The Big 12 is losing market share with every departing team, and the options to replace one of the best programs in college football history (Nebraska), a program that had a helluva ride from the mid-80s to early-00s and is at least connected to a major media market (Colorado, as indifferent as Denver might be to the Buffs, being in the same conference with CU at least guarantees whatever broadcast revenue you receive from that market), and now the second largest university in Texas (Texas A&M), are pathetic. Air Force? TCU? Houston?
You can't replace the second largest university in Texas with TCU or Houston and think everything is ok. You can't replace Nebraska with Air Force and think everything is ok. You can't replace Colorado with Colorado State and think everything is ok. Nebraska and Colorado are two of the three best programs from the Big 8. We're saddled with the bottom 5/8s of the Big 8.
We need to GTHO of this joke of a conference. Take your pick, SEC or PAC, either is better than the Longhorn conference.
My guess is that Boren knows we can go to the PAC-12 on our own terms, ostensibly on our own time, and is thus waiting to see what the SEC or even Big 10's best offer might be. He believes he can be patient. The PAC-12 needs us. They still lack major football programs outside of USC that can stand shoulder to shoulder with other national Tier 1 programs. In the national caste system, SEC has Alabama, Florida, LSU, Tennessee, and Auburn in the first tier (not to mention Georgia and Arkansas, which are decent second tier programs). Big 10 has Nebraska, Penn St, tOSU, and Michigan as Tier 1 (and Wisconsin, and Iowa, decent tier 2 programs). Even the ACC has tier 1 programs in Miami and FSU, and tier 2 programs in GA Tech, Boston College, and Va Tech. PAC 12 has USC as a tier 1 program...and that's it. Washington could be good again, but they, like Oregon, UCLA, and Colorado, are more in the "Georgia/Wisconsin" range than the Alabama/Michigan range--and UW and CU still have some regrouping to do in order to reach that stage.
The Pac 12 can't carve up the ACC or Big East like the SEC or BIG 10 can. OU (tier one program), Texas (tier one program), and Texas A&M (tier two program) are the only major "gets" for the PAC 12, and if UT takes themselves off the table, and Texas A&M goes to the SEC, then OU is it.
OSU is the albatross. I do not care about OSU, so what I'm saying is not based on "want" but on observation. We may be able to separate from OSU as a conference, but I guarantee there is no way in hell we can separate Bedlam. If OU was in the SEC, and OSU was in the MWC, we would still play OSU as a non-conference foe every year. Bedlam is OSU's financial lifeline. Not OU's, but OSU's. And thus, separating the annual match up would be stabbing OSU's prospects in the face. WE might think that's funny, but THEY will be in Defcon 4 survival mode.
There are enough Aggies in power in Oklahoma to keep Bedlam alive, regardless of conference affiliation. The Kentucky state legislature forced Kentucky and Louisville to play each other, and that could happen here in Oklahoma. There are many more Sooner fans than Aggies, many more Sooner voters than Aggie voters, but when you get down to it, the issue of OSU's athletic survival is more important to "likely" Aggie voters on this issue than "registered" Sooner voters. Most Sooners won't care either way, and they won't vote for or against anyone based on the issue. Aggies will. Not to mention Picken's pockets to pay for or against the campaigns of state officials...
Thus, in a schedule of 12 games, and 9 are tied up in conference games, leaving 3 non-conference games, 1 of which is tied up in OU-UT (which will never be a home game), and another tied up in Bedlam (which would probably still be home and away), that leaves one measely non-conference game, and for monetarily purposes, will always be Ball St or Utah St type of home game. No more chances to schedule Tennessee, LSU, FSU, tOSU, or whomever else we have on schedule in coming years, if UT and OSU are guaranteed non-con games ever year.
So it's not about protecting little brother, it's about protecting our schedule. It would be better for Bedlam to be a conference game than a non-conference game, or it would be better for the Red River Rivalry to be a conference game than a non-conference game, but for BOTH to be non-conference is unacceptable to Boren and Joe C. This is why we want to take OSU--it just makes everything easier, politically and financially.
So, it comes down to which conference will take OSU to get OU. The SEC, or the PAC? The PAC will, but Boren is holding out to see if the SEC might as well.
