Posted September 27th, 2011 by Ross
Filed under: Baseball, Basketball, Football

We have completed a quarter of the season and it’s time to start looking at conference match ups for the Horns. But before we get back to football, I want to look back at Realignment Armageddon 2.0. We can surmise that the Big 12 is back together and everything is back to normal. (Who believes that?) I do think we need to take a look at what was lost. Here is what I believe the PAC 16 would have looked like if Larry Scott and the rest of the universities on the left coast would have opened the door to the 4 schools in the East.

Northwest Pod

Oregon state
Oregon
Washington
Washington State

West Pod

Stanford
California
UCLA
USC

Mountain Pod

Arizona
Arizona State
Colorado
Utah

East Pod

Texas
Texas Tech
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State

The pod system would have played out by having the schools in the East only having to travel to the western time zone twice a year for football. The teams would play a home and away series for two years and switch to the other remaining teams in that pod. The travel schedule for most of the other university sports would be quite different due to the size of this conference, but we all know that football pays the bills. The media markets that this league would boast would cover 12 of the major 28 markets including the biggies such as LA, SF, Houston, & DFW.

Here is a look at the possible football schedule using the pod system for the Longhorns for the 2012 and 2014 season. The odd years would result in the teams switching destinations to accommodate the home and away series. The OU game would still be played at the Cotton Bowl every year. The remaining 3 non-conference games of the season would be a host of cupcake teams to offset a brutal but highly entertaining regular season (goodbye A&M)!

2012 – Pac 16 conference games

@ Oregon
Washington St
@ Standford
UCLA
@ Colorado
Arizona
@ Texas Tech
OU
@ OK State

2014 – Pac 16 conference games

Oregon St.
@ Washington
USC
@ California
Utah
@ Arizona St.
@ Texas Tech
OU
@ OK State

The Pac 16 games would provide better match ups and great destinations over the Big 12. The conference titles games would be the former Pac 8 schools (NW/West) against the Mountain/East division schools in locales such as Pasadena, Tempe or maybe even at Cowboy Stadium. Texas wants to play in large television markets for exposure and to play in mostly southern climates to recruit elite high school talent. The cons to this new frontier is that it would be much more difficult to reach a BCS bowl game or even the National Title game under the PAC 16 scenario. It looks like the Big 12 will allow the Longhorn Network to exist as long as the Tier 1 and Tier 2 television rights are shared among all schools in the league. There are probably some hurt feelings and back room deals that still need to be ironed out and another team needs to be added for this Big 12 conference to work. I just thought you might want to see what was lost last week when the Pac 12 was said that their full right now. I did enjoy DeLoss Dodds assessment of Texas during this entire upheaval. “We are who we are.”

Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter @40AcresSports or follow me @Horns1991. HOOK EM!!

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Posted September 6th, 2011 by Brian
Filed under: Baseball, Basketball, Football

The University of Texas has a contract with ESPN for the Longhorn Network that pays it at least $300 million over the next 20 years.

A contract.

For those who don’t know what that word means Wikipedia defines a contract as, “a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties with mutual obligations.” You can’t just decide you don’t want to be in a contract anymore because you feel like it. There are penalties and repercussions.

What no one (both journalists and message board experts) seems to mention when they suggest Texas should head to the new Pac 16 and dump LHN is that it may be worse than sacrificing millions in possible revenue. Texas might owe ESPN some huge sum of money for breaching the contract if they want to kill it.

Not only do UT, DeLoss Dodds, Bill Powers, and the BOR need to decide to modify Longhorn Network but ESPN would as well. What’s in it for them to do so when one of the reasons Texas got such a good deal on LHN was ESPN didn’t want super conferences??

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Best quote of A&M’s so far failed bid to leave the Big 12 for the SEC:

I’m not quite as sure why the SEC wants A&M, because other than getting its toes into the state of Texas – assuming College Station counts – this is like a high-end mall expanding to add a Walgreens.

From Jeff Schultz at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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Posted August 14th, 2011 by Brian
Filed under: Baseball, Basketball, Feature, Football

Andy Katz thinks pretty much every other recent conference move made sense, except of course the Aggies moving to the SEC. Some quotes from Katz:

This move specifically is done because Texas A&M didn’t like the way Texas was getting favored status from the Big 12.

And…

They didn’t like being treated as the second child.

The best one comes from the other host though…

A&M has been in the shadow of Texas for quite some while now.

Too bad for the Aggies. Instead of being little brother to Texas and Oklahoma whipping boy, they’ll now be fighting Mississipi State for fifth place in the SEC West. Aggie fans somehow think they’ll be better in SEC. They couldn’t consistently beat Texas Tech and Baylor but think they can hang with Bama and LSU.

