Which should automatically tell you that it’s anything but certain, but what the hell, it’s all going downhill from here, right?
That seems to be the case with the ACC announcing today that it has accepted Syracuse and Pittsburgh from the Big East as its two newest members, creating a 14-team conference. The question now becomes “what’s next?”. We know the SEC is happy with the idea of bringing in Texas A&M as its 13th member for the time being; what, if any, further moves commissioner Mike Slive makes beyond that is uncertain at this point in time.
And then there are the two Board of Regents meetings to be held by Oklahoma and Texas on Monday that could very well authorize university presidents David Boren and William Powers, respectively, to hold all the conference decision-making power. But what will each school decide? All rumors have pointed to the Sooners moving on to the Pac-12 with Oklahoma State -- although we should let the record show that’s not publicly set in stone yet -- but Texas’ future appears more ambiguous.
Not according to Kirk Bohls of the Austin-American Statesman. Speaking -- or, tweeting, I should say -- on behalf of Bohls today has been the Statesman‘s Randy Riggs, who tweets “On plane at LAX. My guy @kbohls says it’s almost certain #Longhorns are bound for the PAC-12. Stay tuned.”
Riggs goes on to say “And @kbohls adds that the #Longhorns move West should happen sooner rather than later. Could be a wild week... adds PAC-12 and independence are #Longhorns’ only options.”
Of course, we’re just going to have to wait and see. There are certainly some options that are more likely than others for Texas, but eliminating any at this point (besides a move by UT to the Big East) probably isn’t a wise decision. As we were told yesterday by a high ranking ACC official, “none of us are actually sure/in the know.”
But there is still one question amid the speculation that we do know still exists: is Texas willing to forfeit or compromise some of its power with the Longhorn Network? A move to the Pac-12 could very well force Texas to share its LHN revenue and exposure with other teams. Are the Longhorns prepared to give that up?
If not, and as Bohls states, football independence is a possible route, as is landing with another conference -- say, the ACC -- who is more willing to accommodate Texas’ wishes. But don’t think for a second that the Longhorns are out in the cold on this one. There may be some truth to the statement that Texas “overplayed its hand”, but it seems unfathomable that if Texas came calling that a conference commissioner wouldn’t pick up the phone and listen.
Hopefully, we’ll get a better idea as to what Texas and Oklahoma will be doing sometime this week. Until then, this continues to be a fluid situation.