Very well.....no theories of mine are so simple that I can just "name them off". Sorry, you asked for it.
Texas starts it off by deciding they wish to move on from the Big 12 much like they did from the SWC. Why they decide such? That is for them to decide but Dodds made it pretty clear that they have had thoughts about it and about the move I am about to list as the one I feel is most likely for them IF they move.
Texas negotiates with the ACC for a deal like Notre Dame's. They say they will come if the ACC takes two other schools from Texas. They would need that for political reasons and for voting reasons within the ACC. They negotiate for the same deal that Notre Dame turned down. They play six games against the ACC every year but two of them are against two teams of their choosing. That of course will be the two programs that come with. The ACC says Baylor and TCU due to their locations and I don't see why Texas would disagree. That just means they have to sign a deal with Tech, more on that later though.
Texas is taken care of, the next one to be taken care of is Oklahoma. If Texas is coordinating this then that would explain why they
perhaps were talking to the Big Ten, to see if they would take Oklahoma of course.
The Big Ten would most likely say yes. They need two more schools, OU is of good academic pedigree being a Carnegie University if not an AAU. It has an elite national football brand that the conference sorely needs. Kansas accompanies them of course with their Elite basketball brand, their AAU status and their medical research credentials. Plus....they make the State of Oklahoma contiguous.
After that it comes to the SEC. Who do they like out of the rest in order to make this happen? Well I do personally think they would not find the situation optimal but in the end the value of going along with this is just too much to pass up. The options of West Virginia and Oklahoma State are by no means chump change for the SEC. Two strong, building brands to fill out the footprint as best as the SEC can. They both will also fill in well to future divisions.
That leaves the PAC and the last three schools, whom you should be able to list off now. Some folks think the PAC would stand in the way of all this progress. I am most certain they would threaten it but the leverage is against them and the three available schools are better than anything else the PAC has as options. They get the PAC into the Central Time Zone. One gives them a Texas program much like how the SEC is doing well with just one. They will grudgingly go along with the plan. Whom else they take with those three? I don't really care who. New Mexico? UNLV? Hawaii? Doesn't really matter to me.
Edit: Oh...I almost forgot. The Tech deal. They follow in the footsteps of A&M by getting out from the Texas shadow but they leverage Texas into signing a deal to play Tech every year as an ooc rivalry game. Tech gets to thumb their nose at A&M for getting everything that A&M got plus the Rivalry game. Texas Tech and their new Coach will very likely dominate their new division within the PAC. They will be involved more in the New Postseason of the future by going this route than they ever would by sticking around with the current Big 12.
