The SEC, the PAC-10, Recruiting and an Opportunity

Even if the Big 12 does put a poison pill in the membership agreement (doubtful because at least 4 maybe 5 teams currently have motive to avoid inserting such a penalty) the penalty will not be so high that we can’t absorb it fairly easily with an increase of 10 mil per year in TV money.

I highly doubt some of the schools like Missouri or even CU without anywhere near our budget would approve more than a token penalty for leaving the conference. Otherwise they would be absolutely bound to the conference and we would still have the resources to leave.

Hell CU can’t even afford to fire Dan Hawkins and they haven’t been this bad in football for 25 years.

Both limited PAC-10 (plus A&M and Texas) and limited Big 10 expansion (ND, Texas and Texas A&M) would work fine for Texas on both a short- and long-term basis.

The SEC is a non-starter, as is a Pac-20 for that matter. A Big 16 could work with the correct pieces but does seem bloated

If we joined the SEC, I would get with aggy and tell the SEC that our joining the conference is contingent on them not allowing OU to join. Then I’d nix the series with OU. They’d be fucked.

“But wait- what if OU joined the SEC….Yeah, the SEC wants to add a team that provides few extra TV sets, and adds a recruiting base slightly larger than Arkansas’.”

The irony of this statement is that you provide the logic as to exactly why it could happen earlier in your very own words in the same post:

“I think the answer is found in the excessive conference pride the SEC members are known for. I think that SEC pride in having the best football conference has gone from a bragging point to a foundation of their marketing strategy. They don’t fear an expanded Big 10 competitively, but they do not want to allow anybody else the boast of having the biggest and best conference…They would rather expand than cede their current position as the unrivaled conference.”

Of college football’s traditional powers, OU is the single most obvious choice for the SEC. Close to the region, instant cachet as far as name and program recognition both traditionally and currently, no overriding demands for strict regulations of any sort, no strict allegiances of any kind.

Nate, rank these non-SEC schools in terms of desirability-

OU, OSU, Miami, FSU, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Louisville

The SEC has lots of expansion opportunities before it has to invite a school that brings few TV sets, will recruit its territories, and require the most travel.

“…no overriding demands for strict regulations of any sort…”

Easily overlooked comment, but in truth it speaks volumes about the OU program.

You’d best hope the SEC will take you, because most of the other attractive options aren’t interested in an outlaw program which is a corrosive partner in so many ways. Good riddance IMO.

I agree with Black-Scholes, but also note that Texas will continue to play OU in Dallas even if we were to be in another conference. Texas can’t give that game up. If we did, OU would play the Ags there, even if the Ags were in another conference. It’s just too good of a recruiting showcase for North Texas recruiting. If OU tried to stop playing Texas (i.e. tried to replace Texas with another state fair opponent), we would just find another out of state school with a big name to replace them (Notre Dame?). We are joined with OU in that annual matchup for a long, long time.

SEC fans & their conference pride = strange, fervent & real. If you haven’t lived in the region, you cannot imagine how strong it is.

CFB media has figured it out and has recently fallen in line with the fans in the interest of making money. It’s turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

They can’t match that Big 12 pride though, you know, the coaches working together and backing each other…..our conference is such a fucking joke all the way down.

Now that they’ve got a new contract, I’m starting to think the SEC won’t be able to steal any ACC teams. Academics matter to those schools, and several were repeatedly spurned by the SEC in the past.

The admin decides these things, not the fans, so I think both UT and the Ags are most likely to go the Big Ten. Maybe the Pac Ten, but not as just the 11th and 12th teams and UT won’t want to be in the same division as USC. More likely with Utah and Colorado and perhaps 2 others to balance out power and limit travel to the NW. The jughead Byrne may like the SEC, but he doesn’t make the call. Big Ten is cleaner, the money is more assured and probably much higher, and no time zone issues (even if I think that can be worked around with good negotiations.)

Put us and the Ags in the Big Sixteen and the SECheats may be cornered. Would adding OU, KS, WV, and TCU be enough for ESPN to reopen the contract? I doubt it, they’d really need NE to have a chance. If we squeeze out NE and MO from Big Ten expansion, they’ll probably look west. Even if the Pac Ten only goes to 12, CO and NE may be more profitable than Utah and CO. So SEC expansion might then require a pay cut. Are they really going to do that for pride?

Hard to think of worse timing for a scandal if I were a Jayhawk or Sooner. Poooooor SooNERS!

Former:

I laugh when you say the SEC won’t be able to steal any ACC teams because “academics matter to those schools”.

