Smoke your cigars and enjoy the band while you can....

[nicname]

We haven't really discussed, as far as I can tell, the role of NBAF in making K-State a more attractive conference member to the PAC 12:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/slate-rumblings-from-the-west/ar-AANJD8G?ocid=msedgntp

The article also cites PAC 12 teams experience with K-State (very good), and how well the fan base travels.  Glad someone is noticing.

Cats U, so west coast is what I’ve always heard.

[ben ji]

I can't wait to bond with our new marxist buds on the west coast! UBI? Totes man, we've been giving that to our farmers out here in KS for years so its about time everyone gets it.

[joda]

The scenario I could see where the P12 takes Cats & Pokes and not Tech is that in discussion with Tech it became obvious Baylor and/or TCU was going to be tied to Tech’s hip so they just cut the whole state out of it.

[420seriouscat69]

We haven't really discussed, as far as I can tell, the role of NBAF in making K-State a more attractive conference member to the PAC 12:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/slate-rumblings-from-the-west/ar-AANJD8G?ocid=msedgntp

The article also cites PAC 12 teams experience with K-State (very good), and how well the fan base travels.  Glad someone is noticing.

Lol. Jon Morse…

[steve dave]

We haven't really discussed, as far as I can tell, the role of NBAF in making K-State a more attractive conference member to the PAC 12:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/slate-rumblings-from-the-west/ar-AANJD8G?ocid=msedgntp

The article also cites PAC 12 teams experience with K-State (very good), and how well the fan base travels.  Glad someone is noticing.

this is incredibly lmao. and I say this as someone who obviously types lmao a lot but this one is irl bigtime lmao. the biggest time it can be.

[star seed 7]

God bless the nbaf

[ChiComCat]

It's absolutely ridiculous to hold anyone with the Big 12 accountable, at all, for OU & UT lying to their peers faces and snaking the league behind their backs. How in the holy eff could anyone have known? Did you want Kirby Hocutt to bug and constantly surveil Chris del Conte and Bowlsby to do the same for Sankey? Blaming Chad Weiberg for Joe Castiglone being a lying rat eff bastard seems like an odd choice.

As small of a community as coaches, agents, athletic directors, and perhaps university presidents are, I think someone should have seen some smoke. Of course OU and UT are secretive ratfucks, but nobody had a connection that could have tipped them off? How many people do you think knew? SEC presidents (perhaps minus A&M), athletic directors, certainly some coaches. I’m convinced competent leadership would’ve had some connections that signaled a move. I also don’t think this happens without the playoff changes which could’ve led B12 officials probe the results of that change more.

[michigancat]

It's absolutely ridiculous to hold anyone with the Big 12 accountable, at all, for OU & UT lying to their peers faces and snaking the league behind their backs. How in the holy eff could anyone have known? Did you want Kirby Hocutt to bug and constantly surveil Chris del Conte and Bowlsby to do the same for Sankey? Blaming Chad Weiberg for Joe Castiglone being a lying rat eff bastard seems like an odd choice.

As small of a community as coaches, agents, athletic directors, and perhaps university presidents are, I think someone should have seen some smoke. Of course OU and UT are secretive ratfucks, but nobody had a connection that could have tipped them off? How many people do you think knew? SEC presidents (perhaps minus A&M), athletic directors, certainly some coaches. I’m convinced competent leadership would’ve had some connections that signaled a move. I also don’t think this happens without the playoff changes which could’ve led B12 officials probe the results of that change more.

I mean they should have known the financial situation and/or the ability of OU to split from OSU

[MakeItRain]

What's the source of OU and UT blocking expansion in 2016?

I remember Chip Brown at the time reporting that, I also heard it again with this round, don't remember who, Pete Mundo maybe, dunno.

[MakeItRain]

It's absolutely ridiculous to hold anyone with the Big 12 accountable, at all, for OU & UT lying to their peers faces and snaking the league behind their backs. How in the holy eff could anyone have known? Did you want Kirby Hocutt to bug and constantly surveil Chris del Conte and Bowlsby to do the same for Sankey? Blaming Chad Weiberg for Joe Castiglone being a lying rat eff bastard seems like an odd choice.

As small of a community as coaches, agents, athletic directors, and perhaps university presidents are, I think someone should have seen some smoke. Of course OU and UT are secretive ratfucks, but nobody had a connection that could have tipped them off? How many people do you think knew? SEC presidents (perhaps minus A&M), athletic directors, certainly some coaches. I’m convinced competent leadership would’ve had some connections that signaled a move. I also don’t think this happens without the playoff changes which could’ve led B12 officials probe the results of that change more.

I mean they should have known the financial situation and/or the ability of OU to split from OSU

I mean people did know after the conference tried to renegotiate their deal with Fox and ESPN five years before it expired and in the middle of a pandemic, and of course they said no.

The financial situation has been known to everyone even paying even cursory attention to college football media rights since the SEC Network was formed, I'm not sure what difference that makes.

Even if OU and UT one of those airplane sign thingies to tell the world during the 2021 Super Bowl, I don't know what difference that would have made, we'd still be here right now.

[michigancat]

Yeah I guess the fact that they seemed surprised makes them seem incompetent but there wasn't anything that could have realistically been done

[michigancat]

I just go back to that clip of Bowlsby at media days saying he doesn't worry about realignment

[WillieWatanabe]

What's the source of OU and UT blocking expansion in 2016?

I remember Chip Brown at the time reporting that, I also heard it again with this round, don't remember who, Pete Mundo maybe, dunno.

I've seen several OU twitter peeps claim Boren was in favor of expansion and the Big 12 wasn't interested. I have no recollection of any of it.

