The Rest of College Football

[entropy]

A&M to SEC? No way, but wait ...

Posted by: Steve Sipple on August 10, 2011 at 2:34PM CST

Media nowadays is fascinating. Great fun to follow.

For example, note the progression of Chip Brown's tweets on Tuesday. Brown, of Orangebloods.com, was prominent in coverage of last year's Big 12 shakeup. I'm sure many of you remember him fondly.

At any rate, this was his first tweet Tuesday regarding the possibility of Texas A&M jumping to the Southeastern Conference:

There is no truth to reports that Texas A&M will join the SEC in the spring of 2012. None.

OK, so much for that. Nothing to see here. But wait a minute. A couple hours later ...

Another top A&M source says nothing is definite with the SEC. But he adds things could heat up fast if A&M remains dismayed by Texas' LHN.

Oh, that dreaded Longhorn Network. So, Chip now says there is a chance Texas A&M could jump ship. It's gone from no chance to a chance pretty quickly. And then ...

There's nothing definite about A&M to SEC. But I was told A&M's lawyers are "looking at everything." A&M regents mtg Aug. 22 will be big.

There you have it. In a span of 11 hours, Brown reported there was no chance in the world that A&M would bolt from the Big 12, according to his high-level sources, but to stay tuned for a mega-regents meeting Aug. 22 in which A&M's possible departure will be discussed in very serious tones.
No matter what happens, Chip can (and will) say, "I told you so."

Pure genius.




Lol

[lineygoblue]

A&M would be foolish to remain in a conference with Texas considering all the shenanigans that the Longhorns have been pulling lately.

[Mike]

No question. Sticking around makes them look like UT's bitch. A battered one at that.

[entropy]

The SEC will be much tougher, but I think they have to leave now. Else, they will appear to be nothing more than a girlfriend who constantly is cheated on by Texas, complains to everyone, but does nothing about it but get back in bed with that cheating boyfriend.

[lineygoblue]

Exactly.

I really think that for Texas, the best thing for them would be to become independent. They're going to want to "run" every conference they might be in anyway, so they might as well take their self-importance with them, and just play in their own sandbox like Notre Dame does.

[JRB]

I think Texas may have badly overreached here with its determination to form its own network. If Texas' own long-time rivals and conference brethren are looking to bolt because of the Longhorn network, how exactly is Texas going to replace them on their schedules? Schools don't exactly line up to do business with programs like this(programs seem to want to get out of business arrangements with them now). Even lower-tier opponents have teams bidding to line them up for homecoming games and the like-- if you're the AD of, say, Arkansas State, are you going to schedule a game at Texas on their network if you have any other option? I could see a lot of ADs blackballing Texas because they don't like how Texas has treated its fellow schools. At the very least, I don't think going independent will be as easy for the Longhorns as they seem to think it will be.

[Mackenzie]

"There is no truth to reports that Texas A&M will join the SEC in the spring of 2012. None."



May be splitting hairs but..... Saying A&M will not join the SEC in 2012 is not the same as saying they will not join the SEC--say in 2013. So, the separate statements may not necessarily be in conflict with each other.

[Dr. Strangelove]

NCAA has ruled that HS games cannot be shown on school-specific or conference-specific networks. Question is, will ESPN and Texas try to challenge that ruling?

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/aggies/entries/2011/08/11/ncaa_says_no_to_televised_high.html?cxntfid=blogs_the_12th_word_at_am

[entropy]

NCAA has ruled that HS games cannot be shown on school-specific of conference-specific networks. Question is, will ESPN and Texas try to challenge that ruling?

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...2th_word_at_am

so does espn say the LHN is not a college network, but an espn network?

[Dr. Strangelove]

For what it's worth, A&M's Rivals site is officially announcing A&M to the SEC is a done deal. If they're wrong they will certainly look foolish

http://tamu.rivals.com/

[entropy]

"by Tarp at 8/11 5:47 PM

I just got off the phone with someone on campus who I had been trying to talk to over the last few days because he's very well connected. Unlike a lot of things we had heard over the past few days which might have contradicted something else we heard or came from outside the university itself, his stuff comes from the highest levels and it's like God handing Moses the Ten Commandments.

A&M's going to the SEC.

This is what was said:

When the LHN was announced last fall, A&M officials took a long hard look at the economics of the deal and decided that they couldn't compete with Texas unless they did something different. They have been in discussions with SEC officials since that time. The person he talked to said that all future alignment discussions would be based on economics and that A&M was ahead of the curve in this regard.

On August 22, the A&M BOR will make it official. It doesn't matter what the NCAA decided today regarding the LHN or if the Big 12 has any further meetings or whatever penalties are assessed by the Big 12 for A&M leaving the conference.

There's nothing that can be done at this point to stop this. The BOR has determined that A&M's future lies in the SEC and away from Texas and will ratify this officially.

He was told that although Rick Perry will be in Birmingham and South Carolina this weekend, he has nothing to do with it. He was also told that he didn't have anything to do with the events of last summer. The timing of Perry's trip to the south has to do with his announcement that he is running for president which will be made Saturday on the same day that the Iowa straw polls are being done.

I apologize for not having much prior to this but this is the conversation that I waiting to have because there has been no better source on A&M over the years and because this comes directly from the highest levels. Prior to that, I wanted to be cautious but there's no need to be cautious at this point.

It's over."

[Dr. Strangelove]

Assuming this is true, who will the SEC pick up as a 14th team? Someone in the East? If so, means the ACC is suddenly looking for a new team

[entropy]

what I find the most amusing is all the big12 boards that are saying hopefully the Big12 gives the aggies the nebraska treatment when it comes to calls. bastards..

[lineygoblue]

Oklahoma may go with A&M.

[entropy]

i bet vt