You may be right about schools like UNC, Duke, and Virginia, but Miami would fit right in with the SEC in just about every way imaginable.

As would Free Shoes University.

Taylor,

It depends very highly on the criteria, but I think you’ve already got your own objective and not-at-all biased criteria in mind. Again, you made the best argument for OU in SEC. Only one of the schools on that list you drew up brings the immediate credibility of a team with 7 MNCs and a very long string of recent success. If Miami starts becoming badass again, that changes the discussion. The SEC is a group of schools that pour money into athletics above all else, and their marketing strategy is that they’re the best/toughest conference. OU is the only team on the list that adds anything tangible to the SEC’s stature. If the objective is just to expand for the sake of expansion, then any 2nd rate team will do. There’s only one team on that list that has been a year in, year out contender for the last decade.

blackscholes,

Outline the “many ways” in which OU is a corrosive partner. I’m genuinely curious as to your take. That said, OU isn’t a match in any shape or form for any other conference but the SEC. It’s a moot discussion, and I’ve already posted as much.

“The jughead Byrne may like the SEC, but he doesn’t make the call.”

Thank you for pointing this out. Byrne is a cocky big swingin’ dick, but he has very little power in this particular scenario.

Right you are about the SEC:
1. Tail (athletics) wags the dog (academics), w/ the exception of Vandy.
2. Lack of recruiting ethics. If the NCAA had any balls, Bama, Tennessee, among others, would’ve received the Death Penalty over the last 2 decades.
3. Excessive conference pride, obnoxiously so. But the SEC does have solidarity going for it. After victories in non-conference games, you often hear fans chanting, “S-E-C.”

HOWEVER, just as the Aggies perpetuated several myths (e.g., Aggies sell out their stadium; Aggies never leave the game early) during their last heyday, there are at least a couple of myths re: the SEC:
1. They sell out all their games. I’ve seen PLENTY of games where the stands are nowhere near being full. Those weren’t just non-conference games over the likes of Louisiana Monroe either – even intraconference games don’t sell out, not just Vandy-UKy games.
2. Their rivalries are full of tradition. The 10 schools prior to expansion in ‘92 have been together since the dawn of time. However, if you look at the number of meetings b/t them, it looks like they’ve avoided each other most of the time. Heck, UT has more meetings w/ Tech than many of these so-called heated rivalries do.

Even though I hate to admit it, I think OU would be a very attractive option for expansion for the SEC. If the SEC could get UT, I don’t think they’d take A&M over OU. A&M is a DISTANT 2nd to UT in perhaps every positive attribute. OU, OTOH, doesn’t bring much in terms of population, but does bring a long winning tradition, albeit tainted by cheating (hey, they’d fit right in w/ the SEC!). Seriously, what really has A&M ever done, except cheat & provide fodder for jokes?

As long as no school leaves the Big 12 (I know, a big question mark considering Mizzou keeps on flashing its breasts to the Big 10; Osborne, ever the sore loser, keeps on threatening that NU could leave; & CU flirting w/ the Pac-10), I think the Big 12 is the best conference for UT. It’s a conference where UT dominates (although Mack needs to get more titles) & we can keep an eye on our 2 biggest rivals. If either A&M or OU leave for the SEC & UT were to go to a different conference, the pull of the SEC to TX recruits would be too difficult to overcome.

Joetx, OU takes in $48.3 million in ticket sales and foundation donations per year.That’s after 10 years at a historic high level. TAMU takes in $63.2 million in ticket sales and foundation donations after 10 years of mediocrity. That’s why TAMU is a more enticing candidate- there is just a much larger demand for the product.

@ TTR – It looks like we’ll have to agree to disagree re: OU’s attractiveness to the SEC vis-a-vis A&M. I still believe that if UT were to go to the SEC, the SEC would have the State of TX “covered.” A&M is a distant 2nd to UT in fan support/interest. In addition, I think there’s a perception of adding more value if you add another state, especially if you add the flagship of that state (even if the flagship is that of OK). Finally, OU is a top 10 traditional power. A&M barely makes the top 25.

OU is a Top 10 traditional power without a recruiting base of its own. Only two schools have pulled that off- Notre Dame and OU. Notre Dame does it by being a national school, and the home school for Catholics. OU does it by claiming North Texas as its territory. Problem is that North Texas is just not Oklahoma, and its recruiting base will never be absolutely solid for them. If OU did not have the RRS, it would lose its North Texas base.

@ TTR – I’d argue that NU & possibly Tennessee and/or Bama don’t have much of a recruiting base either, yet they’re all Top 10 traditional powers.