DeLoss Dodds: "I Don't Think We Need to Expand"

by srr50 on May 22, 2025 4:30 PM CDT in Texas Longhorns and Other Football

While the realignment train keeps picking up steam and heads out of the station once again this summer, DeLoss Dodds has reiterated to CBSSports.com that Texas believes that a membership of 10 makes for a cleaner conference.

Dodds likes the idea of a round robin schedule and no conference championship game. He is concerned that when a play off system comes online, it could muck up the works if a 9-3 team pulls an upset over an 11-1 or 12-0 team in the conference game.

"We could expand to some number," Dodds said. "You name the number -- 12, 14, 16. We could expand but the question is 'do we need to expand?' In my mind 10 is perfect because you play everybody in football and there is a double-round-robin in basketball.

"When we get into whatever system we get in for a championship, I think those coaches that play in a conference championship are going to say 'What in the world are we doing?' "

On the other hand, Dodds also admits that the Big 12 would welcome Notre Dame with open arms even if it is not full-time in football.

"Notre Dame has options," Dodds said. "I think they love their position. I certainly think they can continue to do what they're doing and do it well and be a major player. But they have options.

"We've talked to Notre Dame about the Big 12 ... They could put some football here [by playing a few non-conference games against Big 12 opponents]."

It has been widely speculated that one of those games would involve playing Texas on Thanksgiving at least every other year, when it would be a home game for the Longhorns.

Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com went on Tim Brando's show today to expand on the possibilities of yet another summer of college football realignment.

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Comments

So, BCers . . . what's DeLoss' long-term aim?

Stay as is, at least until the next Aggie Flight takes place?

Take a hard line on expansion, but not so hard a Florida State couldn’t get in?

Once the LHN takes off, pull out of the Big 12 to form an even Bigger 12? Or 10?

Form a conference with Notre Dame, consisting of two divisions of one each — and see which standard bearer can fill out its division with the strongest field?

by edsp on May 22, 2025 4:57 PM CDT reply actions

DeLoss is BSing

He’s building up the negativity on his side so it then appears that TEXAS is acting in the interest of the Bix 12 when we accept FSU and Clemson into the conference. Win win.

by UT07 on May 22, 2025 5:05 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

Unless of course the Big12 doesn't expand, in which case....

DeLoss’ quotes will have given the appearance that once again big bad Texas forced their desires down the throats of the conference and got their way.

I just think it would be better if DeLoss would shut up than say these kind of things. It’s ironic that he keeps say shit now, but when aggy was dragging us through the mud last year he almost never spoke to refute it or give Texas’ side of the story. Instead letting aggy lies become national perception because no one countered them.

by Nunna Yo Bizness on May 22, 2025 9:16 PM CDT up reply actions

My thoughts exactly

Dodds is brilliant, but a PR wizard he ain’t! He is also arrogant (we ARE the Joneses) and that persona keeps us in a nationally bad light.

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 23, 2025 9:45 AM CDT up reply actions

No Sugar

I think it’s just because DeLoss doesn’t sugarcoat his comments-he’s very direct.

by nimrodxi on May 23, 2025 10:59 AM CDT up reply actions

You probably didn't notice this

but a PR wizard he ain’t

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 23, 2025 5:04 PM CDT up reply actions

I have been watching

A meltdown on the 247 boards for the last 48 hours over their reporting that Dodds has come out against expansion.

At this point, I am not sure what people expect Deloss to say, and I believe I have seen similar quotes out of OU and OSU’s administration in the last few days saying they like the conference as is. These guys can’t come out and say, “Yes, we are going to take FSU and Clemson.”

I would take Deloss’ quotes as nothing more than empty platitudes right now.

by Big(g) Ern on May 22, 2025 5:06 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

He could say "we like 10 teams but are open to expansion if quality teams are available",

instead of the stance he seems to be taking that no one but Notre Dame meets his criteria.

by Nunna Yo Bizness on May 22, 2025 9:09 PM CDT up reply actions

I agree with Nunna Yo Bizness on this - say nothing!

At this point, I am not sure what people expect Deloss to say

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 23, 2025 9:47 AM CDT up reply actions

Also...

