Orlando Sentinel: Florida State and Texas A&M to SEC???

[NYBuckeye96]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/c ... 3196.story

Florida State and Texas A&M to SEC? Internet buzz says yes
Florida State, Texas A&M would give SEC 14 teams

TALLAHASSEE — The Internet was abuzz all Thursday night as rumors spread at the speed of a keystroke that multiple teams were preparing to leave their current conferences and head to the SEC.

Two teams in particular, the Big 12's Texas A&M and the ACC's Florida State, found themselves smack dab in the discussion – whether there was truth to the speculation or not.

For those waking up now who may have missed it and are rubbing their eyes as they read this – FSU in the SEC? – welcome to the world of the never-ending, 24-hour, online-driven news cycle.
Primarily, the discussions were happening on Twitter, where fans, bloggers, columnists and beat reporters participated in a he-said, she-said back-and-forth banter about the latest gossip they were hearing.

Even North Carolina State and ACC men's basketball coach Mark Gottfried got in on the action, sending out this tweet: "Hearing that Texas A&M and FSU may join SEC. That would be interesting. All I know is that the ACC is still envy of all for hoops!"

Clemson, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were some of the other schools being mentioned.

As for FSU, publicly, officials in Tallahassee and around the ACC are remaining mum on the discussions that kicked up mostly late Thursday suggesting the Seminoles were trying to join Texas A&M as the SEC's 13th or 14th member. But if any do go on record speaking about the issue throughout the weekend, don't be surprised to hear that the FSU to SEC gossip is true.

From the whispers the Sentinel has been hearing on the matter, there are some in administrative positions who believe FSU's time with the ACC has run its course. When the school joined the conference in July 1991, seven months after Georgia Tech earned a co-national championship in football and at a time Virginia was still a very relevant national player in the sport, FSU looked at the ACC as a true player in the college landscape. These days, the conference isn't close to being seen in the same light.

Since Tech's co-title, the conference hasn't won a national championship. Not to mention, take FSU out of the equation, and the ACC was miserable last season against big BCS opponents. Ohio State, Stanford, Georgia and Auburn were among the schools that beat up on ACC teams last season. That fact concerned ACC commissioner John Swofford so much during last month's ACC Kickoff in Pinehurst, N.C., that he addressed it during his state-of-conference speech.

"For us to gain the kind of respect that we want for Atlantic Coast football, those are the kind of games we have to win going forward," Swofford said.

Certainly from a financial standpoint, there is good reason why FSU might want to switch conferences.

The SEC's recent television deal is much more lucrative with bigger school payouts than the one the ACC just signed last year. Finances are an issue for any athletic department in this uncertain economic climate, and FSU would be among the first to admit taking any extra cash it can receive.

Exposure is another major concern. Playing on a national platform as large as the SEC's would give the Seminoles a chance to tap into even more homes, even more markets, and perhaps kick the rivalry with neighboring Florida into a gear few knew could exist. If the current non-conference battles are ferocious enough now, just imagine if the teams had something more than pride to play for — like a division or conference championship.

As FSU fans go, a potential move to the SEC appears to be a favorable one.

On the Sentinel's Chopping Block blog, fans were polled late Thursday about whether they wanted to see the school leave for the SEC, stay in the ACC, go independent or "other (write-in)." Around midnight, 58 percent of those polled said FSU should depart for SEC territory.

This all started long before this week, but the discussions mostly ramped up Wednesday, when various websites covering Texas A&M athletics began reporting that there was an offer on the table for the Aggies to bolt for the SEC. The offer was so real that school officials were apparently salivating at the chance to sign all the necessary paperwork to make the jump go into effect immediately. It would mean Texas A&M would try to enter the SEC next fall.

Once conversations about the Aggies began sounding like a certainty, FSU entered the mix, suggested as a natural balance to A&M, which would likely enter the SEC West division. The Seminoles, as a probable SEC East invitee, would balance out the conference.

The talk generated so much steam Wednesday that Big 12 commissiner Dan Beebe told the Austin-American Statesman he was not ignoring it.

"I'll put it this way; I'm taking it very seriously," Beebe said. "I've been talking to a number of people. Obviously, there are a significant number of Aggie supporters who are interested in going in that (SEC) direction ."

According to a Texas A&M spokesman who spoke Thursday to Orangebloods.com, the University of Texas' Rivals site, "There's no agreement (to leave) in principle, nothing."

But the site is reporting the school will be hosting a regents meeting Aug. 22, with the SEC move potentially happening at that time.

[NYBuckeye96]

The arms race continues! *IF* this happens, the superconference will be upon us. I wonder what moves the Big Ten and Pac 12 would do to counter this?

