The PAC 10 expansion groundswell

[BlueHair]

You're off by about a decade. BYU's admission standards increased dramaticly in the mid-1980s with a demographic bubble of new college-aged kids in the church. It ties directly to the baby-boom the rest of the Western world saw, with a second boom beginning when the first LDS boomers had kids who turned 18.

My sister was working for BYUs admissions office at the time (as a real decision-making full-time employee, not as a student), and the increase in the number of applicants - and the quality of the applicants ultimately accepted - initially caught them by surprise. 1984 was the year when the big jump in numbers hit. The numbers got bigger from there, as more and more boomer kids applied, but that's when it started, and there was a big jump in the quality of 1984 freshman. If you compare the admissions numbers of mid-eighties freshmen to those from the mid-seventies there is a huge change (for the better). Compare the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties, and the improvement is pretty small.

According to US News & World Report, 81.1% of applicants are accepted at the University of Utah and 69.3% of applicants are accepted at BYU.

[BlueHair]

Fixed that for you.

LOL. If Kansas comes to the MWC, they will go years without losing a conference game in basketball. No other teams will sniff a conference championship unless K-State also comes.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Sounds like the five Big 12 schools are likely headed to PAC-16:

Source: Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State plan to join Pac-10 - ESPN

Looking more like the best case scenario for BYU/Utah is to pick up some Big 12 castoffs in a 12-team MWC.

[SeattleUte]

Sounds like the five Big 12 schools are likely headed to PAC-16:

Source: Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State plan to join Pac-10 - ESPN

Looking more like the best case scenario for BYU/Utah is to pick up some Big 12 castoffs in a 12-team MWC.

Five? 1+3=4.

Math must not be your strong suit.

[BlueHair]

Sounds like the five Big 12 schools are likely headed to PAC-16:

Source: Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State plan to join Pac-10 - ESPN

Looking more like the best case scenario for BYU/Utah is to pick up some Big 12 castoffs in a 12-team MWC.

A&M's slot is still open to Utah. Right?

[OrangeUte]

I am worried that once these super conferences are created, meaningful pre-season/non-conference games with out of conference successful teams will effectively cease to exist. No more VaTech v. Boise or Oregon v. Boise/Utah. No more BYU v. Oklahoma.

The members of these mega conferences will likely argue that they are playing such a competitive conference slate that they have to schedule nothing but patsies for their non-conference games, and also ridicule the MWC schedule with all of its weak teams, etc. etc. in order to keep us from the golden nuggett.

[SeattleUte]

Sounds like the five Big 12 schools are likely headed to PAC-16:

Source: Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State plan to join Pac-10 - ESPN

Looking more like the best case scenario for BYU/Utah is to pick up some Big 12 castoffs in a 12-team MWC.

THis is typical chicken shit stuff that reporters do. The headline and the first paragraph don't jibe with most of the article. Who is this lone anonymous "source" who says Texas et al. will go? What about this part of the article? (which is most of it):

"Our goals and hopes all along have been to keep the Big 12 Conference intact," Texas men's athletics director DeLoss Dodds said in a statement. "The league has been great for its members. We also have been honorable, up front and forthright with regard to our work and responsiveness to all the possible and now definitive changes to conference landscapes."

The Texas regents announced Friday they will hold a meeting by telephone Tuesday for "discussion and appropriate action regarding athletic conference membership."

Texas Tech has also scheduled a special board of regents meeting for Tuesday, at which the formalization of an acceptance to the Pac-10 could occur, the Big 12 source told ESPN.

The athletic director of Texas' longtime interstate rival, Oklahoma, said if the Longhorns were to announce they were committed to staying in the Big 12, the other teams left would likely remain, too.

"Behind the scenes, we're talking about all the different kinds of strategies and plans that would prove that point," Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione told The Oklahoman on Thursday.

Oklahoma, Baylor and Kansas have been gathering information about the fiscal viability of keeping the conference alive with 10 teams, a Big 12 source told ESPN's Schad. In that scenario the conference would sacrifice a conference title game. They are exploring the television ramifications as well.

"We have a very, very strong sense from our television partners that the revenue stream would be very, very good going forward," Castiglione told The Oklahoman. "Better than where we are today."

