Chip Brown of Texas' Rivals website Orangebloods.com is reporting that the University of Oklahoma is ready to apply for membership in the Pac-12 by the end of September. If OU does apply, Oklahoma State is expected to join the Sooners on their westward-bound schooner, Brown reported. And if that happens, Big 12 Armageddon shouldn't be far behind. But the conference has been to the brink before and survived, so we'll have to wait and see.
Brown's news came after Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Friday that his conference isn't interested in expanding at this time. But if the No. 1 football team in the nation is knocking on the door, Scott will probably answer.
Brown cited a source saying, "OU's board of regents is fed up with the instability in the Big 12," which OU president David Boren didn't help when he said OU was exploring its options. Remember when the remaining nine schools were saying they were committed to each other? It wasn't that long ago.
OU's board of regents is expected to meet in two weeks to formalize the Sooners' application for membership to the Pac-12. And Brown's source makes OU's exit sound inevitable.
"If OU follows through with what appears to be a unanimous sentiment on the seven-member Oklahoma board of regents to leave the Big 12, realignment in college athletics could be heating back up. OU's application would be matched by an application from Oklahoma State, the source said, even though OSU president Burns Hargis and mega-booster Boone Pickens both voiced their support for the Big 12 last Thursday."
Baylor is still threatening Texas A&M's move to the SEC, refusing to waive its rights to sue the conference over A&M's exit. Baylor, Kansas and Iowa State also haven't waived their rights to sue. Brown isn't sure if there would be a legal challenge to an OU move to the Pac-12.
Everything seemed so peaceful on Saturday.
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Justin -
There may well be 5 S.C.s; unfortunately it doesn't necessarily follow that the ISUs and KSUs of the world will be invited. Which could mean - if the NCAA falls apart (due to legal issues) w/i a few years, the S.C.s will be set to institute playoffs and a true championship in FB. Which, I'm just guessing here, the smaller conference's will be luck to get 1 slot for...
And let's not even talk about the money...or lack thereof.
@Nick, I'm concerned but who's to say there won't be five superconferences (if that's where we're headed). I gotta believe Iowa State gets in somewhere (at least, I hope).
I'm sorry, Justin; ISU is gonna "take one" for the team (or Bebe, if you will.)
"Things fall apart; the...conference...cannot hold..."
UT's love of money loosed the blood-dimmed tide last year, and now the new rough beasts (PAC-?, SEC and Big ?) strut toward the Bevo IX to feast...
...or something else suitably apocalyptic.
p.s. - did I mention how amusing I find this? especially after the "fond" farewells we received from the rest of the Bevo IX last year?
"OU's board of regents is fed up with the instability in the Big 12,"
If we accept that A&M is out, then the only source of instability after that is OU. Isn't the board of regents the cause of the drama they're complaining about?
If they can't handle this, just wait until they have to stay up past midnight to find out if their team wins games in its own conference.
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