(03-28-2018 04:17 PM)vandiver49 Wrote: (03-28-2018 02:29 PM)AllTideUp Wrote: The Final Four is upon us!
Spring football is underway!
But we need some fodder to mull over and I'm your man!
I'm going to throw out a crazy thought that I haven't seen anyone else talk about so I want to see what you folks' take on it is...
Theory: Oklahoma does not want to be in a conference with Texas going forward
Now sure, they're still buds and they'll still play every year in Dallas because it's a huge game and helps drive ticket sales and donations. With that said, they have existed in two different leagues for the vast majority of their history. And it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that the experiment has failed as 4 founding members of the Big 12 decided the whole league was more trouble than it was worth.
Oklahoma has suffered from this maybe more than anyone else. They lost 3 long time rivals in the split and their annual tilt with Nebraska was an early casualty of Big 12 politics.
Add to that, more programs in the state of TX had access to big money and big exposure and that ultimately made the Sooners' job tougher. Elevating TCU a few years ago only exacerbated that problem.
Of course, OU hasn't really suffered on the football field. They've won plenty of conference titles and competed for national championships. They have, however, suffered a great deal of instability with all this conference shuffling.
Now, a good while back we saw Berry Tramel comment that certain Big 12 officials had stated that the best solution to their problem was to merge with either the SEC or PAC 12 with the SEC being the first choice.
My theory continues that this was the Big 12 powers' opening offer...
A merger with the PAC 12 won't happen for a lot of different reasons, but I think they also knew a straight merger with the SEC wasn't going to happen either. However, a split between the SEC and ACC is a compromise that most could probably live with. It's a lot of content for 2 leagues that will need it for their respective networks.
Being that Big 12 schools don't have the best T3 deal, gaining access to these networks and increasing their exposure across many of the most populated markets will pay huge dividends.
Also, there's the added bonus that OU could game the situation in such a way that they separate from Texas while protecting several regional rivals. Texas doesn't have to follow A&M, but they still get a regional division.
The Big 12's earning power is split evenly among the 2 leagues. While OU and UT certainly make up the majority of that value, ensuring that other schools that aren't quite as rich make it into the club will balance out the competition rather than making a CFP run about as difficult as a Super Bowl campaign.
I don't think OU minds being in a conference in the Longhorns. They just don't want to be in a situation where UT has unrivaled leverage. As for rivals, outside of NU, I don't think the Sooners really cared for many of their old B8 brethren.
The problem with the ACC and SEC splitting the B12 is that there are too few valuable properties to offset the low value schools that would need to tag along.
Technically, they would just need 8. Likely: Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Kansas, West Virginia, and either Kansas St or Iowa St (or both.)
Assuming Notre Dame doesn't go all in with football to the ACC and that Texas would probably want a Notre Dame type deal:
SEC + Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Kansas, Iowa St
ACC + Texas Tech, TCU, West Virginia, Cincinnati (and Texas on ND-deal)
SEC
West: Iowa St, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Texas A&M
Central: Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi St, Alabama, Auburn
East: Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina
ACC
South: Texas Tech, TCU, Miami, Florida St, Georgia Tech, Clemson
East: North Carolina, North Carolina St, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia, Virginia Tech
North: Louisville, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Boston College