Texas A&M, long tired of sitting in the shadow of the University of Texas, has apparently begun the process of leaving the Big 12 conference to join the SEC. Rumors were at a fever pitch on Sunday, but have since cooled once the SEC made a statement of being satisfied with its current lineup of 12 members. The Big 12, having lost Colorado and Nebraska the previous summer, would be left scrambling to either find another team to take the Aggies’ place, or prevent other conference teams from looking for greener pastures. The SEC, should Texas A&M be accepted in the conference, is rumored to be looking at teams such as Florida State, Virginia Tech and Clemson from the ACC. If those moves are made, can a move to four superconferences be far off?
For Texas A&M, the primary motive is money. The Aggies see Texas as the giant in the league, with a new revenue stream in their Longhorn Network (in partnership with ESPN), and figures that the odds of competing with the Longhorns (and maintaining some semblance of financial balance) would shrink dramatically. Moving to the SEC, while significantly increasing the level of competition football-wise, would also seem to increase the financial windfall for the university, particularly if the SEC invokes a clause to reopen negotiations on a television deal.
Elsewhere, other conferences wait and see what options will be available to them if or when the Aggies make a move. What moves would a Texas A&M migration cause? Would the ACC worry that it could be raided just as they raided the Big East years ago? The Big East could become almost irrelevant in FBS if superconferences are formed. The Pac-12, which went after Texas hard last summer, might try to get them again if A&M leaves the Big 12. And since these moves are driven by football and television dollars, what becomes of the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team, one of the powers of the college game? Where do they go if their natural rivals leave for other conferences? For that matter, just imagine the chaos that would ensue if many of these moves come to pass in relation to college hoops?
Monday, A&M President R. Bowen Loftin was given the go ahead to see if leaving the Big 12 for the SEC is what is best for the university. It remains to be seen how the dominoes will fall if realignment becomes the order of the day once again.
It’s obvious a&m wants to leave. If they didn’t, their regents would never vote yes to leave and hand all power over to the president of the school. Since it was done a day after the sec presidents didn’t say no, we don’t want you. They said right now we’re not taking any votes on anyone, because we’re happy with 12. That’s the sec saying, take care of your legal issues and the big 12 first and let us find another school. It’s a joke.
its not a matter of Can’t beat them. A look at the head to head matchup between Texas and A&M, a nice 35 year sample of the era of modern football, would reveal that Texas A&M leads the series by a couple of games. Actually, if you look from 1980 until today there is not much difference in the overall records of the two schools. Texas 258-114-2, A&M 237-134-3. A&M actually led in overall record from 1980 to 2004. But the Franchione years had their price i suppose. Just interesting to go back to historical fact, wins and losses, instead of assumption. I even broke it down by decade, both had 76 wins from ’81-90, not close from 91-2000, with A&M winning 94 Texas winning only 69, 2001-2010, not close the other way UT winning 104, A&M winning 72. Add it all up and you have two of the winningest programs in football over that time period.
That 35 year sample was 1976 to 2010 BTW
Mike,
Thanks for the analysis. In terms of “Can’t Beat Them,” I wasn’t necessarily going for wins and losses. I was thinking more in terms of finances and “juice,” that indefinable something that Texas has way more of than Texas A&M. Texas is one of the flagship programs of what’s left of the Big 12, and Oklahoma is pretty close. Nebraska was so upset at Texas being higher up in the pecking order that it left for the Big 10, and so now Texas A&M, feeling much the same way, is flirting with leaving for the SEC.
A&M has certainly won it’s share of games over Texas over the years; that’s what makes it a great rivalry. But in terms of influence and dollars, it’s Texas by miles.
Its not that A&M or Oklahoma couldn’t have done something like this. It’s that only Texas considers their neighbor completely expendable. Don’t underestimate the self inflicted damage this will cause. The disparity is not nearly as great as you might think on or off the field. Wins and losses plays a big part of perception, and perception has already began to change. People scratching their heads about Texas going 5-7, clearly haven’t looked at history. These two will never face each other with both ranked in the top 10. When one is up the other is down. Wins and losses will once again change perception, and perception will change “influence”, until it all flip flops again. Its all quicksand when you are talking about these two schools. That is why you can’t write an article as if its always been or always will be one or the other. The article will soon be outdated and then back in date again. I don’t mean you specifically, I just want people to nationally to know from an neutral source that here in Texas our perception is not quite what yours is nationally. And what people think across the country is not necessarily the way recruits here at home see things. A couple of 5-7 years and you are out of the picture for a decade. Ask texas in the 90’s and A&M in the 2000’s. and now Texas in the 2010’s. Here at home, both schools are capable of casting a big shadow on the other. So every decade one or the other is trying to come out of the other’s shadow. Texas made the most of their time on top. A&M is rising now, and couterpunching. That’s how its viewed by long time football fans in texas. after A&M casts its shadow, Texas will rise and throw another flurry, but neither is capable of knocking out the other. Texas gained position and capitalized this last decade. A&M is winning now and for the forseeable future and is trying to land some powerful blows. The 10 year window has started. lets see what happens
Texas cornered everyone in the big 12 during its decade. and you are right winning cant change that for A&M. They have to find a conference that can offer them more and the time to do it is now…since the tides have turned again.
Actually, financially, niether school is poor, and both have good things that the other does not have, they kind of compliment each other in some respects. When the Bonfire incident occurred, it was UT Students who came and helped out some, they both represent Texas. From what I have heard, the Stranglehold of a TV network is more viewed as a monopolistic view by A&M and none of the money would shared, apparently some unfair things would be imposed on Big 12 teams, and A&M is big enough to say “No thanks, we can do our own thing”. I am trying to find out what it is exactly that is so bad that has everybody wanting to get away from UT….
The title to the article is so OFF.