If we do have superconferences the Big Ten needs to do something big that might require thinking outside the box. Notre Dame is the only school left in the Big Ten's current geographic footprint that would make a splash.

The Big Ten either has to pick up the East Coast media markets or has to pick up a top football school like Notre Dame. Too bad those east coast markets don't have a top tier football school. Other than Notre Dame, the only top football schools not already a part of the Big Ten are either in the Southeast US or West Coast and of course Texas/Oklahoma.

[Peake]

I wouldn't believe a word the Sentinel says, they are wrong 90% of the time.

[NYBuckeye96]

Well there are definately a lot of rumors spreading online right now..........check this out....

http://tamu.rivals.com/

It's the A&M Rivals website, which is a pay website, but this is the headline...

Good bye, Big 12
by Jeff Tarpley

Texas has the Longhorn Network. Texas A&M has the SEC. Aggieyell.com is reporting that the Aggies have cast their lot with the Southeastern Conference. Find out more here. [details]

[alabama mike]

FSU had the chance to join the SEC several years ago but opted to join the ACC. I'll have to see it happen first. Personally, I'd like to see Oklahoma and Oklahoma State join.

[seofan_via_dublin]

If FSU had been in the SEC, I don't think they would have enjoyed their 90s dominance and run of top 5 finishes.

They benighted greatly from a BAD ACC and a soft non conference. (Florida being the exception)

[Bubblegumhuffy]

I think once it all shakes out the SEC will be a 16 team conference. I am just curious to see how the Big 12 or ACC compensate for whatever the SEC pillages. There could be a lot of movement in all kinds of conferences if this all goes down.

[seofan_via_dublin]

Once A&M goes, look for the Big 10 to make a play for Oklahoma.

It would add a great team, and reinstate the great rivalry of OU/Neb.

I'd also like to see Kansas added for basketball reasons.

I think once it starts, it's going to go quick. You may see a 16 team Big 10 and SEC setup very quickly.

Texas is in a pickle, they have almost forced themselves into Independent status due to their 20 year TV network deal.

[seofan_via_dublin]

I could see the SEC getting A&M, FSU, Miami, and Clemson.

The Big 10 taking OU, OKLA St, Kansas, and one other.

Then the Big East and the remaining ACC in talks to combine and make a basketball jugernat!

That would be my dream setup.

Super conferences are coming.

[seofan_via_dublin]

There is talk that the Big 10 is negotiating with Texas and ND.

Both would get to keep their individual network deals, but in return would not get a % cut of BTN!

That would be huge, especially if they could grap Oklahoma as well.

[Bubblegumhuffy]

What i have heard is that the SEC wants Texas A & M with Oklahoma from the Big Twelve. They want those two really bad because they are the best from the Big 12 available.

I have a feeling that Clemson, Florida State, or Oklahoma State will make up the other 4.

I think then the ACC steals some Big East Schools, and the Big Ten tries to take Kansas and K State.

[NYBuckeye96]

Kansas State and Oklahoma State do nothing for the Big Ten. Low populated states combined with poor academics.

At least with Kansas you get an AAU school who is good at basketball, and Oklahoma is a football powerhouse. But their sister schools bring nothing. I think Iowa State brings more to the table - at least they are AAU members - and Iowa State never will have the votes to join the Big Ten.. Missouri could bring AAU, a solid mid-pack team in most sports, and the BTN in the St. Louis and KC markets. Even if Mizzou can't deliver those markets, the people would still have to pay for the BTN.

I don't know if I would want Texas in the Big Ten, even if they didn't get BTN money. I do not trust Texas. Even though it would open the state of Texas to Big Ten recruiting. I'm intrigued about the Notre Dame idea though. I think eventually the BTN will be worth so much that Notre Dame would be willing to give up their own network deal to get a hold of BTN money. The BTN is only going to increase in value over time.

[NYBuckeye96]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110812/S ... 2-upheaval

Published Friday August 12, 2011

Shatel: Huskers can just smile at potential Big 12 upheaval

How do you like Nebraska now?

The K-State fans who posted a giant banner last October at KSU Stadium that read, "Treason.''

The folks from Lawrence to Lubbock who accused Nebraska of running away from Texas because it couldn't beat the Longhorns.

The Oklahoma scribe who wrote that maybe Nebraska was on the wrong end of those 11-1 votes for a reason, that Nebraska was the problem.

And, last but not least, the Big 12 North schools that went along for the ride.

The Big 12 is falling apart. The house of cards is teetering. Texas A&M appears to be leaving for the Southeastern Conference. One more card and the thing will come tumbling down.