A source familiar with the Pac-10's plans told ESPN that the SEC's interests in Texas A&M and Oklahoma are "real." Another source within the Big 12 said Texas A&M does not necessarily feel it should be required to be attached to the Longhorns.

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe said Friday he is still working to convince the remaining 10 members to stay put.

"We're working with all those members. We've had a lot of positive feedback about the desire of those institutions to [stay] together," Beebe said. "There's been a lot of speculation about people going west ... I'm going all the way to the final whistle. I'm playing it out as hard and fast as I can."

Still, Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin told The Associated Press that the rapid changes are forcing the school to consider other options.

"We're still working through the issues," Loftin said. "We're also waiting to see what happens with other schools. We were very happy to stay in the Big 12, the way it was. It's changing now, and we need to figure out what that means.

"The Big 12 is not what it was, and we have to think about its future, and ours."

Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw reiterated his school's desire for the four Texas teams from the Big 12 to "remain aligned" in the same conference -- preferably the Big 12. Baylor, the league's only private school, would likely be left behind if Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech leave for other leagues.

"We're focused on keeping the Big 12 together and maintaining the rivalries that we've enjoyed with our four Big 12 Texas brothers," he said. "Those traditions go over the last 100 years and we certainly want to do everything we can to maintain those rivalries within the conference structure. "

[SeattleUte]

I am worried that once these super conferences are created, meaningful pre-season/non-conference games with out of conference successful teams will effectively cease to exist. No more VaTech v. Boise or Oregon v. Boise/Utah. No more BYU v. Oklahoma.

The members of these mega conferences will likely argue that they are playing such a competitive conference slate that they have to schedule nothing but patsies for their non-conference games, and also ridicule the MWC schedule with all of its weak teams, etc. etc. in order to keep us from the golden nuggett.

If the Utes are on the inside do you have a problem with choking off the outsiders?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Five? 1+3=4.

Math must not be your strong suit.

Ha! Reading the article before you post is not your strong suit.

[SteelBlue]

Honestly, winning a PAC16 title over the likes of UT, OU and USC once in 20 years with a shot at the NC would be better than winning a watered down MWC every other year for 20 years and going to the Vegas Bowl each time. I hope you guys are able to get into a decent conference, because I think it will hurt worse than some think if you don't.

I agree. Please, Dear Lord, make A&M go with Texas.

[OrangeUte]

If the Utes are on the inside do you have a problem with choking off the outsiders?

yes. but, you should know that i don't want the utes on the inside of a mega conference. I don't like the idea and i think it will fail, or end up making college football less appealing to fans. you may feel differently, and who knows how it will end up, but it doesn't pass my smell test.

truly, if the utes have the opportunity to go to the pac 16, i hope that they turn it down and stick with a very good MWC. however, with more money, etc., they couldn't do that because of fiduciary duties but i would love to see it.

if the utes end up going to the pac 16, i would hope they would still schedule games against byu yearly, tcu every few years, boise state, etc, as well as against big 10 teams like michigan, and perhaps get a few games against teams that they haven't played much if at all, like florida, alabama, etc.

i enjoy 12-0 seasons, but i also enjoy getting hyped for games like Pitt and Notre Dame this year, aTm in '03 and '04. the utes will obviously have more games like that playing oregon, usc, ucla, etc. each year, but being on the inside and looking out on those left behind without playing them seems like saying "we'd beat you if we played you, but we're not going to do it." i like the superiority to be proved on the field, hence the utes beating cal in 2003 or alabama in 2008/9 were thrilling and exciting and i don't want to lose that - not just for the utes but for college football generally.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I agree. Please, Dear Lord, make A&M go with Texas.

I am prepared to forgive R.C. Slocum, Bucky Richardson and the A&M defense if this happens. If it doesn't, they will remain in the seventh circle of hell where I assigned them nearly two decades ago.

[DU Ute]

LOL. If Kansas comes to the MWC, they will go years without losing a conference game in basketball. No other teams will sniff a conference championship unless K-State also comes.

Try to stay on subject.

[USUC]

This article says that Larry Scott is flying to each school it intends to invite from the Big 12. Apparently Its second choice behind A&M is Kansas.

http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews....-to-pac-1.html

[SteelBlue]

"...would move quickly to invite Kansas". What's the word in Utah right now? Are sources still reporting that an invite is imminent or are they backing off?