I do think UT and OU like the lack of a conference championship game, and I think Deloss genuinely does not want to expand and fill up the open slots before ND decides… but I also don’t think you can take his quotes to mean that UT will stand in the way of FSU and Clemson should the opportunity arise.

by Big(g) Ern on May 22, 2025 5:08 PM CDT reply actions

The way I take it . . .

is that the Big XII isn’t going to go out and settle for any teams it can get - like Louisville or Cincinatti - just for the sake of a two division system and a Championship game.

Frankly, I’m fine staying at ten teams. One of the things that made the Big XII easier to crack apart, in my opinion, was that the conference wasn’t one unified group, so much as a partnership between two smaller conferences. One of my concerns with the FSU and Clemson rumors is that while technically FSU, WVU and Clemson would be in the same conference as Texas, practically they wouldn’t be and I do not believe that kind of relationship will remain stable for very long.

by Puedlfor_ on May 22, 2025 6:45 PM CDT reply actions

S.O.P.

Standard operating procedure. Creates a public record if you do expand that you weren’t tampering, creates a public record that you never wanted to anyway if things fall apart.

All comes down to ESPN at this point. Where would they prefer Clemson/FSU? I’m betting they prefer them at discount rates in the ACC.

by G.O.F on May 22, 2025 9:42 PM CDT reply actions

It is not up to ESPN if

The FSU and Clemson boards decide to move AND the majority of the Big12 let them in. In that case, it is just a matter of determining the fair market value of the whole package. ESPN may like the discount they are getting for FSU and Clemson in the ACC, but it is an artificial ceiling that will not hold. Dodds is just posturing to keep from coming across as a Darth Vader that castrates conferences. True, the aim is really Notre Dame, but building a “super conference” to set up the playoff system to force/draw ND in is necessary. FSU and Clemson are needed to give the conference the weight necessary to draw ND into the system - first for the non-football sports and then for full participation in 2015.

I suspect Dodds, Slive and Swarbrick may have already mapped all this out. I can’t imagine that they are going to just sit back and react to the changes that are coming.

by Major Cult on May 23, 2025 8:06 AM CDT up reply actions

Math

200 / 10 = 20
240 / 12 = 20
252 / 12 = 21
264 / 12 = 22

FSU and Clemson would have to up the ante by 20% for the B12 to break even on the deal. They would have to improve the deal by 32% overall to bring a 10% return - and that’s not including ACC exit fees.

So, two schools that can’t earn the ACC top dollar are going to command a 32% increase in the currently proposed B12 deal (according to rumors)? No way.

And even if they did, do the B12 powers really want to go to divisions and a championship game for an extra $2 mill a year? Maybe. But it’s not a gimme.

I don’t see the math or other imperatives here for the B12. The SEC wanted TAMU and Missouri for demonstrable financial reasons. I don’t see those dynamics in play for the B12 at the moment.

by G.O.F on May 23, 2025 12:25 PM CDT up reply actions

I think the smaller schools (KU, KSU, Baylor et al) would clearly want the expansion because they view it as extra security since OU and UT have already proven their willingness to look around. And as others have already stated, the granting of media rights is nice and all but just like exit fees, they are more negotiable than one would think.

If you are OU or UT, you probably look at this from a dollar standpoint and don’t want to add unless it clearly moves the media needle. Only one school out there would clearly do that, and its not Clemson or FSU.

by Big(g) Ern on May 23, 2025 12:52 PM CDT up reply actions

Actually, it could be more than that

The ACC just got a 33 percent bump for adding Pitt and Syracuse.

by BobInHouston on May 23, 2025 5:29 PM CDT up reply actions

More than that

155 to 240 mill annually, if the reports are accurate. That would be 55%. Something else had to be going on there, though. No way Syracuse and Pitt bumped them 55% - not if the contract value was 4 to 1 football to basketball, as the ACC’s football school’s claim.

I’m thinking back to BC President’s slip over the Pitt/Syracuse acquisition, where he said the ACC had been guided by ESPN in that process. ESPN knows what conference compositions maximize its programming content relative to the dollars it must invest, and it’s obviously willing to pay accordingly.

