Uh-oh? Did you hear that rumbling?
That’s the landscape of collegiate football shifting right underneath our very feet.
Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott is currently holding a press conference after a meeting involving conference chancellors/presidents and, according to a tweet from Chip Brown of Orangebloods.com, it’s so on.
“Pac-10 commish Larry Scott says he’s been given authority to ‘advance’ expansion process (hand out invites) at today’s Pac-10 meetings,” Brown wrote in a post on his Twitter account.
As Brown has very deftly reported over the past few days, there have been a few scenarios laid out by Scott to those with the authority and power to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to future league plans. The preferred scenario for Scott, reportedly, is for six teams from the Big 12 -- Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado -- to be invited to join what is currently called the Pac-10.
So, with Scott’s own words, we are now to the point, it seems, where it’s not a question of “if” expansion will happen, but “when”. And, with “who”.
With Jim Delany stating during his press conference today that there will be “no action on their end” right now when it comes to expansion, can Nebraska and Missouri afford to not give a pledge of allegiance to the Big 12?
Suddenly, those two schools find themselves in quite the predicament, when it seemed like just a month ago they were dealing from a position of “power”, what with the reported interest from the Big Ten -- and the revenue that would flow from a move -- and all.
This is far from a fluid situation, with the moving conference and institutional parts and all, but Scott’s sudden and shocking aggressiveness when it comes to expansion has turned it from a 12-18 month Big Ten process to the Pac-10’s follow-my-lead-and-try-to-keep-up approach.
And that cannot sit well with Delany, regardless of what stance he takes publicly.
UPDATE 4:31 p.m. ET: Here’s a tweet from Pete Thamel of the New York Times, one that will make Buff Nation very pissed off. And fans of Oklahoma State and Texas Tech somewhat concerned.
Source: Baylor appears to have bumped Colo in Pac-10 expansion. Also, Pac-10 pres have concern over TT and OSU academics.