any report of OU announcing w/out OSU should be disregarded. As should any report that mentions KSU going to the Pac-large.
97% agreed.
There probably is a scenario out there where Scott gets aggressive, pulls OU/OSU, and then UT bolts for some other conference (which is extremely likely). Following the Pac's 'travel buddy' system, KU/KSU are pretty much the most attractive free agent combo west of the Mississippi since MU will be in the Big Ten or SEC.
If UT bolts, it's makes the SEC's decisions a little easier. They can pull in Tech as #15 or #16. That way they get west Texas too.
People don't stop to think how few good options there are west of the Mississippi in terms of BCS quality programs. I'm not talking about success per se, but stadium size, attendance, operating budgets, etc. KSU and KU are prepackaged BCS schools that aren't complete embarrassments in athletics. We'll hold our own competitively in an environment where we may not have the same advantages as other schools, and that's proven because we've done it for so long.
I mean, it would probably be a massive strikeout for Scott if he expands to sixteen and essentially gets OU out of the deal, but it's a workable fallback option for them. The Pac can justify it by saying, "KU Basketball", and then they can say we round out the regional network format with OU/OSU as a 'Pac-12 - Heartland' channel. And Jon Wilmer, who I linked earlier, has been one of the more logical and trustworthy guys reporting this mess, so that means someone has kicked the idea around and passed it along to him. If the Pac is bluffing with that to force Texas' hand, it will most likely backfire, and we can get in.