Remember, we’re talking about ad rates for the most part. ESPN’s subscriber rates are basically set. I don’t see how Pitt/Syracuse moves enough households to justify the bump. I don’t see how an FSU/Clemson or Miami/GT game under a B12 banner rather than an ACC banner means that much more money. Those programs playing UT and Oklahoma would be nice - but would they be that much nicer than the games already on the B12 schedule?

The only way I could see FSU et al making the move and justifying it financially would be a B12 network. Maybe the success of the P12 at leveraging their product onto cable carriers has ESPN rethinking their game plan on that one. I don’t know.

But a straight FSU-Team 2 to the B12, without something else in the mix, seems like an economic long-shot to me.

by G.O.F on May 23, 2025 8:44 PM CDT up reply actions

You're right in terms of dollars

I was comparing what the original 12 got… it’s a bit of a mix because they did add some football and basketball inventory.

by BobInHouston on May 23, 2025 10:14 PM CDT up reply actions

Got it

by G.O.F on May 23, 2025 10:22 PM CDT up reply actions

Maybe we're all overthinking this

It might be as simple as that DeLoss thinks the best option for Texas is being a member of a conference substantially based in the middle of the country (as long as the money is competitive with our “peer” institutions), that Texas wants to control and exploit it’s own IP/content, and that a 10 team conference gives Texas the best chance to make the round of 4.

by nimrodxi on May 23, 2025 8:23 AM CDT reply actions

All true, but

agreeing to the “Yellow Rose Bowl” is completely contrary to Dodds public stance. You can’t set up an environment for 4 power conferences and then leave valuable institution (ND, FSU, Clemson, VT, etc) on the outside looking in. Once you agreed to equal sharing, tie up TV rights long term (as we have in the Big12) and you can add value by adding members, you will have to go along with majority and the simple fact that money cannot be left on the table.

by Major Cult on May 23, 2025 8:57 AM CDT up reply actions

He's never implied that he wouldn't go along with the majority

UT still, and only ever had, 1 vote. Almost all that stuff they took the blame for the majority of the old Big XII voted for, including the defectors.

And Texas has already agreed to leave money on the table (remember NU & CU’s exit fee, or the move to equal revenue sharing?). If the choice for Texas is between an extra couple of million, or a significantly better chance to be in the “final four”, then they’re leaving that money on the table.

And actually his agreement to the new bowl arrangement with the SEC is not against his public stance (to be a good partner) - it’s in the best interest of the conference, guaranteeing that the Big XII champion won’t get stuck playing a BE opponent or mid-major as has happened in the past.

by nimrodxi on May 23, 2025 11:07 AM CDT up reply actions

Playoff structure and requirements will determine everything

It seems to me that the Big 12 should do nothing until the playoff system is determined. If conference championship status is required to be in the playoff, Notre Dame is forced to join a conference and the Big 12 appears to be in a good spot to land them. At that point, Texas could take 1 (FSU) or 3 (FSU + GT + Clemson) more schools to get to 12 or 14. If conference champion status is NOT required for the playoff (top 4 in polls or committee), Notre Dame is going to remain independent in football. At that point, the Big 12 then decides if it wants to add anyone at all. Right now the money is good at 10, the schedule is good at 10, and the influence of Texas is largest at 10. This is why Deloss continues to state his preference to remain at 10. The ACC would also survive just fine if the Big 12 opts to not invite anyone.

Seems like this all boils down to the methodology/requirements for the playoff. Conference champions = realignment round 3. Top 4 in the polls = all calm on the “eastern” front.

"I swear -- by my life and my love for it -- that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

by J Galt on May 23, 2025 9:22 AM CDT reply actions

ND and FSU

I would like to see ND and FSU added to the Big XII. Not sure why I haven’t seen this option discussed.

Hook ’em!

by uthookem on May 23, 2025 9:42 AM CDT reply actions

The Big XII is diminished if we stay at 10 teams - it is simple as that

Conference championship, be damned! Win the games you are supposed to win. If you align your schedules (New Mexico, Wyoming) and your conferences to NOT get beat, you already are!

Give ND credit, their schedules over the last 10 years have been brutal and Bama, LSU, UT and OU records would not be as glittering had they had the same.

