K-State survived the first time because it wasn't our conference folding. If the Big 8 was folding and OU OSU UNL Colorado and whoever needed a home and the SWC was stable it would have been us on the outside not those random Texas schools.
This time it is our conference that people are alleging is going to fold, and if that happens, would a leftovers + best of the MWC and AAC really be considered a "power conference"?
This isn't at all accurate. There was a 30 for 30 or something that touched on this but the Big 12 was considered more of a merger and not us taking on SWC teams. The Big 8 had to take Texas and we had to take them on their terms. A pretty good amount of conference rules changed, like how the BOG was formed, in addition to moving the conference office. I have no idea why you mentioned Colorado and Oklahoma State but they had absolutely no juice at all when it came to making decisions back then. Oklahoma also wasn't really a decision maker either either, their brand was heavily damaged by probation, when it actually meant something, and a losing program that didn't sell out its stadium. The Big 8 was in terrible shape and we had to concede a lotto make the Big 12 a reality, it's exactly why Nebraska left the conference 20 years later because they were still pissed, they were the only brand in the Big 8 and they gave up more than everyone else. We survived that because we were deemed to have more value than those Texas schools. If UT and A&M wanted to replace us and KU with Houston and TCU it would have happened.
The comparable between now and then is that Oklahoma alone does not have the power to save or kill this conference, UT does and they don't have any incentive at all to kill this conference. It's a very obvious point that Pete, Paul Finebaum, Clay Travis, and the Mizzou and A&M grads that keep this stupid crap going continue to ignore. UT is making more on that deal than any other school in the country. If UT and ESPN make a deal to buyout LHN before the Big 12 GOR expires then I'll go ahead and hit the panic button as well, but for now I'll stay on this side of logic and rationality.