Texas A&M is rattling the SEC sabre again because of ESPN 8: The Bevo

matthew_m_g said:
husker_99 said:
Here are some of reasons why going Independent for Texas won't work:

1. who are they going to schedule in october and november when all the conferences are playing each other for a spot in the conference championship game? If you look at BYU and Notre Dame schedule they are basically playing military schools and WAC teams during that time. I have a hard time believing that a good school would want to play Texas late in the year.

2. Why play Texas when you can essentially knock them out? Sure they may have posted a perfect record but just filled with patsies they will highly unlikely of ever reaching the National Championship game again.

3. I don't think Texas would sacrifice going independent if it meant not playing in good bowls anymore. Texas isn't a team that would be happy to go to a lesser bowl that other teams are happy to play in.

4. Recruiting would suffer. Sure they may have BevoTv but good recruits are going to want to play in big games. Texas wouldn't be able to offer that.

Texas forum posters and writers simply haven't thought it through about going independent.
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I'll be your huckleberry.

1. It won't matter, just as it doesn't matter for Notre Dame now--just so long as they get nine wins and have a decent ranking, Notre Dame can nab a BCS bowl. It's not right, but Texas will assuredly be afforded the same luxury when they go independent. So Texas can play service academies, Notre Dame, and BYU (they'll all stick together) to cover five of the last eight weeks, just so long as they schedule three or so teams with a pulse. A&M will likely play them, possibly OU, and you've got a bunch of in-state teams (TCU, Houston, SMU) that either are or could be Top 25 that wouldn't mind a crack at Texas. Plus, you're forgetting Texas has money to spare and throw at these teams.
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You think that everyone who goes independent gets Notre Dame's deal don't you? They don't and it's not an automatic. Notre Dame has a long history of being independent in football. Texas doesn't. Notre Dame is a private school, Texas is a public and i will bet you that also plays in as a factor.

2. See #1 and Notre Dame's deal. It will be extended for Texas, just as it will be extended to BYU if they broach the Top 25 with regularity.
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So they could also extend it for Ohio St. LSU, USC, OU, Alabama, and Michigan. I would bet you they could also stand alone as a product without needing a conference. Now instead of making exceptions for 1 or 2 teams they are doing for a lot more.

3. Any bowl is better than what they had this December. Plus, if they make a BCS bowl, that's $20+ million that they only have to split one way instead of 12 or 10--theirs. That makes up for four or five Culligan Toilet Bowls.
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Believe it or not Texas does believe they should be going to good bowls and if Mack Brown has a another losing season he will be fired. You can bet your bottom dollar on that. Bowls like Las Vegas, Sun, Mineke Car Care, Liberty, etc aren't going to cut it for Texas.

4. There's no reason for that. Mack Brown trips on recruits going to get his paper from the sidewalk each morning, plus many of these recruits could get early exposure if the NCAA rules in their favor re: TV deal. The only way Texas' recruiting would suffer is if the SEC blows the doors open by bringing A&M into the fold (Houston-area schools, Houston media market, partial San Antonio exposure).
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I'll bet you since Mack scheduled patsy non conference games he tells recruits there is a great chance they can play in the national championship game. He's right they do have a great shot at it every year because of the schedule. Recruits want exposure and they will go to teams that provide the greatest. So what if A&M goes to SEC? it won't blow the doors open cause of the stranglehold Texas has on the state and it would take 20 years of mediocre of Texas for recruits to jump.

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Now, if you were to have said that Texas would have problems placing their Olympic sports, there's a genuine concern that could prevent independence.

Frankly, I could see Texas placing their Olympic sports in the Mountain West in exchange for helping the MWC lobby for a BCS bid, especially if Jerry succeeds in getting the Cotton Bowl into the BCS rotation. Granted, it wouldn't be sexy, but it would be a home...and, save for basketball and baseball, the pointy uterus fans wouldn't really care.
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For Big Football and Basketball schools they pay the way for these other sports so it's not a factor
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matthew_m_g said:
Lil said:
I think the Big 12's days are numbered. I think either A&M or Mizzou will make the first move and bolt to the SEC and put an end to the conference.
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It will only take one from the Big XII to do so this time around, assuming that the Big 10, ACC, and Pac-12 expand to 14 alongside the SEC. And per the Aggies Insider article, it could be Missouri that kicks this off, and not A&M--Missouri is already unhappy before Bevo TV showed up.
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Yeah that's what I meant that either one or the other will leave and kick it off. The conference can't survive anyone else leaving since everyone already has plans made on where they will go once that happens.