[Dr Rick Daris]

What's the source of OU and UT blocking expansion in 2016?

I remember Chip Brown at the time reporting that, I also heard it again with this round, don't remember who, Pete Mundo maybe, dunno.

I've seen several OU twitter peeps claim Boren was in favor of expansion and the Big 12 wasn't interested. I have no recollection of any of it.

I don’t think that’s true at all. It’s just a nice way for them to feel good about leaving. I recall hints of what more said but don’t recall it being reported as fact anywhere. Just that the smaller schools wanted to add but didn’t push it because Texas and OU were happy at 10.

[PurpleOil]

Take it for what its worth...

But the Sports Animal in Oklahoma just said that the it had "sources" this morning confirming what Wannstedt said - and that an announcement is imminent that Oklahoma State and Kansas State will be joining the Pac-12.

Speaking from experience, be prepared to be blue balled into oblivion waiting for the imminent announcement ...

This is almost a criminally underrated post. Well done.

The scenario I could see where the P12 takes Cats & Pokes and not Tech is that in discussion with Tech it became obvious Baylor and/or TCU was going to be tied to Tech’s hip so they just cut the whole state out of it.

I don't really see a scenario where the Pac doesn't take Tech, but I can see one where they announce OSU and KSU first so that the conference dissolves, and then they grab Tech and UH soon after to try and minimize the effect the Texas legislature can have on TCU and Baylor getting left behind.

[steve dave]

I honestly don't see a scenario where the PAC takes any of these loser schools and their loser school tie ins don't really play into that negatively or positively.

[Stupid Fitz]

I honestly don't see a scenario where the PAC takes any of these loser schools and their loser school tie ins don't really play into that negatively or positively.

Yep, but the Big 10 is totally dying to get KU you guys. 

Road trips to Cincinnati and SD going to a Cats game and Disneyland in the same weekend are in our future you guys. Embrace the crap out of it.

[chum1]

I think there is definitely a prestige factor for both Texas and OU. It's not all about money. It may not even be primarily about money.

"I believe that we are psychologically disadvantaged," Boren said, "because we are a smaller conference."

https://www.si.com/college/2016/09/27/big-12-expansion-oklahomas-reversal-adds-more-doubt-process

[ChiComCat]

Yeah I guess the fact that they seemed surprised makes them seem incompetent but there wasn't anything that could have realistically been done

The only thing I think the B12 could've done is to fight the change of playoff format.  If the B12 fought to limit the expansion to 8 or give P5 auto-bids, the B12 has a better chance to survive.  At 12 though, they should've seen this coming.

[sonofdaxjones]

What OU and Texas are doing is IMO cutting off their nose in spite of their face.

But with that said, there's just this weird cult of honor in the SEC.   I did a quick run though of Kentucky, Ole Mlss, Miss State, USCe, Vandy and Missouri and quickly calculated into the centuries since the last time collectively one of them won a conference championship in football, in one case, never.   For MethU it's been 52 years, soon to be 53 years.

Hell, if we hadn't choked in '98 it would be over 30 years for Texas A&M, and 5 years from now, Texas A&M will still be talking about that elusive SEC championship and will have co-opted 3 additional national championships from another school as their own, as they scratch off another year from that ludicrous pre-national championship trophy they gave Jimbo Fisher. 

There's just a whole collection of SEC schools who are just damn happy to line up every year, suckle on that hind teat, pick up their participation ribbon and their paycheck.    They'll proudly run with that paycheck and that annual participation ribbon straight to the bank and then go buy a giant stack of "But it was an SEC schedule" T-Shirts. 

I predict that both Texas and OU will be 5 years into their new home in the SEC and neither one of them will have won a a conference title in a major sport, and they'll be begging Sankey to expand the CFPO's. 

[chum1]

Bebee and Bowlsby were dealt super shitty hands. Still, any random idiot could have done what each of them ended up doing. I don't see why we need to conclude that any of this was inevitable.

[MakeItRain]

Bebee and Bowlsby were dealt super shitty hands. Still, any random idiot could have done what each of them ended up doing. I don't see why we need to conclude that any of this was inevitable.

The inevitability is/was that if Texas decided to leave there was nothing any commissioner or group of presidents could do to change it and them leaving would create a #Big12isOverParty. The conference did everything possible to make them happy by allowing them to have the Longhorn Network and not share any money from it.

[michigancat]

Bebee and Bowlsby were dealt super shitty hands. Still, any random idiot could have done what each of them ended up doing. I don't see why we need to conclude that any of this was inevitable.

The real screwup was when Kevin Weiberg tried to get them to start a Big 12 Network and was told to eff off so he went to the Big 10. Which it sounds like it may have been UT and OU's fault as well! But aTm and Nubb definitely gave a lot more balance at the time.

https://www.oklahoman.com/article/5338213/the-big-12-conference-should-have-listened-to-kevin-weiberg

[chum1]

Bebee and Bowlsby were dealt super shitty hands. Still, any random idiot could have done what each of them ended up doing. I don't see why we need to conclude that any of this was inevitable.

The inevitability is/was that if Texas decided to leave there was nothing any commissioner or group of presidents could do to change it and them leaving would create a #Big12isOverParty. The conference did everything possible to make them happy by allowing them to have the Longhorn Network and not share any money from it.

There are so many things that could have been done differently. For example, when the Big 12 was at its peak, it could have been trying to poach schools from other conferences with the promise of big TV money rather than standing pat and while getting poached.

[wetwillie]

@MakeItRain what do you think of the Pac 12 chances of long term survival?  They appear to be in a precarious spot themselves if the Big 10 were to take their top few schools.