Texas Realignment Options - Part 3

Recently, Oklahoma President David Boren has demanded that the Big 12 Conference do three things - add 2 schools, a championship game, and a conference television network - or else OU will start considering its "long-term" options. The first isn't ideal, the second is now possible without expanding, and the third might not even be possible. Essentially, Boren is firing shots at Texas, threatening to leave if OU doesn't get its way…again. However, if OU leaves the conference, it will be testing the Big 12's "Grant of TV Rights" that Boren demanded be implemented in 2011. Nobody knows how difficult it will be to get around the Grant of Rights, but finding homes for the rest of the league members would certainly help the outlook. This piece is part of a series of realignment options for Texas, and how it will affect the current outlook of the Big 12, as well as the rest of the Power 5 conferences.

Part 3 -- Join the Big Ten

1. Texas and Oklahoma join the Big Ten conference

What would happen if Texas and Oklahoma decided to join the Big Ten? It is certainly possible the Big Ten could keep pushing the boundaries and expand to 18 or even 20 schools. But as long as the ACC is still alive - and it will be if the Big 12 is gone - that is highly unlikely to happen. Texas is an AAU school and is the Big Ten's obvious number one expansion target. OU is not a member of the AAU, but has a big enough brand to make up for it. These two schools would be alone on an island, but would also provide a recruiting pipeline to other western Big Ten schools that rivals the Michigan and Ohio pipeline in the east.

The Big Ten has a network in BTN, so Texas will have to rid itself of the Longhorn Network to join. Currently, BTN brings in $32M per year to the conference, but with Texas and Oklahoma TV markets boosting payouts in those states, that number would likely rise to over $40M overall. Current projections are for the Big Ten to soon begin distributing $44.5M in total revenues to each conference member. With the addition of Oklahoma and Texas, those numbers would only rise. How high the pay gets is tough figure, as the Big Ten will soon renegotiate its TV contracts, and there aren't any clear estimates of what the contract will average at this time. Just know that it will be significant.

The Big Ten is could easily divide into either 2 or 4 divisions.

Big Ten

West - Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas

Central - Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin

Midwest - Indiana, Michigan, Michigan St, Purdue

East - Maryland, Ohio St, Penn St, Rutgers

2. The SEC makes moves

The SEC gets second pick and is still a winner here. Kansas is the clear favorite simply based on its basketball brand; the thought of having both Kentucky and Kansas in the same conference should make the league office happy. While the football program has hit all-time lows, it never hurts to have a weaker team that everyone can beat up on. Also, Kansas went 12-1 in 2007, so it is not like winning is impossible in Lawrence.

The next spot is between West Virginia and Iowa St. While both are solid basketball programs and ISU is the bigger school, WVU is more established in football and carries an entire state. WVU is the pick, but ISU is a solid fallback option.

The SEC is always difficult to divide since the 2-school states are located in the center of the conference. 4 divisions are difficult to create, but so are just 2, which is why I'm going with 4.

SEC

West - Arkansas, Kansas, LSU, Texas A&M

Central - Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi St

North - Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

East - Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, West Virginia

3. The Pac-12 becomes the Pac-16

The Pac-12 ends up with the same choices as in Part 2: Iowa St, Kansas St, Oklahoma St, and Texas Tech. If one of those is not available, Houston is a shoo-in.

Pac-16

Northwest - Oregon, Oregon St, Washington, Washington St

Pacific - Cal, Southern Cal, Stanford, UCLA

Mountain - Arizona, Arizona St, Colorado, Utah

Central - Iowa St, Kansas St, Oklahoma St, Texas Tech

4. The ACC happily takes the scraps

The ACC ends up with the same result as in Parts 1 and 2: TCU and Baylor.

ACC

West - Baylor, Louisville, Pittsburgh, TCU

North - Boston College, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech

East - Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina St, Wake Forest

South - Clemson, Florida St, Georgia Tech, Miami

What could a Texas schedule look like?

Division Games - 3 - Played every season.

1. Oklahoma (at Cotton Bowl Stadium)

2. Nebraska (home in odd years)

3. Iowa (home in even years)

Inter-division Games - 6 - Played every other season.

4. Wisconsin (even) or Minnesota (odd)

5. Northwestern (even) or Illinois (odd)

6. Indiana (even) or Purdue (odd)

7. Michigan (even) or Michigan St (odd)

8. Penn St (even) or Ohio St (odd)

9. Rutgers (even) or Maryland (odd)

Out-of-Conference Games - 3

10. Texas A&M (?)

11-12. Varying

Overview

Again, this would be great for every Big 12 school, as they all find new homes within the Power 5. It is disappointing for schools like Cincinnati, Houston, BYU, Boise St, or any other in the Group of 5 conferences, and even more so now that there are only 4 Power conferences with a 4-team playoff. Perhaps this sparks the break away for a third football subdivision in Division 1, allowing the Group of 5 to have their own playoff.