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 23, 2025 9:52 AM CDT reply actions

Without actually looking at the schedules of all these teams side by side, I would imagine that playing in the SEC is easily equitable to Notre Dame’s schedule. ND plays Pitt, Purdue, a service academy and a few scrubs every year. Michigan? Not great in a while. Stanford? Good with Luck. USC? Pretty good, yes. Their schedule isn’t a cake walk, but to say it’s been brutal is a bit of an overstatement, IMO.

And I don’t really agree with the opening point either. You have to add the right teams to add value to the conference. As an example, I don’t think that the SEC is any better by having Missouri and TAMU in their conference. I think their football league has been diluted as a result of those additions. Having said that, I think that FSU would be a good get, same with VT or ND. Clemson I don’t know about. I guess we need some more yokels in the conference.

And of course, having said all that, this is above my pay grade. Deloss has transformed the UT athletics department into a juggernaut. I’ll let him continue to do his thing.

by Yossarian Rising on May 23, 2025 10:10 AM CDT up reply actions

There is another danger of Big 12 expansion, however.

If we have UT, OU, FSU and ND in the conference and we don’t have EQUAL sharing amongst the members, then we will have this power clique deciding what the rest of the membership will or will not be able to do.

Then we will have more discontent and more bolting.

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 23, 2025 9:57 AM CDT reply actions

Already have equal revenue sharing

For Tier 1 & 2 - it’s eat what you can kill on Tier 3 - as it always has been in the Big XII. And that’s exactly what’s going to be very attractive financially to schools like FSU and ND.

by nimrodxi on May 23, 2025 11:10 AM CDT up reply actions

Then we will have more discontent and more bolting.

Some of these people have nowhere to bolt.

Follow @BarkingCarnival

by Sailor Ripley on May 23, 2025 1:37 PM CDT up reply actions

I understand that maybe DeLoss has to say this now

to cover himself but the reason he is giving is just infuriating to me. There is already a national perception that Texas fears quality competition in Football and he is saying he is afraid of losing the Conf Championship game? Does he not watch 30 for 30 on ESPN? Didn’t they basically say the competition and conference championship made the SEC what it is today? Come on man give a different reason than you are scared to play another tough game during the season. The conference championship game can also vault you up in the rankings if you win it.

by dudoo on May 23, 2025 10:04 AM CDT reply actions

Amen, brother!

Our coaches are being paid millions of dollars to win football games - quit whining about the schedule and do your job! If UT had Alabama scheduled for 10 games in one year - play football and shut the hell up!

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 23, 2025 10:15 AM CDT up reply actions

If UT v Bama played 10 times

Neither would ever win a natty. Some practicality has to be involved. Don’t take the Cal route and confuse whining with practical self interest.

by UTeze on May 23, 2025 11:15 AM CDT up reply actions

It's not fear of loosing the conf champ game it's fear of losing players to injury..

Keeping your team healthy is crucial to a national championship bid, why force your conferences best team to play one more game against a team that may or may not be relavent? If Vince young gets hurt beating CU 60-0 we would all feel pretty stupid about it. Or what about if LSU and Bama are in different divisions last year? Do they end up facing ech other 3 times? Conf championship is just stupid especially in a BCS playoff world where you still have two games post season.

by Bunbury on May 24, 2025 12:04 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

Once again - this mindthink is playing not to lose.

Players get hurt - that is part of the game. Good coaches have their #1’s ready to play, GREAT coaches have their 2’s and 3’s ready to play as well. If you’ve given them a scholarship to play football at UT, then they should trained just as hard as everyone else to be prepared to play.

I’m going to say something here that is going to piss some people off - but it is my opinion and I firmly believe it!

MACK BROWN IS A CRAPPY FOOTBALL COACH!

Stoops, Snyder, Gundy and even Briles can coach circles around him and have. Texas, for over 10 years, has had it’s pick of the cream of crop of Texas recruits and yet he has won only one natty and 2 CC’s and In 2010, he and his coaching staff were finally uncovered in an embarrassing manner. Mack’s mantra was to cover his coaching inability with superior talent and it was hard to argue with the success of his thinking when you had so many 10+ winning seasons. Our nat’l championship was won, basically, by Mack finally relenting and giving VW free reign to show his abilities - even though we tried to make him play in a box.

