Tech, UNT, Arkansas State, or Troy. Shoot me in the f'ing face.

[NomAnor]

The one big strike against Houston is there faciaties not just their stadium but there basketball arena is truly horrible and lest be frank there fan base is not much better than ours

[NomAnor]

we might be climbing our way back but we got the money and the stadium plus we wont need to beg off of any one to fix up any thing

[NickSMU17]

Problem really lies when FSU leaves and ACC adds UCF....

[skyscraper]

Absolute nightmare scenario. Incredible. We literally couldn't ask for a worse outcome than to lose Houston to the Big 12. Its incredibly sobering to see just how far down the list we really are.

Agree with every word.

[RGV Pony]

aside from sucking vs not sucking in football, exactly what is the big difference between UNT and Houston?

[NomAnor]

unt has a nicer house

[PonyKai]

aside from sucking vs not sucking in football, exactly what is the big difference between UNT and Houston?

Perceptions of a downtrodden, privately educated, Dallas-based fan base.

[StallionsModelT]

LOL. Difference between UNT and Houston?! Houston is closer academically to us than UNT is to Houston. That's how pathetic UNT is from an academic standpoint. Just as an example where I grew up in East TX there were four kids who were denied acceptance into Texas A&M-Commerce who were accepted to UNT. The football stadium is nice and new but UNT would be an AWFUL addition to CUSA and especially awful for us as they are now in the same conference as we are fighting for the same recruits. Losing Houston and replacing them with Houston is a deadly blow for CUSA both from a competition standpoint and more importantly national perspective.

This entire process this week has shown me there is no reason whatsoever to be optomistic about where we stand in conference realignment scenarios. Its been extremely sobering to see where we are and what our prospects are for the future. This is really, really, really bad.

[SmooBoy]

aside from sucking vs not sucking in football, exactly what is the big difference between UNT and Houston?

Commuter schools/grads working at 7-11 or Walgreens/ugly campuses - umm yeah, you're right.

[DiamondM]

Norm said earlier that we will have 4 sixteen team conferences within 10 years. Everyone else will be dropped to Div. 1AA. Does SMU really want to be one of those teams? Is it worth it to us to even try?

From a legal standpoint, I think it would be very hard to get rid of TWO entire BCS conferences, which Norm's scenario requires. It would also mean that only 64 teams are ultimately "IN". There are 68 teams "IN" right now [counting TCU and Notre Dame] (I think my math is right -- 12 each in the SEC, Pac 10, Big 10, and ACC, 10 in the Big 12, and 9 in the Big East with TCU, and ND as the one BCS Independent). I don't think the number will contract because the legal issues associated with kicking someone out would be more likely to generate the kind of antitrust or other litigation that the BCS has so far avoided from the have-nots. Any current BCS conference that is cannibalized by a bigger dog, will backfill to preserve its BCS status and will fight like hell to keep from losing that status.

More likely, assuming the carcass of the Big 12 is picked dry and dispersed into other BCS conferences which is worst case scenario, is that you'd end up with 5 sixteen team conferences -- 80 teams. That leaves 12 spots to divvy up between the MWC, WAC, and ConfUSA, MAC, and BYU. This is better odds for SMU than a system with 6 12-team conferences (72 slots, meaning 4 open spots, or 2 14-team conferences (SEC and 1 other conference -- 13 is just not stable, and some conference will want to do the same as the SEC, maybe ACC), 2 12-team conferences (say Pac-10 and Big-10, since they resisted going to 12 in the first place for so long), and 2 9-team conferences (Big East and what's left of Big 12 without further growth). This last scenario, with 70 slots so 2 additional BCS teams, is what looks like is coming, at least for the interim, but it doesn't seem very stable and would likely not be permanent.

But that's just my take.