Watch the video…

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Posted August 30th, 2010 by Jack
Filed under: Feature, Football

We’ve had a rocky relationship over the years in a weird masochistic sort of way.  When we first all got together, back in 1996, you were an evil, determined mistress, a vision of perfection with no vulnerable, tender side.  You dismissed all who came before you – sometimes even violently and machinelike, with no real pleasure to speak of.  Color was irrelevant and so was location -your place or theirs, you had your way with everyone and they were forced to do your bidding.

Then when we really did hook up for the first time, on a cold December night in St. Louis, you weren’t exactly at the height of your power.  Arizona State came out and coldcocked you three months before.  In true Nebraska spirit, you took out your pain and agony on the rest of your schedule.  Some of our old friends were soundly thrashed by the Lady in Red, and when it came down to the end, you prevailed over mighty Colorado and were waiting to beat that little upstart Texas for your largely ceremonial dance ticket.

Well it didn’t happen.  I overcame everything that you had and everything that you stood for, and emerged from that dome with a smile and a trophy.  I rolled and left you a second embarrassment in a single season, something unthinkable to you and everyone you knew.  Of course, you chose 1997 to wreck havoc and take revenge upon all that had wronged you, in a year I’d like to forget.  You emerged unscathed, walking into Seattle and taking U-Dub’s lunch money early on.  You even brushed off Kansas State right after that, whom at the time you didn’t know was to question your power in upcoming years.  You were back where you felt like you belonged.

Then 1998 happened.  Solich happened.  Ricky and Major happened.  Something unthinkable happened.  I went to your house on Halloween, decided I’d had enough of you and your bullying, and hit you as hard as I could.  And you went down, and I left with all of your Halloween candy.  Nobody had invaded your crib and came out victorious in seven years.  I think that was the day our relationship changed.

1999 saw us both sleek and watchful, confident in our abilities but wary of our foes.  You didn’t survive a return visit to my place, but you did get the last laugh in San Antonio.  I was the only blemish on your dance card back then, but you could safely say this was not the one-sided relationship it used to be.   You could even make the case that maybe we were growing a little fond of each other, but we each had our own stuff going on after that.  We were both trying to get from good to great and besides, we both had K-State and Oklahoma to deal with.

By the next time we finally saw each other again in 2002, you were a mess.  You’d even let Iowa State and Oklahoma State push you around.  I left Lincoln for the second consecutive time victorious, an unprecedented feat.    Colorado even wiped their muddy boots on your once-hallowed carpet and strolled away whistling.  I wondered what was wrong with you but after kicking the crap out of you in Austin in 2003, I realized I had better things to do.  Nebraska could take care of herself.

I was a little busy in 2004 and 2005.  I’m not going to apologize.  You’d been where I was ten years before, so you understand.

2006 showed me in the position that you had in 1996, albeit a little weaker.  But that didn’t stop me from taking a third straight win in your house.  I was beginning to think about leaving a note on the fridge so you knew what I liked to eat when I came into town.  We were both trying to find ourselves again, being good but nothing special.  I’m not going to talk much about about 2007 besides you finally realizing a change was due and I beat you again.  I was proud of you for reinventing yourself but kept a healthy dose of skepticism.

2008 was crummy for both of us in different ways.  You had to deal with Missouri and Texas Tech’s best punches and you’re still feeling out this whole cougar thing.  Traveling to Oklahoma doesn’t sound like much fun – I mean, I always say I’ll meet halfway – and getting beat down there has to be worse.  That was the year I learned I don’t like pirates.

I can’t explain last year.  I was at the top of my game, feeling all of the rushes and pressure of 2005 again.  You rolled the clock back despite shocking losses to Iowa State and Texas Tech at home in back to back weeks.  You partied like it was 1995, your salad days.  I won’t get into how and why I get second chances and you don’t.  It just happened that way.  All of the hatred and the fear I had of you in the nineties, though?  It’s a complete role reversal.  I’m at the top of the hill and you’re trying to knock me off one last time before you go run off with your new friends.

I’m not going to wish you luck, as that would be completely asinine.  I do want to thank you for some great memories that have come at your expense over the years.  Sure, you’ll always have San Antonio…but I’ll always have Lincoln.

Love,

Texas

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Posted August 23rd, 2010 by Jack
Filed under: Feature, Football

Literally.  Since there’s some sort of footsie being played between the conference and BYU, I assume the LDS Board of Apostles is thinking they’ll get invited in a couple of years.  Maybe we ask for a ton of money as a buy in since we know they have it out there in Provo.  There’s probably a Scrooge McDuck vault under the Temple.  But what about the other spot?  I’ve thrown this idea out to a few other Orangebloods and the best I can say is that nobody hates it.

The University of Memphis.

