Tag: Conference Expansion

Report: Iowa State and Kansas are talking to the Big Ten

The losers of this whole debacle are the other eight Big 12 schools. At least two schools are being proactive, reaching out to the Big Ten.

Conference realignment hit college football like a freight train on Wednesday. The biggest news is Texas and Oklahoma looking at joining the SEC.

Processing those two not in the Big 12 is enough for everybody’s brain. The Red River schools have been the staple of the conference since it began in 1996. Them leaving is going to leave ripples for years to come.

Some of the biggest losers of this whole debacle are the remaining eight teams in the Big 12. Texas and Oklahoma may have their next destinations, but Iowa State, the three Texas schools, the Kansas schools, Oklahoma State and West Virginia are being left out to dry.

At least two schools are being proactive. According to Mike Vernon, Iowa State and Kansas are attempting to get on calls with the Big Ten. The Jayhawks are leading the charge with the Cyclones tagging along.

For Kansas, the biggest attraction is basketball. A conference such as the Big Ten values the sport more than others, possibly just a tier below football. Welcoming an elite program such as Bill Self’s would be an easy decision for Big Ten presidents/athletic directors.

Iowa State is in a position where its in-state rival already resides in the Big Ten. Will Iowa be like Texas A&M, where it does not want to share the state? Or will the CyHawk rivalry be embraced within the conference?

The two have been playing each other every year since 1977 after a 43-year hiatus. Neither has been in the same conference during that period.

Unlike Texas/Oklahoma in the SEC, nothing is close to being complete. If the Big 12 as we know it ends in 2022, Kansas and Iowa State will have at least a year to be voted into the Big Ten.

Jimbo Fisher comments on Texas reportedly wanting to join the SEC

Jimbo Fisher was getting set to begin talking during SEC media days when the biggest college football story of the offseason dropped.

Jimbo Fisher was getting set to begin talking during SEC media days when the biggest college football story of the offseason dropped. While it does not have anything to do with Texas A&M, it certainly impacts them.

According to Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle, Texas and Oklahoma are looking to join the SEC. This would mean the triangle of former Big 12 rivals would be back in the same conference, competition against one another on the football field.

When asked about Texas and Oklahoma wanting to join the SEC, Fisher responded with “I bet they would. We got the greatest league in ball.”

To some Aggie fans, this might come as a little bit of an own, claiming Texas and Oklahoma want to get on their level. But Fisher is right. The SEC is the pinnacle of college football at the moment. Two of the biggest programs in the country would be foolish to stay away.

Fisher also joined The Paul Finebaum Show, discussing the possibility.

While Fisher does not directly comment on whether or not he would be in favor of Texas/Oklahoma joining, athletic director Ross Bjork did. He made it clear Texas A&M wants to be the only team from the state in the SEC.

A vote of 75% would be needed for the report to become true. Texas A&M will be doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make sure their wishes stay true.

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Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork on Texas joining the SEC: “We want to be the only SEC team from the state”

Texas A&M would surely vote against the addition of UT to the SEC. AD Ross Bjork has already made it clear where he stands on the addition.

Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle dropped a bombshell Wednesday afternoon, reporting Texas and Oklahoma could be looking to join the SEC. The two premiere Big 12 schools would join the already 14 team league, making what some might call a “super conference”.

While nothing is close to official, an announcement could be coming within a couple of weeks. The Longhorns and Sooners would be leave behind eight other football programs scrambling to retain their Power Five status. Not something they want to do.

You can add a ninth program that would be against Texas and Oklahoma abandoning the Big 12 ship.

Texas A&M would surely vote against the addition of the Red River rivals if a vote is called upon in the SEC. In fact, athletic director Ross Bjork has already made it clear where he stands on the possible expansion.

Since leaving the Big 12 in 2012, Texas A&M has been able to build up its brand better than if it had stayed. Staying away from the “shadow” of the Longhorns was always the goal.

Bjork doubled down on the sentiments, saying the Aggies got away from the Big 12 for those exact reasons.

“There’s a reason why Texas A&M left the Big 12 – to be stand alone & have our own identity. That’s our feeling.”

Texas A&M may have a difficult time getting other affiliate schools on board with rejecting Texas and Oklahoma, however. Two of the top named programs in the country joining the conference would help more than hurt.

From a football standpoint, and what this is really all about — money — it is a no-brainer.

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Big 12: Exploring Conference, College Football Playoff expansion

Ivan Maisel of ESPN thinks now is the best time for conference expansion. Longhorns Wire explores how to expand the Big 12, playoffs.

Is there a better time than right now to explore the idea of conference expansion? ESPN’s Ivan Maisel doesn’t think so. In a recent post on ESPN Maisel stated now may be the best time to have that conversation. After all it wasn’t that long ago that Nebraska was looking to play football despite the Big Ten’s stance on a postponement of the season.

Hey, here’s a great idea during a pandemic: Let’s have West Virginia fly 1,400 miles to play a Big 12 game at Texas Tech on Oct. 24, but let’s not allow West Virginia to play Pittsburgh. After all, the Panthers, 75 miles away, are in the ACC.

Before the Pac-12 broke the emergency glass on its 2020 season, the conference approved of Colorado flying 1,300 miles to play at Washington but thought it too risky for the Buffaloes to drive 100 miles to play at Colorado State.

And there’s Nebraska, which a decade ago sued for divorce from the Big 12 (née Big Eight), dissolving a marriage consummated in 1928 to grab the money and security and money and money offered by the Big Ten. Last week the Big Ten told Nebraska it couldn’t play football this fall, which went over in the Cornhusker State like, oh, I don’t know, stalk rot.

Maisel brings up a good point about traveling during a pandemic. Teams can’t play those who are reasonably close but yet are expected to fly across the country to participate in a conference game that is deemed safer. For instance any Big 12 team traveling to Morgantown, West Virginia doesn’t seem like the best move. So in the interest of shaking things up, we look at how the Big 12 could expand.

First is the new North Division.

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Schools from the Pac 12 that the Big 12 should consider for expansion

With speculation about the Pac 12 possibly disbanding, members could be needing a new home. Here are four schools the Big 12 should look at.

The Big 12 has been centered around conference realignment since 2011 when Nebraska left for the Big 10 and Colorado darted for the Pac 12. The conference once again lost members in 2012 when Missouri and Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2012.

To make up for those losses, the Big 12 added in-state school TCU and West Virginia, whose campus is nearly 900 miles from another conference school. By the addition of the Mountaineers, the Big 12 has proven that distance from other member schools would not be an issue when expanding.

With recent speculation about the Pac 12 possibly falling apart, some members of the conference could be looking for a new home. With the Big 12 only having 10 schools at the moment, it is the smallest of the Power 5 conferences.

Expansion has already been discussed with Group of 5 schools like Cincinnati, BYU, and even Boise State, so adding even bigger name programs to the Big 12 would benefit the conference even more.

Here are four schools from the Pac 12 the Big 12 should consider expanding with:

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