Here is what Mack excels at - he is the consumate salesman, PR expert and orgaizational wizard. No one in the country can touch him on this! In addition, he is a fine man and is loyal to a fault - all good assets for a school like UT. He is a man that all parents want their child to be associated with and to play for.

But, as a football coach - he sucks!

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 24, 2025 2:44 PM CDT up reply actions

I agree with every aspect and could not have said it better. The only extension I would make....

is that 2010 may have finally helped him to recognize what he is (and what he isn’t) and convinced him to finally surround himself with competent people who can do the things he doesn’t do well. Like that coaching stuff. And player evaluation. And player development.

by Nunna Yo Bizness on May 24, 2025 3:30 PM CDT up reply actions

I remember that NC. Volkswagen couldn't be stopped...

by Texas Wahoo on May 25, 2025 9:35 AM CDT up reply actions

LOL - Vince wagen!

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 25, 2025 10:39 PM CDT up reply actions

It's just math

What’s wrong with not stacking the deck against yourself. Texas has been beefing up its non-con schedule since the removal of the championship game (USC, ND, BYU, Cal). Losing at the beginning of the year is much more forgiving.

The addition of a playoff further stacks the odds.

Better Odds => More Championships => More $$$.

by UTeze on May 23, 2025 11:12 AM CDT up reply actions

What's wrong is stacking the deck FOR yourself

It’s tantamount to cheating! Football games are competitive events. Our OOC schedule, this year, is embarrassing, shameful and uninteresting.

Would you prefer to see UT play New Mexico rather than S. Carolina? Does it make your season to see us smash an vastly inferior team?

So, we beat OU during the regular season by a field goal and have to play them again in the CC. So? Math doesn’t enter into it unless you are trying to rig the table.

In coaches vernacular, play them one game at a time.

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 23, 2025 7:47 PM CDT up reply actions

So I guess

You missed the part where I listed our beefed up non-con sched in the future. Who’s stacking the deck?

The issue at hand is a CCG anyway, and although you have a point about what coaches should be focusing on, it is out of bounds(!) here. Our coach/admin should be focused on winning championships. There is a formula for that which lies in the realm of fairness and respectability: Play everyone in your conference once, one beefy non-con team to add credibility esp in down years for your conf, and 2 playoff games. If you’d like to see more challenging non-con then that’s fine, but “shutting the hell up” is a bit much, they have a reasonable outlook on the matter.

by UTeze on May 23, 2025 11:24 PM CDT up reply actions

Oh, I don't know

When you say:

What’s wrong with not stacking the deck against yourself

You missed my point as well. I’m a UT football fan. I want UT to play games that are entertaining and challenging. Fans love this. I’m not interested in hearing millionaire coaches whine about the CC game as being too scary. All this kind of talk is BS - if you are afraid of the outcome of a football game, you need to go to OU and not coach UT!

This is why I am 100% for “The four best teams in a playoff”, for the natty,and not the conference champions. That is also why I suspect the SEC/Big 12 game, that works for CC but doesn’t necessarily apply to the natty, is a harbinger of the coming expansion of the Big 12.

lI would even argue this with you:

Our coach/admin should be focused on winning championships

Championships are the natural result of excellence in teaching, training and developing your players and (get ready for this) winning one game at a time!

Once again, if Mack Brown dislikes the conference championship game - then maybe he should consider retirement and we should get a coach with fire in his competitive ass and who LOVES playing games!

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 24, 2025 10:00 AM CDT up reply actions

I have to say for a long time I was opposed to the Big 12 CCG.

That however was largely due to the fact that for a long time the PAC, B1G, and even the ACC prior to 2004 didn’t have a CCG. In that scenario it did feel like we were at a disadvantage to have to play that extra game when several other big conferences didn’t have that hurdle for their road to the BCS championship. We could look no further than the 2001 season for an example of how it bit us.

However, now that every major conference has gone to a divisional CCG format I have no problem with the Big12 having one since it would be no more a competitive disadvantage for us than for anyone else.

by Nunna Yo Bizness on May 24, 2025 10:59 AM CDT up reply actions

Good point - hadn't thought of this

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 24, 2025 2:25 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm also in favor of "The four best teams in a playoff."

