Chicageaux

I thought this looked really good.

Barry Sander Oklahoma State Jersey

Especially without the space between Oklahoma and State.

I would have to say the ACC is pretty stable. They might not be as stable as the Big 10, Pac-12, or SEC, but I don't see them losing any members until this whole mess starts again next season.

As has been already discussed here, the Big East is ready to start expanding.

AP Source: Big East to invite Boise St, 5 others

A person familiar with the decision says the Big East will invite Boise State, Navy and Air Force for football only and SMU, Houston and Central Florida for all sports.

Nothing really new, just an update.

Meanwhile, WVU is suing the Big East saying the Big East left them no choice but to leave the conference and they should be able to leave to be part of the Big XII by the 2012 school year.

Yes, I understand this leaves us with A&M and South Carolina playing annually, but hey, the Big Ten has Nebraska and Penn State as designated rivals by default, so travel isn't always a consideration.

Score another one for "tradition".

... oh wait.

It's more like if you're splitting up the 4 biggest powers in the Big Ten, and are placing Ohio State and Michigan in opposite divisions, the other two are going to be paired up as well for inter-divisional rivalries. At least there is some mutual historical grievance between Nebraska and Penn State to work with.

It's going to have to be Texas A&M and South Carolina, because once Oklahoma and Oklahoma State join the SEC, its going to be another predetermined, nonnegotiable rivalry.

IF that were going to happen, I don't understand why that couldn't still be a rivalry if Texas A&M and Missouri were playing each other.

Not to mention, the SEC website that had the early publish was set to be released on October 31st. Today was a good guess for it to be announced, however they're not going to announce it until they have everything worked out.

It's also possible they were going to announce today (even though they still can) but they didn't want to share the spotlight with LaRussa's retirement announcement. Like you said, they want to be the main focus. I'd imagine it'd be sometime this week, possibly Wednesday.

While nothing's confirmed, that's the general belief across the board. I think Mizzou will do a lot better in the east than A&M will do in the west. While competing against Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida is a lot different than competing against Kansas, Iowa State, and Baylor, those teams are subject to down years as is evident this year and last.

An honest question for all the Mizzou fans out there:

Do you really believe your team can be competitive in football playing in the SEC West East?

FYP

And I was under that same impression. I heard that's what they wanted to do, especially since they're making Texas A&M and Missouri inter-conference rivals.

So is today that day that we hear Missouri is officially being invited to the SEC?

I doubt it. The SEC still wants Mizzou for 2012 and the Big XII doesn't want them to leave until 2013 based on TV Deals. Until they get that worked out, they'll hold off on the announcement.

See my post above. The press releases of the Big XII in 2012-13 ommitting Mizzou and the premature webpage have all but guaranteed it's happening. They probably didn't want to announce it with the World Series going on because, trust me, it could very well have gone unnoticed. And with Deaton leaving the country, it'll probably happen today.

Oh, I know it's happening, I just don't think it'll be today. I just know the biggest thing they're working on is scheduling. It's happening because the SEC even went as far as making a 14 team schedule, why else would they do it unless they knew Mizzou was coming next year? I have confidence Mizzou will be part of the SEC in 2012, it's just a just going to take a little bit of time to make it happen.

So is today that day that we hear Missouri is officially being invited to the SEC?

I doubt it. The SEC still wants Mizzou for 2012 and the Big XII doesn't want them to leave until 2013 based on TV Deals. Until they get that worked out, they'll hold off on the announcement.

WVU to Big XII.

http://brett-mcmurphy.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/29532522/32980106

I can't say I like this move at all.

What's interesting is that ESPN first reported that the reason for the hold up was that the Big XII was waiting for Missouri to formally withdraw from the Big XII. Does this mean Missouri has now withdrawn for the Big XII? Another interesting thing is that the web-posting that EStone put up had a release date for October 31st on it.

Anyone see/hear the report that thhe official SEC website had a page for Missouri up last night? It was reporting that Missou would be an official member starting June or July 1st. The page has since been removed from the website. Expect reports later today.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/10/sec-website-missouri-announcement-pulled/1

I'm not really sure why they're holding back on making the announcement. Last week I heard was they were going to make it on Monday, which would make sense with that article. Then I heard it got pushed back to Thursday/Friday to coincide with the Mizzou/Texas A&M game. The only thing I can guess is that they're trying to work it out so Mizzou can join next summer versus the summer of 2013.

Apparently at least OU an maybe others want 12, but Texas wants 10. Looks like this rivalry is becoming more about power than football games. Maybe even more than actual money.

Well, 12 teams dilutes the value of The Longhorn Network. So it makes sense why Texas is in favor of 10 teams. 12 teams at least give you a legitimate AQ bid for the BCS. 10 teams is pushing it, even if you have Texas and Oklahoma.

Does it? I was under the impression that the more teams you add, the more tvs you add, meaning you'll get more money. Now, from what I heard and I don't if it's official, the Big XII is going to have even revenue sharing so in a sense it means less money for Texas which is probably why they don't want to do it.

Seems like Texas is really trying to strangle-hold the Big XII still. Last year it was Colorado and Nebraska, this year is was Texas A&M and Mizzou-rah, any takers on who's bailing next year?

And only good in football, can't see the Pac-12 letting them in for those two reasons as we've discussed before.