 
Still don't understand the fuss of Texas playing high school games. I still say they already get the top picks in Texas anyway. You can only take so many kids.

 
irafreak said:
Still don't understand the fuss of Texas playing high school games. I still say they already get the top picks in Texas anyway. You can only take so many kids.
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You know, this is a good point. Sometimes I wonder if some of the anti-Bevo TV angst is manufactured by A&M, OU, et al to cover their trail as they try to find an exit from what they know to now be a dead conference walking.

Kind of like how Texas needed to use their media lackeys to make Nebraska look like the villain when July 1 rolled around.

 
irafreak said:
Still don't understand the fuss of Texas playing high school games. I still say they already get the top picks in Texas anyway. You can only take so many kids.
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No, they get many of them, but still lose some top guys to A&M, Oklahoma, etc, and they haven't always gotten as many as they do these days. Simms and Peterson to OU are two great examples of the past and pretty recent. You can't just concede Texas high schools to Texas. I'm sure the other schools don't.

Maybe there's a case for saying that putting HS games on their network offers no real recruiting advantage. Maybe.

 
irafreak said:
Still don't understand the fuss of Texas playing high school games. I still say they already get the top picks in Texas anyway. You can only take so many kids.
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Not every top athlete in Texas is automatic to Texas. Even if it is, this would slam the recruiting door even harder on other schools. "Well, son, sorry you orally committed to _____ U. Too bad your high school now will not be televised across the whole country from the Rio Grande to the Red River. Now, if you go and change your mind . . . " Remember some of these kids have huge egos that could seriously be stroked.

 
matthew_m_g said:
irafreak said:
Still don't understand the fuss of Texas playing high school games. I still say they already get the top picks in Texas anyway. You can only take so many kids.
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You know, this is a good point. Sometimes I wonder if some of the anti-Bevo TV angst is manufactured by A&M, OU, et al to cover their trail as they try to find an exit from what they know to now be a dead conference walking.

Kind of like how Texas needed to use their media lackeys to make Nebraska look like the villain when July 1 rolled around.
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I explained before how Texas tries to portray the image that they get the pick of the litter. Its a marketing strategy, they don't offer kids that aren't ready to commit and they use high pressure 'better get in quick before its too late and your spot is gone' to try and force it early, or move on to other options. They don't get all of them.

And they (A&M and OU) are wondering if the HS games was a smokescreen so the backlash wouldn't be on the conference games. It works both ways. Frankly though I'd be surprised if Texas didn't realize things like that are going to piss off the serfdom. They announced it just days after the whole week of "kumbayah Nebraska is finally gone, we are united." It looks more like they are trying to push just hard enough for the league to break so they can shed the other Texas schools to me. This one turned into an NCAA wide backlash with meetings scheduled and Delany weighing in against it. So they backed down a bit, but I'd be surprised if they don't find some new angle to try and push someone out the door.

 
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The blogger, Frank the Tank, weighed in with his thoughts on A&M to the SEC.

In short, he doesn't think it's going to happen. Of note:

1. The SEC can’t just rip up its TV contracts simply because it expands – A decent number of columnists/bloggers have taken SEC Commissioner Mike Slive’s comment that there are periodic “look-ins” for its contracts with CBS and ESPN and came to conclusion that the conference could set fire to those deals in the event of expansion. While the terms of the SEC TV deal are not public (and that’s the case for any conference), this is a dangerous assumption that I would wager is 99.99% incorrect. (The .01% allows for the slight chance that Slive has compromising pictures of various CBS and ESPN executives with Casey Anthony.) ESPN certainly doesn’t believe that the SEC’s “look-ins” can reopen the TV deal...
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2. ESPN isn’t going to willingly hand the SEC more money for expansion – Let’s take a quick look at where ESPN stands right now. First, ESPN worked extremely hard to keep the Big 12 together last year in order to block the formation of superconferences by going so far as to give that league the same amount of money even though it had just lost its most populous non-Texas state (Colorado), a marquee national name (Nebraska) and a conference championship game. Second, ESPN has just invested a ton of capital in the Longhorn Network, which essentially depends upon the Big 12 surviving as none of the other BCS conferences besides maybe the Big East would let that monstrosity live.
Call me crazy, but when considering those two points, it seems quite far-fetched that ESPN would actually provide an incentive to the SEC to expand with Texas A&M (and/or Oklahoma and/or Missouri and/or whoever else you want to throw in) that would directly kill off the Big 12 that ESPN has every incentive to save.
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3. Objectors to high school games on the Longhorn Network are arguing semantics (and that’s ultimately a losing argument) – There’s a massive public flagship university located in one of the top football recruiting states in the nation that has entered into a multi-year multi-million dollar third tier rights deal with a regional sports network that is wholly-owned by a large multimedia conglomerate. There are some football and basketball games along with coaches’ shows and other promotions showing the university. The RSN also telecasts high school football games that potentially showcase that university’s recruits. Such public flagship university does not own any part of such RSN.
I’ve just described the contract that the University of Florida has with Sun Sports.
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4. People that keep ignoring Texas politicians will get fooled again – Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice, I’m in ******* denial.
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Kristi Dosh, on the other hand, is spitting out her ideas for 16-team conferences...