I just think the BCS is terrible at determining who the best four teams are, and thus I prefer a conference champion system to determine the best four teams.

by Texas Wahoo on May 24, 2025 11:03 AM CDT up reply actions

I'm extremely excited about the Ole Miss game. That is likely the only game I will be at this year.

by Texas Wahoo on May 24, 2025 8:46 AM CDT up reply actions

Playing the game

We’ve had a crash course the last two years in the Big XII in how to play the realignment game.

Rule number one? Pay NO attention to anything anybody says. If the destination conference says they’re happy where they’re at, in regards to number of teams, that’s only intended to keep nuisance lawsuits away. The serious expansion talks will always go on behind the scenes, and anything heard otherwise is always going to be nothing more than rumors, uninformed personal opinions, and internet speculation. I’m as guilty of that as most of the people posting here.

Deloss Dodds hasn’t suddenly become dumb. He really is close to being the smartest man in the room, and he says or does absolutely nothing without a reason. Concerning his comments about expansion…he was responding to a question or two put to him in an interview, and he was NOT speaking for either the Big XII, or UT. I don’t doubt his comments were directed specifically at John Swofford and the ACC, in case they were thinking about filing some kind of lawsuit against the Big XII. I also don’t doubt that in his heart of hearts, Dodds thinks a ten team Big XII is the ideal, but when push comes to shove, he’s way to smart to stand in the way of expansion if everybody else wants it. It should also be noted that officials connected with both OU and OSU in recent days have come out in favor of a ten team Big XII. Dodds is a lightning rod for criticism by those who don’t like UT, and people have a tendency to overlook others who share the same opinion as Deloss Dodds.

"Where is the church? Who took the steeple? Religion's in the hands of some crazy ass people!" (The gospel according to Jimmy Buffett)

by coolhorn on May 23, 2025 10:41 AM CDT reply actions

Rule number one? Pay NO attention to anything anybody says

Could not agree more. For evidence, see:

1) UT to the PAC is a done deal per high ranking UT athletics officials, as reported by the Statesman staff.

2) Mizzou will not leave the Big 12. Hell, their President is in charge of the conferences’ expansion committee and was just quoted as saying he feels good about where things are going.

3) Aggy can’t leave, they won’t even get an invite per Finebaum and other connected SEC sources.

4) UT officials and boosters were known to have made a presentation to Big 10 officials and it is only a matter of time before UT joins the conference.

by Big(g) Ern on May 23, 2025 12:04 PM CDT up reply actions

“1) UT to the PAC is a done deal per high ranking UT athletics officials, as reported by the Statesman staff.”

Pac 12 thought it was done too. Things are fluid.

Follow @BarkingCarnival

by Sailor Ripley on May 23, 2025 1:39 PM CDT up reply actions

There is a difference

When the Pac deal blew up both times, it was happening in just a few days. In both cases, Larry Scott was carrying the water without approval of his bosses.

Here, there are reports from various sides on a continuing basis that things are happening. At no time has Neinas been commuting between targets or planting stories that deals were done.

by BobInHouston on May 23, 2025 5:33 PM CDT up reply actions

I know some of his bosses

who were fine with it.

DD blew that one up, I think.

Follow @BarkingCarnival

by Sailor Ripley on May 23, 2025 5:45 PM CDT up reply actions

Won't fight you at all

In 2010, I think Rick Perry blew it up. Told Texas and A&M to go back and make it work.

In 2011, something happened between Sunday and Monday. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with DD insisting on a solo LHN and the Pac insisting that they wouldn’t go for that deal.

by BobInHouston on May 23, 2025 10:17 PM CDT up reply actions

The Baylor 247 mod

Who has been one of the main sources of the realignment gossip and would seem to have some sort of source with the B12 conference is reporting that as of this morning:

1) Clemson and FSU are a done deal and he is already giving the dates that he expects each to make their announcement.

2) B12 is further down the path with Notre Dame than most think, with the ND joining in all sports but football, with football joining after the NBC contract expires or 2017 at the latest (why 2017? I have no idea)

3) Almost every other ACC school including VT and UNC are now exploring their options.

I have no idea if the guy is right, but he was saying FSU and Clemson want in before almost anyone else, so he seems to have at least some credibility.

by Big(g) Ern on May 23, 2025 2:00 PM CDT reply actions

I keep hearing about the "Baylor 247 guy" but no one ever gives a link.

