FratHouseSports

Even though the signs are now pointing to the Big 12 remaining together thanks to the new deal Beebe has proposed, we can’t ignore the fact before this “Beebe hail mary” began gaining steam Texas A&M was leaning towards becoming the new member of the SEC and not the Pac 10. And now that we’ve hit a bit of a lull in reporting before tomorrows regents meetings, we can look at the reasons as to why.

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Who to believe. On one hand you’ve got ESPN’s Joe Schad is reporting that Texas along with everyone else is going to the Pac 10 for sure. On the other hand the guy that broke this whole six Big 12 teams to the Pac 10 story like two weeks ago, Chip Brown of OrangeBloods.com, is saying that Texas will be staying in the Big 12 with 10 teams…the reason for Texas staying, just a rumored $20-25 million per year TV deal and their own TV network.

Hmmmm, the conglomerate ESPN or the little guy? This guy Chip hasn’t been wrong about much yet, but joe Schad did cite what must have been a record four sources of his story. We’ll have to wait and see who is telling the truth, but if it just so happens t be Chip I think he should get Joe Schad’s job.

Well s much for Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe’s last ditch plan to save the conference, the countdown to the apocalypse is back on. Citing four sources within the Big 12 ESPN’s Joe Schad is saying that not only is Texas leaving, but Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will also be defecting to the Pac 10.

We should expect to hear something from the Texas no later than tomorrow, probably after their regents meeting. Meanwhile Texas A&M is expected to strike off on it’s own and join the SEC. Now all eyes are on Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri to see where they’ll end up and which one is now going to lucky enough to be including into the Pac 10′s plans…Kansas?

Just because we paused on the writing this weekend doesn’t mean we stopped reading and pulling stories to the desktop. So here for you on this Monday morning are the juiciest expansion rumors from around the net to get you all caught up on the craziness.

• Pac 10 commissioner Larry Scott flew to Texas and Oklahoma to hand deliver invites to the five schools he wants to join (OCRegistar)
• Texas A&M regents have voted and decided to join the SEC (TheSlophouse)
• If Texas A&M doesn’t go to Pac 10 they will invite Kansas (SBNation)
• FedEx is offering a BCS Conference $10 million a year to add Memphis (SportingNews)
• The Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe still thinks the conference has a chance of sticking together; with a new TV deal (ESPN)
• The Pac 10 has issued a deadline of this Friday for schools to accept their invites (DallasNews)
• BONUS: Florida, Alabama, Oregon, Washington and Fresno State all deny calling USC freshman RB Dillon Baxter illegally (SeattleTimes)

Nothing much happened in terms of schools committing to other conferences. “Officially” only Nebraska and Colorado have committed to leaving the Big 12 and the rest of the talk is pure speculation. But with Texas and Texas Tech board of regents meeting tomorrow, the Texas legislator and the Oklahoma regents on Wednesday…I fully expect some official words from all schools early this week so hold onto your nutsack because it’s going to be a wild ride.

The Big 12 was formed way back on February 25, 1994 from a combination of teams from the Big Eight Conference and the Texas teams Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Baylor from the defunct Southwest Conference. It has had a nice 16 year run and has won more than their fair share of national championships…by my count they’ve won 59 titles, including five football and one basketball.

Now the Big 12 who is a football powerhouse, a basketball powerhouse, a track powerhouse, a baseball powerhouse, a men’s gymnastics powerhouse, a track and field powerhouse, even a f-cking bowling powerhouse is no more.

What caused the demise of this conference will surely be debated for many years to come. Was it the money…couldn’t have been the Big 12 made $139 million, more money this year than they ever has. Was it the competition…not with every school having won a conference and national title in its time as a member of the Big 12.

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UPDATE: A highly-placed official from a Big 12 school confirmed Friday that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will join the Pac-10 Conference once formal offers are made to them, but said that Texas A&M officials remain on the fence between joining the Pac-10 or the SEC.

According to the Daily Oklahoman Oklahoma is for sure leaving the Big 12 for the Pac 10, but for obvious reasons will wait until Texas officially announces their intentions….which should be next Tuesday when Texas holds its Board of Regents meeting.

Up until today Texas has been silent on where they stand on the whole Big 12 exodus thing, but today Texas AD finally broke his silence and released a statement. And if you read it carefully you can clearly see what direction Texas is headed in.

Statement From Texas’s Athletic Director Below…

It is a done deal folks, Nebraska is officially member of the Big 10. The press conference to officially announce the move is set for 6:00 pm ET. This leaves the Big 12 now with 10 teams and as we discussed the Big 10 now has three possible options moving forward.

With Nebraska gone the survival of the Big 12 rest squarely on the shoulders of Texas. If they go to the Pac 10, the others will follow. If Texas stays in the Big 12, the rest will stay and they’ll get some teams to replace those that have left. Either way, UT is the key.