A couple of months ago, around the Big 12 Missile Crisis, the CEO of FedEx said something along the lines of his Memphis based company being able to give ten million dollars a year to whichever BCS conference would take those sad little Tigers out of C-USA.  The Dirty Dozen has a spot and those cash-deprived Aggies dying for their share of the Colorado / Nebraska buyout money can be satisfied.  And frankly, why does Texas care?  Memphis is a Southwest flight away from Austin.  Sure, it lacks the granola flavor of Boulder or the midwestern charm of Lincoln.  It makes up for that in ease of travel and one of those big checks every year.  We’d only see them every other year – think about how long we’ve put up with Iowa State.  I know that a lineup of BYU, Memphis, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Mizzou doesn’t really excite anyone on the gridiron, but what other options that pay the conference ten million are out there?

TCU?  I’ve championed them for a while because it would weaken Tech, A&M, Baylor, and Oklahoma State significantly just being in Fort Worth.  I have to exclude Norman for being the only habitable town in the state and Austin is still Austin.  Line up Fort Worth against College Station, Lubbock, Stillwater, and Waco – it’s not even close.  Their annual home game against UT or OU could go into Jerry’s Death Star in Arlington.  We’re fully aware what they can do in baseball and the city would finally own them with BCS conference membership – just to have either UT or OU in town twice a year, really.  They’d join up so fast our heads would spin since BYU just ditched them and their crummy league.  I bet even a Horned Frog would rather go to Ames (or Memphis) than Fresno or Boise.  Really though, I don’t know what value they bring that Texas doesn’t have already.  It just sounds good.

Memphis makes sense.  Fork over the check and we’ll use the Kansas excuse that’s come in handy over the years – we’ll put up with your terrible pre-Mangino era football teams for basketball superpowers.  For that matter, why the heck would we want two stud programs joining up?  The NCAA isn’t going to take the Big 12’s BCS autobid.  If this really is the Longhorn Athletic Conference like so many say, adding two bleh teams for the money when the default title game is in October every year is important.  Texas sells out wherever the Horns go, and if we’re talking TV sets, Memphis plus most of Utah is about as close to replacing Denver and Nebraska as we’ll get. Talk about sticking a thumb in the eye of those Rocky Tops – stealing their TV’s and recruits by adding poor little Memphis to the big time.  It would screw up Arkansas, too, and that never stops being entertaining.

This could be fun!  C’mon, we’ve got starving Aggies to feed!

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Posted July 12th, 2010 by Matt
Filed under: Feature, Football

Red Out Around the World

Apparently Nebraska doesn’t like to let things go. Some fans (I assume) are starting a campaign called “Red Out Around the World,” showing the “world” (does anyone really care) how mad they are about the Big 12 Championship. I guess it was all just to much to handle and they had to up and leave the conference.

Nebraska. A place of integrity, family, commitment. Where traditions are forged in the furnace of July. But hardened on Saturday nights in November. A place where the best thing about summer, is when it turns into fall. These last few months, thunderstorms weren’t the only power building over the Great Plains….

Wait? What?!? Forged in the furnace of July? An 85 degree furnace? Since apparently the summers are pretty boring there, it looks like they had nothing better to do than make this video.

And you know what else is sad? I could have made a better video with my iPhone 4.

Updated the video below. The first one was taken down.

Red Out Around the World

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A little late, but some interesting conversation from the worldwide leader about Texas football possibly flipping conferences from the Big 12 to the Big Ten…

Video courtesy of ESPN.
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Posted February 9th, 2010 by Brian
Filed under: Football

According to ESPN blogger Tim Griffin, Garrett Gilbert’s job may be the toughest in the Big 12 for 2010…

Texas QB Colt McCoy: He leaves school as the most statistically proficient quarterback in school history, although his career will forever be marked by his near misses in the Heisman Trophy balloting over the past two seasons and his injury in his final college game against Alabama. Garrett Gilbert will be facing some big shoes to replace when Texas practice starts later this month.

Read the full top 5 biggest shoes to fill.

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Football player or track star? How about both?

Little more than a week after the BCS Championship Game, Texas wide receiver [tag]Marquise Goodwin[/tag] is already receiving track & field honors. This week, the Big 12 named him the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Male Athlete of the Week:

In his first collegiate meet, Goodwin notched two provisional qualifying times and two titles at the Arkansas Dual meet. The freshman clocked a 6.69 in the 60-meters and posted a mark of 7.72 meters (25-4 ft.) in the long jump. Both marks currently rank third in the nation.

Goodwin, who snagged 3 passes for 70 yards in the title game versus [tag]Alabama[/tag], is expected to be one of the Longhorns’ top wide receivers for the 2010 season.

Link: Goodwin, Pinder and Lucas Named Big 12 Track Athletes of the Week

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