I looked around and found some guy named Bryan Ethridge there with some stories on this but it’s behind a paywall. If this is the guy then his credibility (for better or worse) would appear to be on par with Shuttlesworth since they both are presumably having to produce juicy articles to meet their employer’s demands. Whether that means they “embellish” to accomplish it I can’t say, but I personally give them less credence then someone who gives info for free and isn’t trying to meet a quota.

by Nunna Yo Bizness on May 23, 2025 5:01 PM CDT up reply actions

There's no reason to pump a realignment story

They could happen now, next week, next year, next decade. They happen when they happen. They don’t run on a reporter’s schedule.

The difference is that multiple people are reporting these, not just one. If it’s all smoke, a lot of people are lying to a lot of people.

by BobInHouston on May 23, 2025 5:36 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm not talking about putting out realignment stories in general. It's....

the more sensational aspects of it that aren’t being reported by everyone like the impending addition of Notre Dame including football. Now maybe this Baylor guy has some source most others don’t and this story is true. On the other hand he could be embellishing some less juicy rumors and hunches he has to bump his subscriptions. I won’t really know until more sources report it or it actually happens. If he were a free source on the other hand I’d put more credence in what he says since I know subscriptions aren’t a motivation for embellishment.

by Nunna Yo Bizness on May 23, 2025 10:09 PM CDT up reply actions

Yes, reporters want to break stories

But people also put way to much stock in the idea that a reporter will make up something for a headline.

I’ve seen nothing in Ethridge’s stories that make me think he’s just guessing in order to be first.

The other problem with these stories is that if someone is right on top of the story, there are a ton of twists and turns. Things can change overnight. That doesn’t make every other story wrong.

by BobInHouston on May 23, 2025 10:23 PM CDT up reply actions

You may be right about this guy. Of course since he's behind a paywall...

and I’m not gonna pay for a Baylor site I guess I’ll have to go by what you and others who have read it tell me.

by Nunna Yo Bizness on May 23, 2025 10:32 PM CDT up reply actions

Every source has an agenda

it’s up to the reporter to vet his source and decide if the agenda corrupts the information.

by srr50 on May 23, 2025 11:15 PM CDT up reply actions

Investing in Emu's was the big rage, once

Until the public found out the rage was created by emu owners and their internal trading drove up the big emu price market.

"All the white meat is gone. There's nothin' but necks on the platter."
Darrell Royal

by Snide Aside on May 24, 2025 10:04 AM CDT up reply actions

I don't know why everyone doesn't take Dodds at his word, because he's right.

We don’t need to expand. A 10 team conference and a four team playoff gives UT/OU the quickest and easiest path to national titles that they’ve ever had.

If we inject Clemson, FSU, GT, and one of Miami/VT/ND/Louisville into the mix, we’ll give ourselves one less off week and one more hurdle to the big stage.

Of course, ND is the exception to every rule, and if ND joined/partnered with the Big 12 we may not even add a CCG.

I don’t think anyone at UT likes the idea of a CCG, and I don’t like it either.

by notsofst on May 23, 2025 5:03 PM CDT reply actions

If we ould get both FSU and ND right now

Dodds would be all over it like white on rice. As it is, he doesn’t want to act hastily and screw up that scenario. And he’s right, we don’t need to expand. The Big 12 office is still hot on the trail for a football package with ND and potential membership for non football sports. The Big 12 would like 5 games, rotaing among the teams, except us. ND currently says they can only give 3.

by boorad on May 23, 2025 6:39 PM CDT reply actions

The Big Picture

Here’s the deal. If you want Notre Dame, you have to create the scenario that makes it a no brainier for them to come. I think that means you do everything you can to diminish the ACC. (No real ability to impact B1G, so worry about the things you can control.) FSU seems an easy choice. Tradition, size, market, it’s all a win. If you feel you need to stay at even numbers while this all plays out, take Clemson too. They’re at least as attractive as Louisville, if not more so.

On the playoff scenario, I’m still for taking the four best teams, but I don’t want a repeat of last year’s BCS BS, so lobby for conference champs only. It helps push ND your way anyway.

Just my 2 cents.

by TexanNick on May 24, 2025 10:23 AM CDT reply actions