What will Oklahoma do? Pac-12? SEC? Stay in a nine-team league where its rival has its own TV network fueled by ESPN?

Don't worry, be happy. Reports are that the Big 12 will turn to Houston. The Cougars, not the Texans. A Houston sports columnist rejoiced at the notion and called for the league to go after SMU and TCU.

The return of the Southworst Conference? Look, they're getting the band back together.

The same group that Texas couldn't wait to get away from almost two decades ago.

Don't panic. Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds, the Big 12 commissioner, said on Friday that the league will be fine but, whatever happens, "We'll (Texas) be in a good place. That's what we do. We're good at that.''

That should make the other Big Nine members rest comfy. Remember the Alamo. Texas independence can't be far away.

The sound you hear is nervous teeth chattering in Iowa State, Missouri, Kansas and Kansas State. They might be OK. They might not. The stakes are particularly high at KU, which would stand to lose its superstar basketball coach and hoops aura if it had to move into the Mountain West or Conference USA. The Big 12 hoops tourney, the precious jewel of Kansas City, is on the line, too.

As their paper empire burns around them, will they be getting any sympathy cards from Nebraska?

Hell, no.

Nebraska once had a band of brothers in the old Big Eight, but old friends became estranged in the dysfunctional Big 12. That's when NU found out who its real friends were. Mostly, who they weren't.

Tom Osborne tried to warn everybody. When the conference office moved to Dallas. When the initial Big 12 rules went away from Big Eight policy and leaned toward Texas. Osborne tried to tell them this would not end well.

But they didn't listen. They didn't want to listen.

The early votes came back 11-1, with Nebraska on a righteous island. However the former Big Eight schools felt, they also saw an opportunity to cut Nebraska off at the knees. Osborne's championship years were in full gear when the Big 12 was formed in 1995. The Huskers were steamrolling everyone. The formation of the new league was a chance to do something about it.

Oklahoma cut the ties to the iconic rivalry like it was canceling a series with Arkansas State. Meanwhile, the exclusion of partial qualifiers — a rule the other Big Eight schools certainly took advantage of over the years — became a vehicle to slow the Huskers.

Osborne was so teed off he railed on the topic immediately after he beat Florida 62-24 for the national championship to cap the 1995 season.

A lot of Big 12 folks thought it was funny. The bully's not getting his way.

Who's laughing now?

Osborne tried. When he returned as athletic director, he fought to get the Big 12 title game up north. He fought for balance. He did what he thought was right. An imbalanced league is a broken league.

But the schools up north wanted nothing to do with it, even though a rotation that included Arrowhead Stadium clearly would have benefited them.

No, he was Osborne the delusional dinosaur, a Quixote figure tilting at Texas windmills. And Nebraskans were spoiled, mad that they couldn't win the Big 12. Texas a threat? Never. Look at all this wonderful money they're bringing everyone.

What a brilliant shell game it's been. Texas bluffed Nebraska into the Big Ten last year. And when the Horns returned from the Pac-10 chaos to "save" the Big 12, the others were beholden to Bevo. Longhorn Network? Go right ahead.

Now, another dissenter, Texas A&M, appears gone. And the Texas stranglehold over its subjects is tighter. If they don't like it, the Horns are arrogant enough to go independent, even though they don't have the national appeal of a Notre Dame.

Who's to blame? Who's the bad guy? Nebraska? Texas A&M? How about the other Big 12 schools, including those old friends up north, who enabled the Longhorns from day one?

Do they even know they were conned?

Now a new game begins. Even if the league stays together, the Big 12 brand is further damaged. No matter who you bring in — BYU, TCU, Houston, Louisville — the league would be closer to the WAC or Mountain West than the SEC. And, by the way, why would you want to join a league where the only certainty is that Texas "will be in a good place?''

Missouri and Kansas likely will have options. Big East. MU is a good fit in the SEC, if that's available. Would the Pac-12 be interested in KU hoops? The future for K-State and Iowa State seems less certain.

If the Big East comes to take KU, MU, ISU and K-State, the basketball schools in that conference likely will split and form their own league. And the conference realignment game could suddenly find itself on Creighton's doorstep.

Would things have been different had the old band of brothers banded together against Texas? We'll never know. And, frankly, Nebraska doesn't care. The Huskers are in a great place, a better place in the Big Ten.

But Nebraskans are paying attention to the soap opera down south, with satisfied smiles. There's a saying from North Platte to Lincoln and Auburn. You reap what you sow.

