The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[ReggaeCoug]

So, tell me how you would react...

Would you still be excited if it had been five years since we beat Kansas in basketball, and Texas or Oklahoma in football?

These are realistic possibilities. I really am curious how different fans would feel about this.

It would be nice to get the chance. I would rather lose to those schools than beat up on Weber St.

[Green Monstah]

I think we would all be excited to have these kind of teams in the Marriott Center.

But... I do think it's legitimate to wonder how excited we would still be if Kansas hammered us in Provo nine times out of 10.

And, of course, the same questions can be asked about football. I think it's safe to say our 2010 team would have struggled to win more than four games with a Big 12 schedule last season.

Really, other than Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska, nobody in the Big 12 has ever been consistently good enough to be real contenders in any national sense. Is BYU different or better than the others? Maybe. But, I don't really know.

I think we would be naive not to realize these possibilities and to consider their implications. I'm really not trying to be a buzz kill here, but I'm curious how the fan base would react to that. I'm really not sure how I would...

I'd hate to see you try to be a buzzkill.

[Guest]

So, tell me how you would react...

Would you still be excited if it had been five years since we beat Kansas in basketball, and Texas or Oklahoma in football?

These are realistic possibilities. I really am curious how different fans would feel about this.

I would remain a fan(atic), but I would be less likely to travel. No fun to go on a road game and take the abuse.

On the other hand, I went to USC not thinking we had much chance. So, maybe I am underestimating myself because of the scars from the Nevada game still haunting me.

[Guest]

I disagree about Norm Chow. The guy's issue with interpersonal relationships makes it a real matches-dynamite issue. I doubt he stays at Utah longer than three years.

Agree about Chow. My brother was on the team when he was there and many disliked Chow. What I have to hand it to Chow though is that his receivers were overperformers, which is a lot more than can be said about our collective group last year.

Regarding coaches, my brother still calls Roger French, "The Best Coach in America".

[Green Monstah]

Here goes - as an act of good faith and belief and celebration. Hopefully not of the premature variety.

But it goes without saying that if your statement turns out to be in error I will wish a plague upon your genitals.

Does it make sense to plague death valley? Is there appreciable damage done when one sends plague to Arkansas?

Why, then, will you plague his genitals?

J/k Vike. I hope to hell your source is good, b/c I know you wouldn't bullshit about something like this.

[Shaka]

If there is a deal I would bet on a Monday announcement. That will give the team time top receive the news then focus on beating Texas.

Also the game would be important from a media standpoint. The media buzz would go off the charts.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

[Scorcho]

I disagree about Norm Chow. The guy's issue with interpersonal relationships makes it a real matches-dynamite issue. I doubt he stays at Utah longer than three years.

in three years Chow will be 68. Chow doesn't strike me as the Joe Paterno type.

[TripletDaddy]

Update:

BYU pop-up tent still there, but I don't see any electrical hookups, cables, etc that one would normally expect to see at a press conference. Still early in the day, though.



The KSL van is gone now. Possibly outside COB awaiting B12 delegation for the post-BOT meeting interviews?

[dabrockster]

Any updates on the whiteboard in the Stadium?? It has to be much different now....

[Paperback Writer]

This may have already been posted.

PBW, given your feelings about aTm you may not want to read this.

Spoiler for Ouch:

Most of us know at least someone who is hooked on drama. You probably live a rather routine life — work from 9 to 5, drive home, eat dinner with the family or friends, watch a little TV, maybe go for a bike ride on the weekend. Meanwhile, the guy at the next desk is feuding with his sister-in-law; embroiled in at least two lawsuits; lashing out at business rivals; stirring up Little League politics, and arguing with the local box store because it didn’t give him a free extension cord for the power drill he just bought.
That type of individual just has to have drama in his life at all times. He or she feeds off it like an insatiable jungle carnivore feeds off a herd of zebra.

Texas A&M is the guy at the next desk.

And like your co-worker, all its negative energy might be going for naught.


Texas A&M announced Wednesday it is leaving the Big 12 by July 2012 if it is accepted by another league, presumably the SEC. It has wanted out of the Big 12 badly. To the Aggies, the Big 12 is like a North Korean prison, with big longhorns painted on the cell walls.
The Big 12 has two marquee teams in Texas and Oklahoma, plus a bunch of interchangeable opponents. Texas A&M has a splendid academic reputation. If you’re interested in a career in agriculture or the military, it’s top drawer. And if you have dreams of someday being a general in charge of the cabbage patch at Camp Pendleton, there’s no better place to study.

