Despite the village idiots on the aggy message boards, even aggy would not veto Texas, even if they could. They will do what they have to in order to get the rivalry renewed. Texas A&M is all about Texas. Contributions are driven by hatred for Texas and beating Texas. Their contributions are going to plummet over the next 3 years as they become the SEC whipping boy. aggy has never been a big winner for TV and the networks have already told the SEC as much. I think the SEC now regrets going to 14 teams, especially since the new teams are on par with 2nd tier programs. Texas is not going to the SEC anytime in our lifetimes, but if they made that decision, the SEC would snap up Texas fast. If aggy tried to block it, they might find an explusion slip under their door in the morning. Either way, Texas is not going. I think the Notre Dame deal has legs. I doubt Bowlsby moves into the Big 12 chair if he didn't think the conference was about to make a significant move and there was some agreement from the other side. Unless he was wanting out of Stanford, the deals will be announced within the next year. Deloss has been working on this a long time and for some reason Bowlsby seems to agree with Dodds. Ultimately, ESPN is behind the whole thing, in a close partnership with Texas.
coolhorn, I don't have any bad feelings for TAMU but I definitely agree that we should not re-associate ourselves with the Ags. They chose to go their own way so why should they benefit from Texas' actions. I sure bet A&M would pitch a royal fit if Texas was invited. It would be fun to watch.
Yeah, I don't have bad feelings toward them...I'd have to care more about them to have even bad feelings. I also do NOT want UT looking at the SEC. I was just thinking about the entertainment value of it if the Horns did. (IE: Driving agricultural to the brink.) What I want is UT in a powerful Big XII...one that includes FSU, and perhaps ND.
Deloss is really going to blow this one also. Pretty sick of the politics and games this admin. plays. Pulling in FSU and Clemson, or G-Tech is a no-brainer. I don't give a **** about being in, "better position," to win championships with a 10-team league format. That philosophy hasn't served us well the last two years and frankly, I'd rather see us play heavy competition, knowing it could mean 2-3 losses every year. Start thinking more about what fans want.
Now take FSU and Clemson (or pick a school) which will destroy the ACC and wreck these Orange bowl arrangements that are being worked out.
ND was never going to join the BigXII. This newest bowl alliance doesn't change the odds of it happening now, either.
ND and the Orange bowl.... hmm... SO WHAT. Really.. Clemson and Florida Miami and VTech are seen as the powers in that conference. Perhaps GTech has shown some promise. Has anyone forgotten the attendance of the past ACC championship games.... ACC Championship Game Every year they have dropped in attendance. This is the Golden Domers just securing a payday no matter what. There is no BCS any longer so... well... if you are not in the play off... the bowl game is just a game. I don't think they have announced any payouts of the non playoff bowls or any payout structure yet. Now if ND is smart and the ACC is too... they could create their own bowl gaming pitting their ACC Conference champ or 2nd against ND and collect all the rights. But ND is just a institution that is playing of the past and its prestige. Their team has sucked and under performed for almost 2 decades so it may not be so great to see a 8-4 7-5 ND team playing a conference champ who is say 10-2.
Not only all of that, but all the progress and goodwill developed recently in the Big12 goes right out the window if ND gets special rules that don't apply to anyone else. Anyone who caters to them is flirting with disaster, and irrelevance, imo.
