Let’s Talk Realignment

Texas….this is your fault. Texas A&M is moving from the Big 12 to the SEC (where they will get clobbered…a lot) and Pitt and Syracuse are leaving there basketball power conference, the Big East, for the ACC, and TCU leaving from the Mountain West for the Big East. And lets not forget the first domino, Nebraska, who announced last summer they where moving to the Big Ten because of frustration with Texas and the Big 12. Then Colorado followed who abandended Big 12 ties for the now Pac 12.Colorado may have had the right idea because it seems the rest of the Big 12 is also going to the Pac 12 to make the first super conference the Pac 16.

Now take a step back, what started this? Well the University of Texas and its uncontrollable desire to be a power house, they can’t help it. They with ESPN set up the LongHorn Network for….wait for it….a 2o year contract and $300 million. The network is 24 hour coverage all about Texas Longhorn football so Gilbert, McCoy, Shipley and Mac accessible all the time and any where. Hooray! Can’t wait to waste a saturday watching a now mediocre team non stop. Can any one really listen to Mac Brown for that long? But anyways this Network frustrated others in the conference obviously why is this team so special where they need $300 million in a “recovery” year. So the corn Huskers expressed there irritation with the power hungry Longhorns and said peace out. And  unknowingly caused the dominos to fall. So Texas this is why I blame you for everything.

Back to 2011, yesterday Texas and Oklahoma where approved to look for a new conference homes, although they will not officially say when or if they are going to apply to the Pac 12 (but we know the truth). Oklahoma claims that remaining in the Big 12 is “still on the table” but we all really know that that is crap, and the Big 12 is done. So Texas and Oklahoma will apply and go to the Pac 12 and my cowboys will follow their Bedlam Rival, and if Texas Tech has a choice they will follow Texas. So that’s four team out of the Big 12 and into the Pac 12 making the Pac 16. Time for some math…the Big 12 has 10 teams because of the loss of Nebraska and Colorado last year, A&M is leaving so nine teams, and if these four teams continue on this path then that leaves five teams, the Big 5 isn’t really going to work. The five left over teams are Kansas, K-State, Missouri, Idaho State, and Baylor. The SEC wants a 14th teams and they are looking at Missouri or West Virginia, they would probably prefer WV. The Big East has also recently been abandoned so there is talk of a merger between left over teams, but the Big 12 has made  it clear the Big East is joining the Big 12 not the other way around.

One last thing in conference realignment, this one would need legislation. The Mountain West is looking to share a championship game with Conference USA. This deal would be strictly football. The conferences would operate independently of each other and would just share a championship game. Um.. that definitely sounds like a playoff game to me, or at least a step in that direction. It would be something new to the BCS. Conference USA would have 12 teams and the Mountain West would have 10, so 22 teams. (the MW next year will add Fresno State and Nevada for all sports and Hawaii for just football and lose TCU to make that 10.) Should they add two more? hmmm…. well no matter what that should for sure get that league an automatic bid to a BCS bowl. Yes, I used the word league, this is a new word to the NCAA. Hopefully is sticks.

Next season will be interesting and very different then what we are used to. Hopefully soon the dust will settle and the dominos will be peaceful again and happy in their new super conferences or league. This time they will protect them selves from a big bad Longhorn coming through and knocking them over.