The PAC 10 expansion groundswell

[Jarid in Cedar]

We still have 1 day until June 11th. Like SU has generously pointed out to us, things are changing by the hour with this.

The Pac-10 release said that they would be announcing in Boulder on June 11 at 11:00 am. So if there is The Pie there, LA can still have his party.

[LA Ute]

The Pac-10 release said that they would be announcing in Boulder on June 11 at 11:00 am. So if there is The Pie there, LA can still have his party.

See? I knew all along.

[Coach McGuirk]

“This is an historic moment for the Conference, as the Pac-10 is poised for tremendous growth. The University of Colorado is a great fit for the Conference both academically and athletically and we are incredibly excited to welcome Colorado to the Pac-10,” said commissioner Larry Scott.

This does not bode well for SU.

[Jarid in Cedar]

See? I knew all along.

I am just trying to make sure you get your due

[cowboy]

DAMMIT! I'm not getting anything done, and I have too much to do to be following this crap! I see the Big 12 replacing UNL and CU with Wyoming (who nearly beat UNL in 1994, the year they won the championship) and CSU (perennial CU butt-kickers.)

Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop taking amphetimines.

[Coach McGuirk]

I am praying for Texas to hold the Big 12 together. I think that would be best for both BYU and Utah.

[Babs]

I am praying for Texas to hold the Big 12 together. I think that would be best for both BYU and Utah.

you're the kind that's still praying for Simon and Garfunkel to release a new album together, aren't you?

[Uncle Ted]

Chip Brown is reporting...

Texas and Texas A&M are meeting alone together at 11:30 a.m., according to sources, before also having a meeting later with Texas Tech and Baylor officials.

If Texas and Texas A&M are on the same page in their meeting about going to the Pac-10, the second meeting - with Texas Tech and Baylor - could be the courtesy notifation to BU officials that the other Texas schools in the Big 12 South are moving on.

Sources at Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech told Orangebloods.com throughout the last week that if Nebraska left the league, the Big 12 was dead.

And that's what Texas president Bill Powers and Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds told UT coaches in a meeting Wednesday afternoon.

If Texas and Texas A&M emerge from Thursday's meeting united, we could get announcements that Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are heading west as early as today.

Baylor officials were hoping beyond hope that some 11th hour change would happen to either save the Big 12 or allow them to get on the train out west.

But one Baylor official told Orangebloods.com, "It's probably 90 percent sure the other Texas schools are gone, but we have to hold onto that 10 percent that something could change."

Orangebloods.com was the first to report Wednesday that Baylor was being met with some resistance in the Pac-10, namely Cal-Berkeley, because of its religious affiliation with the Baptist church.

Baylor loyalists, in their argument against Colorado being invited, have pointed out that Colorado's academic and athletic performance lately hasn't been anything the Pac-10 should embrace.

Colorado was the only school in the BCS to have scholarship reductions in football for poor NCAA Academic Progress Rates. And CU was one of two schools in the BCS to have scholarship reductions in basketball.

In a related development, sources close to the Pac-10/Big 12 merger say the new, 16-team super conference will push for two BCS bids with the Big 12 dissolving and losing theirs.

In that case, you could have a BCS bid for the Western Division winner among USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State.

As well as a BCS bid for the Eastern Division winner among Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State.

That will be met with resistance from the other BCS conferences as they try to expand and could lead to the formula of each division winner in one of the newly formed super conferences receiving a bid into an 8-team playoff.

There will need to be some representation of the non-BCS schools or legal wrangling and government hearings will overwhelm the process. But as Orangebloods.com laid out over the weekend, there are athletic directors involved in this whole process who see this coming.

[Uncle Ted]

As for A&M going to the SEC...

WHERE IS A&M'S HEART?The big issue of the day is where Texas A&M's heart is. The Aggies have been talking to the Southeastern Conference.

Gene Stallings, who won a national title as coach at Alabama, is a regent at Texas A&M who has been VERY active in all the talks involving the Aggies and where they could land if the Big 12 fell apart.

I've been told by sources Gov. Rick Perry would encourage his alma mater to go where Texas goes to keep harmony in the Texas Legislature.

There is a multi-billion dollar mineral rights endowment for both Texas and Texas A&M called the Permanent University Fund, which was threatened by lawmakers the last time realignment happened (when the Big 12 was formed) if the two schools split up.

One thing that should be reassuring to Texas A&M is that in a move to the Pac-10 Texas all but loses its chance to start its own network.

That was a point of contention for A&M, which has an athletic department $16 million in debt and had to borrow that money from the school's general fund to pay it off.

That became a big rift at A&M between the administration and athletics department and may have contributed to the forced resignation of A&M president Elsa Murano, who wanted the athletic department to be more diligent in paying the loan back.

A&M was not excited about having Texas, with its coffers overflowing, starting a TV network and adding yet another revenue stream that A&M couldn't match. But with all schools on an equal revenue playing field in the Pac-16 (or whatever we're going to call this league), A&M's worries probably subside.

[Coach McGuirk]

Orangebloods.com was the first to report Wednesday that Baylor was being met with some resistance in the Pac-10, namely Cal-Berkeley, because of its religious affiliation with the Baptist church.

It appears that baptists are no better than mormons after all.

[Uncle Ted]

It appears that baptists are no better than mormons after all.

One term Ann Richards is no longer calling the shots.

[SeattleUte]

As for A&M going to the SEC...

you bought a subscription to OB to get the latest from Chip Brown? lol

[Uncle Ted]

you bought a subscription to OB to get the latest from Chip Brown? lol

My son was at UT camp this last week... I have to see what they are saying about him.

[Jarid in Cedar]

I think it is telling that Texas and aTm are meeting to discuss expansion today without Texas Tech. We already know that Baylor is out of any P-10 expansion. Texas and aTm may be viewing this as an opportunity to diminish TT as someone who recruits against them in the state(esp for A&M's perspective). So I am going out on a limb to say that I think Utah has a 80% chance to get to the Pac-10.

Scenario A: Texas sits pat in the Big 12 and Utah joins as the 12th team

or

Scenario B: Texas, A&M, OU, OSU and Utah round out the Pac-16.

Of the two I think scenario A is the most likely. I think that Tech is the odd team out. If the Pc-10 is interested in increasing TV markets, are you better taking Utah and gaining the Utah market or taking TT who does not bring any of the Texas market that UT and A&M already saturate?

[LiveCoug]

I think it is telling that Texas and aTm are meeting to discuss expansion today without Texas Tech. We already know that Baylor is out of any P-10 expansion. Texas and aTm may be viewing this as an opportunity to diminish TT as someone who recruits against them in the state(esp for A&M's perspective). So I am going out on a limb to say that I think Utah has a 80% chance to get to the Pac-10.

Scenario A: Texas sits pat in the Big 12 and Utah joins as the 12th team

or

Scenario B: Texas, A&M, OU, OSU and Utah round out the Pac-16.

Of the two I think scenario A is the most likely. I think that Tech is the odd team out. If the Pc-10 is interested in increasing TV markets, are you better taking Utah and gaining the Utah market or taking TT who does not bring any of the Texas market that UT and A&M already saturate?

B would be the worst case scenario.