But if you’re a football player, that’s another story. Texas A&M last won a national championship in 1939, and last won a conference title in 1998. The BCS bowl system began in ’98, and that was the only year A&M qualified for a berth in a BCS bowl game. Meanwhile, Texas has been in a BCS bowl game four times, Oklahoma eight times.

[...]

Texas A&M is hungry for drama, but what it might receive instead is the mind-numbing tedium of being a punching bag for schools very much like Texas and Oklahoma, only with different uniforms, logos and locations.

I’m sure A&M believes that it will open up all new recruiting doors to have “SEC” on its masthead. But really, that school attracts a particular type of individual, one who enjoys the studious, crew-cut nature of that institution. Usually, if a five-star recruit wants to attend a major program but still remain in his home state of Texas, he’ll attend Texas. If he prefers the glamour and prestige of being in the SEC, he’ll bolt the state completely and go to LSU, Florida or Alabama.

The pairing of Texas A&M and the SEC is unlikely to create a conga line of blue-chippers headed to College Station.

[...]

I suppose A&M sees this coming and wants to get the jump on the competition. But it’s doing it in an odd way. The SEC hasn’t said it wants A&M. In fact, a couple of weeks ago its presidents voted not to expand at this time, although it left that option open.

I guess the Aggies figure, “If we leave the Big 12, the SEC will HAVE to take us.” Hmmm. I don’t know about that. Maybe. But the SEC doesn’t appear to be the kind of business entity that gets dictated to. It seems like — figuratively speaking, of course — the type that would smother you with a pillow if a dollar could be gained from it. And I’m sure there are other schools the SEC might consider adding that would be more attractive than Texas A&M. Oklahoma, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Missouri, Clemson and West Virginia are among the schools mentioned in various reports.

And who knows? Maybe A&M has something else cooking. Perhaps there have been discreet cell-phone calls in the middle of the night to the commissioners of the Pac-12 or Big Ten, complete with whispers and giggles.

No, the Aggies seem to have some serious issues. They want to be respected and adored. They also want to text you about their love life, squabble with the neighbors, pick a fight with somebody at the gym and give you financial advice against your will.

They want to leave a longtime relationship to pursue somebody they perceive as more attractive, even if there’s no indication that party is the least bit interested.

The Aggies of Texas A&M. Right now the rest of college football is, like, so over them.

That was refreshing to read. Makes me wonder what the author would scribe about BYU. At any rate, it comes off as written by a Longhorn or someone denied admission to Texas A&M. Does anyone really think Texas A&M would leave the Big 12 and not be accepted by the SEC? Even the Aggies are not that dumb. But the shots at Texas A&M's academics were really uncalled for as Texas A&M is only behind UT in academic ratings of Big 12 universities. In the SEC, Texas A&M would be behind only Vanderbilt with some debate from Florida and Georgia. Besides, if a student is serious about studying agriculture he would enroll at Nebraska and if he were serious about military career, he would enroll at West Point.

But there is no denying that Texas A&M wants to get out of the Longhorns shadow. And so did Nebraska (and Colorado to a lesser degree). And Missouri was all to willing to beg the Big Ten to take them. Basically, every program with options, save OU, is out or expressed a desire to leave the Big 12 and Texas. All of this points to UT not being the best neighbor. And in my view, it comes down to DeLoss Dodds running the Big 12 and not the conference commissioner/Dodds puppet Dan Beebe. Anyone think for a second that someone like Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez would pull something like this on Jim Delaney?

[TripletDaddy]

Message already deleted from Cougarboard. What did it say specifically (if anything).

'Stein, whats up brother? You hitched yet? How are things in paradise? I miss home.

[Babs]

holy cow, this thread got long.

[YOhio]

holy cow, this thread got long.

Hi Big 12 friend!

[Goatnapper'96]

holy cow, this thread got long.

As you womenfolk are so fond of saying, everything is longer in Texas!

[Jeff Lebowski]

That was refreshing to read. Makes me wonder what the author would scribe about BYU. At any rate, it comes off as written by a Longhorn or someone denied admission to Texas A&M. Does anyone really think Texas A&M would leave the Big 12 and not be accepted by the SEC? Even the Aggies are not that dumb. But the shots at Texas A&M's academics were really uncalled for as Texas A&M is only behind UT in academic ratings of Big 12 universities. In the SEC, Texas A&M would be behind only Vanderbilt with some debate from Florida and Georgia. Besides, if a student is serious about studying agriculture he would enroll at Nebraska and if he were serious about military career, he would enroll at West Point.

Agreed.

As much as I hate aTm, the author of that article is an idiot.