Sports

Texas A&M Notifies Big 12 of Plans to Bolt the Conference

Texas A&M is setting itself up to begin playing in the SEC next year. From ESPN.com:

Texas A&M is done messing with Texas. Texas A&M has notified the Big 12 that it plans to apply for membership to a new conference, and if accepted, it will end its membership with the Big 12 on June 30, 2012.

Read the rest here.

7 Comments

  • Rick

    Read the Rival’s Orangebloods article on this. They do a good job of breaking down what teams/areas the Big 12, SEC, Pac 12 will now be looking at for growth, and how it impacts the ACC and Big East- and N. Dame.

  • Matt

    Rivals Orangeblood has posted more false information about realignment than any other person over the last year and half. That guy is a joke. It only makes since that he is a Texas writer because it is his program that has been causing the problems and getting hurt the most in all of this.

    • Rick

      Matt-

      What false info? Other than the large expansion of the Pac10 last year (now the Pac12- and that large expansion still may take place), most of his stuff has turned out to be correct. Tony Barnhart of CBS Sports seems to have respect for him, and Barnhart is considered one of the top college reporters out there. Keep in mind that they are being told info based on certain variables, and those variables continue to change (ex. influence of politicians).

      And I have yet to see how UT has been hurt by this. I am not saying they won’t be hurt down the road (I think recruiting may be more challenging w/ an SEC and possible PAC12 footprint in the state), but that is speculation. The huge network deal still stands, and they can live without a conference.

      • Micah

        “they can live without a conference”

        We’ll see about this. Notre Dame has done “reasonably well” without a conference, maybe. But let’s remember that Notre Dame is independent only in football. All other sports compete in the Big East. Where will Texas play its non-football sports? These can be independent and survive like football can (maybe). But is Notre Dame relevant anymore in football? They have national/non-regional presence (which Texas does not/yet) but has that presence translated into wins since… when?

        I agree that if anybody can survive as an independent alongside ND, it would be Texas, but I’m not sure they’ll find the standard of living better than it is currently. The only way I see this making sense is if they only plan on being independent for a few years–until the NCAA is superseded by the “superconferences.”

        • Rick

          Micah-

          I don’t disagree with much of what you said. They would be better off in a conference, although they can survive without one. That being said, I think UT recognizes the benefits of a conference, and reports today are indicating they want to remain tied at the hip with OU.

      • Matt

        Rick,

        He consistently reported things last summer during the first round of expansion talks. I follow his Twitter and he tweeted some false info a week or two ago about the Aggies (that he admitted) and now has been making jokes about how Aggies fans love him since he is trying to make it up to them.

        He got a lot more wrong with last years talks than this years. He was one of the first guys to falsely report Mizzou was given an invitation to the Big 10, among other things.

        As of now the Longhorn Network is a joke- no major carriers have signed up- DirecTV, Dish, etc… They also the asking price is way to high for the Longhorn Network… If the LHN fails than this entire fiasco was for nothing and Texas ends up the big losers. They went all in with the LHN and as of now most people in Texas cant even view (and yes, it has already launched).

        Also, the last two conferences they have been in they have torn apart. Now there longest major rival is so fed up with them they are bolting. Texas going independent will not turn out well as no one will care about them, but themselves (such as ND). They will be replacing teams like TAM with BYU- over the long haul that is very bad.

        • Rick

          The network aspect is interesting, and if it struggles it may help them decide to go to the PAC 12, even with adjustments to the network situation.

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