because you just might get it.
Once again the Aggies are looking fondly eastward, hoping to escape the big brother bully on the block by joining the SEC. They even have a former yell leader enthusiastically leading the way.
The A&M Board of Regents is scheduled to meet on August 22, no doubt where they will discuss this potential move. Of course they will need a formal invitation from Mike Slive and the SEC, but they are convinced that it is a foregone conclusion. Billy Liucci of Texags.com went on SEC media guru Paul Finebaum's radio show in Alabama and said that the SEC was even willing to go with just 13 teams for a year until they decided who else would be asked to join. Speculation over in College Station is that anyone from Virginia Tech to Missouri to Oklahoma could be the other expansion choice.
Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle summed up the Aggies angst as being a combination of "an embarrassing inferiority complex and an irrational superiority complex."
The speculation will be rampant for the next 10 days or so filled with some saying it is a distinct possibility, while others will say not just yet.
The Aggies proposed move is about getting out of the shadow of BEVO -- but it very well could be a classic case of Jumping Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire.
The move (if it happens), is about money and football. The money will be good -- very good -- for A&M. The football? They might want to take a look at their former SWC partner who already made the switch.
Arkansas left the Southwest Conference in 1992, right before the implosion. The Razorbacks have certainly gained financially, but the football results are mixed at best. The SEC was established in 1933 with 10 charter members. It has expanded only once, in 1992 when it added Arkansas from the SWC and South Carolina from the ACC. The Gamecocks have little historical success in football and they remain a middle-of-the-pack program.
In the 20 years before moving to the SEC, Arkansas was 156-73-5 (67%). They finished nationally ranked 10 times in those 20 years – four times in the Top Ten. They won four SWC Championships, and went to 14 bowl games in those 20 seasons.
Since moving to the SEC, the Razorback are 127-101-3 (55%). They have yet to win a SEC title. They have been to 11 bowl games in the 19 years. They have finished nationally ranked just four times during their stay in the SEC -- and never in the Top Ten. They have won the West three times (1995, 2002, 2006), and have lost the three SEC Championship games by a combined score of 102-34.
In conference play, Arkansas has a losing record. The Razorbacks are 72-78-2 in SEC play over the past 19 years.
Arkansas has a career winning mark against just four SEC opponents - Mississippi, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Arkansas has posted a winning record in conference play just 6 times in 19 seasons.
A&M's recent encounters with SEC teams have not been good. Tennessee beat A&M 38-7 in the 2005 Cotton Bowl. The Aggies lost 44-20 to Georgia in the 2009 Independence Bowl, and LSU defeated A&M 41-24 in the 2011 Cotton Bowl. With two straight wins over A&M at Jerry World and an overall mark of 40-24-3 against the Aggies, Arkansas no doubt would welcome A&M with open arms.
If for nothing else than to help them with their dismal conference record.