[seofan_via_dublin]

I don't know if I would want Texas in the Big Ten, even if they didn't get BTN money. I do not trust Texas. Even though it would open the state of Texas to Big Ten recruiting. I'm intrigued about the Notre Dame idea though. I think eventually the BTN will be worth so much that Notre Dame would be willing to give up their own network deal to get a hold of BTN money. The BTN is only going to increase in value over time.

Each B10 school is already getting more through the network deal per year than NBC gives ND.

[fightingtigers45]

Texas A&M will announce their intention to move August 22nd.

I guarantee you this, Florida State, Miami, Clemson, Georgia Tech, and any other school already located in which an SEC team is, will not be invited. Mike Slive is the smartest man in college football and wouldn't screw his member schools by adding schools which add nothing to the brand.

[Bubblegumhuffy]

Texas A&M will announce their intention to move August 22nd.

I guarantee you this, Florida State, Miami, Clemson, Georgia Tech, and any other school already located in which an SEC team is, will not be invited. Mike Slive is the smartest man in college football and wouldn't screw his member schools by adding schools which add nothing to the brand.

The more i read and hear about this, i think you are right. I have heard Missouri, Va Tech as new rumors, as well as still a lot of talk on Oklahoma.

[NYBuckeye96]

I was watching SportsCenter and ESPN reported that Texas A&M will announce their move to the SEC on Monday. ESPN also said that Florida State, Clemson and Missouri could be joining them in the SEC.

The first megaconference. If this happens, the cards will fall pretty fast. That puts the Big 12 on life support if it looses both A&M and Missouri. The ACC would also loose two schools in Florida State and Clemson if this is true.

Now things are starting to get interesting.

[NYBuckeye96]

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootbal ... SEC-081311

Report: Texas A&M to join SEC

Updated Aug 13, 2011 10:54 AM ET
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS

Texas A&M will leave the Big 12 to join the Southeastern Conference (SEC), ESPN reported Saturday, quoting a "high ranking source" from the Aggies.

The source said Clemson, Florida State and Missouri were also "likely to join."

Texas A&M had already moved forward a Board of Regents meeting to Monday afternoon to discuss "conference alignment," heightening anticipation at the move, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The session was brought forward from Aug. 22 after the Texas House Committee on Higher Education announced a Tuesday hearing to discuss possible college conference realignments within the state. Big 12, SEC and Texas A&M officials were all invited to the committee hearing.

An A&M official, meanwhile, told the Chronicle on Friday night that it was hoped the Aggies could join the SEC in 2012. A Big 12 school official claimed that SEC school leaders were also meeting this weekend to approve the arrival of A&M.

An A&M official was quoted by the newspaper as saying that Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe told A&M the conference would still function without it, amid claims Houston could be in line to replace the Aggies. A Big 12 spokesman later denied the claim.

The speculation of Texas A&M's jump from the Big 12 gained steam Wednesday when Texas governor Rick Perry confirmed that "conversations" between the school and the SEC were taking place.

Florida State officials were also reported to be in serious discussions with the conference. A source told The Palm Beach Post that the Seminoles were in talks with the SEC during the past several months, but discussions recently became more serious.

The possible expansion of the SEC to 14 teams came after the Big 12 lost Colorado to the Pac-12 and Nebraska to the Big Ten.

Texas A&M's discussions with the SEC are believed to be motivated by the University of Texas' (UT) agreement with ESPN to launch the Longhorn Network, which will generate $300 million in revenue for the university over the next 20 years.

The NCAA ruled Thursday that the Longhorn Network would not be able to air 18 high school football games after other Big 12 schools protested that the broadcasts would give Texas an obvious recruiting advantage.

UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds told the Chronicle that the reports on the likely departure of its close rival from the Big 12 sparked discussions within the conference, but he added he had no inside knowledge.

"All we know is what we read and hear in the media," he said. "We are actively looking at every possible option we have and have been talking to other Big 12 schools. We are strong supporters and members of the Big 12. We'd be disappointed if Texas A&M leaves, but if they do, we wish them well."

[Bubblegumhuffy]

I was watching SportsCenter and ESPN reported that Texas A&M will announce their move to the SEC on Monday. ESPN also said that Florida State, Clemson and Missouri could be joining them in the SEC.

The first megaconference. If this happens, the cards will fall pretty fast. That puts the Big 12 on life support if it looses both A&M and Missouri. The ACC would also loose two schools in Florida State and Clemson if this is true.

Now things are starting to get interesting.

Things will get real interesting once those conferences have to fill there wholes.

[oldmo31]

Man NYBuckeye,If you rely on e$pn for your information,have I got a very nice but slighty used bridge to sell you.E$pn will have to open the billfold now when Slive tears up that SEC contract and says MORE MONEY. DOWN WITH THE TALKING HEADS !!!!