Here's a pretty good article on this whole Big XII/WVU/Louisville Soap Opera:

Louisville and WVU both eyeing Big XII

Heh, instead of picking one or the other...wouldn't it be a lot easier to just to pick up both and drag Cincy along also?

Apparently the Big XII is hesitant of jumping up to 12 teams. I know earlier reports stated that if Missouri left, then they were going for 12, but if they didn't then they'd stay at 10 for awhile. For some reason after reading that article, it seems like the Big XII is eyeballing someone else, they make a point of stating there might be another school out there that replaces Missouri. Whatever the case is, it seems that Missouri's departure is just a short matter of time now. They might be holding off on making an actual announcement until Missouri makes an announcement. I think it looks kinda bad to announce a team as another team's replacement in your conference when that team is still in your conference.

I believe that the number 14 should be the magical number for the big-time conferences. Do away with the Big East football conference first, then have the remainder of the Big East (West Virginia, Louisville, Cincinnati, and South Florida) join the Big 12 and bring in BYU. The Big Ten should wrap up their goal of attaining the NYC market with Rutgers and UConn. The ACC and the SEC could definitely stay where they are. The Pac-12 (even though Cal and Stanford would hate it) could draw in Boise State and (this one is quite out there) Hawaii. While that may a little out there... the markets are manageable, there's a decent balance of high academics and high athletics, it could also allow a Mountain West/C-USA confederation to attain an at-large bid, and keep Norte Dame independent.

Please feel free to call me crazy. Haha.

Boise State is basically zero on the academic scale.

And only good in football, can't see the Pac-12 letting them in for those two reasons as we've discussed before.

Here's a pretty good article on this whole Big XII/WVU/Louisville Soap Opera:

Louisville and WVU both eyeing Big XII

Just in case no one's heard, Missouri and SEC Officials are meeting right now in Birmingham to discuss Missouri's move. The hope is that they can announce Missouri as the 14th team this week, especially before the game against Texas A&M on Saturday. That all being said, Missouri isn't expected to join the SEC until the 2013 school year, however I'm sure that can change.

With West Virginia and TCU joining the Big XII, the Big East MUST be stripped of their automatic BCS bid. As of this now, that conference is no better than the WAC.

That's why I believe even more that the rumor of them merging with MWC and C-USA is true, that's if they'll even take what's left of the Big East.

I don't know about you, but I'm gonna have to retire to the Pop Culture Game to keep my post count up and pray this all starts again.

In all fairness, they were lined up to be the 14th team, they just happened to be denied.

You have to realize that ESPN doesn't want Missouri to leave the Big XII, so of course they're going to report on all the positive things that happen between the Big XII and Missouri. They left a lot out about what happened at the meeting yesterday and reported on what seemed like Missouri was staying. As I've said before, I have a source that comes from Big XII country as well and I've been hearing very similar things as McCall. When it's all said and done, I'll be completely surprised if Mizzou isn't sitting in the SEC.

In case anyone still thinks Mizzou isn't leaving: Mizzou Chancellor wishes Big 12 ?the best and all that?

From multiple sources on Twitter:

Mizzou's Chancellor abstained from any voting that regarded the future of the Big 12, as did aTm's who phoned into the meetings. Says some things to finalize but the move is eminent and seems there's no "hail Mary" the Big 12 can throw to keep Mizzou around.

Oh and they said anybody hoping for the Big Ten can let go. It ain't happening.

I can back McCall up on this.

I think people are taking the meaning of Mizzou not voting as a sign they're staying and that's the exact opposite. They're not voting because the things that are being voted on will have no affect on Missouri. If Missouri is really waiting on the Big 10, then they'll be waiting for a long time. All the moves have been made for Missouri to join the SEC and be in the east division. The fact the Big XII has Texas and Oklahoma has nothing to do with Mizzou staying in the conference, in fact one of those schools is the reaosn why three former schools left the conference. I can't speak for fact, but I can speak from what I've heard, and Missouri was ticked that those two schools tried to jump ship to the Pac-12. That all being said, the automatic bid to a BCS game has nothing to do with Missouri's reasoning for staying either cause they can get that wherever they go.

That's actually one of the best plans I've seen.

Alabama doesn't want to risk losing it's rivalry game with Tennessee if Auburn had moved to the East.

Anyone want to take a real good guess on which 2 schools realistically will join the SEC to make it a 16 team conference

I said this a couple weeks ago: I believe the SEC will make one more pitch to Oklahoma about joining the conference, especially since the Pac-12 looks content on staying at 12 for the immediate future.

I don't think the SEC would frown upon taking the duo of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. They could do a lot worse.

Then you could put both Alabama & Auburn in the East

EAST

Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

WEST

Arkansas,LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M

I think it works pretty well to bring in Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. Alabama gets to keep it's two games against Auburn and Tennessee, so there shouldn't really be a problem there. I agree with Hedley and when Missouri joins, they need to make one more pitch to Oklahoma. I'm not sure if the move to 16 happens this year or not, if I had to guess, it'll happen in the next wave next year. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are two great pickups. I truly believe the SEC will look a lot more inviting to Oklahoma once Missouri joins.

Now my question is, why was the SEC uninterested in Oklahoma State? I've read it a few places and also heard it from a few people and I just never really understood. Is it because the SEC doesn't want two schools from the same state?

Just to keep everyone up to date on the news on Missouri/SEC, I got a text today saying, as expected, that Missouri will be joining the SEC East. I did not get a time-frame of when the announcement will be taking place. Just wanted to pass this along.