To make such a list, you have to first decide what will prompt the much speculate move to four 16-team super conferences. I think it will happen because Texas decides to become an independent or because another team, like Texas A&M, leaves the Big 12. Either way, the Big 12 will crumble and other conferences will feast on what’s left.
It’s my belief that the end of the Big 12 signals the end of the Big East. The SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12 will gobble up the best teams from the Big 12 quickly. The ACC will struggle to keep up. Most of the conferences will have to look outside the Big 12 to get to 16 teams, so they’ll pick apart the next weakest conference, the Big East. However, I don’t believe the SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12 or ACC will raid one another.
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VA Husker Fan said:
irafreak said:
Still don't understand the fuss of Texas playing high school games. I still say they already get the top picks in Texas anyway. You can only take so many kids.
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No, they get many of them, but still lose some top guys to A&M, Oklahoma, etc, and they haven't always gotten as many as they do these days. Simms and Peterson to OU are two great examples of the past and pretty recent. You can't just concede Texas high schools to Texas. I'm sure the other schools don't.

Maybe there's a case for saying that putting HS games on their network offers no real recruiting advantage. Maybe.
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Oh really....

Texas Ranks #5 in Recruiting Over the Last 10 Years

They've won the Big 12 recruiting crown 6 of the 10 years.

keep in mind some years Texas doesn't need to recruit another 5 star Tailback (etc...) so the fact that they get what they want more often then not just leads me to believe they don't stand to gain from televising high school games. Sure they lose recruits to other schools and still will. I just don't see how a kid being on a regional network is going to suddenly tilt the tables anymore than they already are.

 
redblooded said:
matthew_m_g said:
irafreak said:
Still don't understand the fuss of Texas playing high school games. I still say they already get the top picks in Texas anyway. You can only take so many kids.
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You know, this is a good point. Sometimes I wonder if some of the anti-Bevo TV angst is manufactured by A&M, OU, et al to cover their trail as they try to find an exit from what they know to now be a dead conference walking.

Kind of like how Texas needed to use their media lackeys to make Nebraska look like the villain when July 1 rolled around.
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I explained before how Texas tries to portray the image that they get the pick of the litter. Its a marketing strategy, they don't offer kids that aren't ready to commit and they use high pressure 'better get in quick before its too late and your spot is gone' to try and force it early, or move on to other options. They don't get all of them.

And they (A&M and OU) are wondering if the HS games was a smokescreen so the backlash wouldn't be on the conference games. It works both ways. Frankly though I'd be surprised if Texas didn't realize things like that are going to piss off the serfdom. They announced it just days after the whole week of "kumbayah Nebraska is finally gone, we are united." It looks more like they are trying to push just hard enough for the league to break so they can shed the other Texas schools to me. This one turned into an NCAA wide backlash with meetings scheduled and Delany weighing in against it. So they backed down a bit, but I'd be surprised if they don't find some new angle to try and push someone out the door.
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The more I think about this, the more I think the high school game angle is a strawman or a concession created to ultimately get conference games on Texas' network.

 
So for anyone who hasn't heard yet, there are plumes of smoke rising from Texas about A&M escaping to the SEC. The rumors have varied in intensity, but some of them would have us believe that the SEC athletic directors have already voted unanimously, the A&M Board of Regents has approved the move, and an official letter of invitation is being drafted. Whether or not its true seems irrelevant at this point. Texas for all intents and purposes has succeeded in destroying the Big XII. Even if nothing comes out in the next week or two about A&M making a move, it's clear enough that our rickety former conference is waiting for any one program––including Texas going independent, which their shiny new TV contracts make a strong case was their intention from the beginning––to make a move and finish it.

My hope is that Texas does go independent and their Longhorn Network fails, they find no one willing to schedule them during the meat of the season, and somehow we avoid another Notre Dame sweetheart BCS deal. Unfortunately I'm not an optimist. I'd guess nothing short of superconferences with a playoff would humble Bevo.

Anyway, right now it very much looks like the Big Texas conference could play one season before imploding. I'm just glad we have a comfortable seat to watch it happen.

 
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