It's Not a Done Deal, but Texas A&M to SEC Looking Better and Better
It seems like every update offers an additional indication that an Aggie power broker is pushing Texas A&M to make the culturally, geographically, and financially sensible decision to go east to the SEC rather than west to the Pac-16. I don't buy for a second that Oklahoma is still on the table, and Texas was never on the table to begin with, but the Aggies seem like an increasingly good bet.
The story has gone mainstream, and it appears the votes are there, so I'm increasingly confident that this deal is going to get done, but, after the Kirby Smart debacle, I know better than to count my chickens before they've hatched.
We need to hold our horses where the welcoming committee is concerned. Do I believe it's going to happen? Yes, I do . . . but it hasn't happened yet, and this Agatha Christie mystery almost certainly has a few plot twists left to come before the hay truly is in the barn.
Yes, I'm gearing up to welcome the Aggies---hey, I mentioned chickens, horses, hay, and barns, didn't I?---but we'll offer a formal "howdy" when we get something official. Stay tuned, folks; we've got a heck of a week ahead of us.
Go 'Dawgs!
almost 2 years ago
T Kyle King
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Oh man, if this goes through
We’re going to have to learn a whole new set of tropes and stereotypes to use against our new conference foe. We should check out the Big XII blogs to see what really gets under their skin. I assume making fun of the cheer boys is already stale at this point.
Leaving insightful football commentary and analysis to other people since 2006.
Nah, that never gets old.
Plus, I think we can pretty much recycle most of the Auburn jokes.
by vineyarddawg on Jun 13, 2010 2:49 AM EDT up reply actions
Even with a 12th Man, the Aggies can't beat us.
Inhale deep, like the words of my breath—I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
by Anthony Pace on Jun 13, 2010 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions
"Texas A&M . . . Home of the Illegal Substitution Penalty."
Can we use that to counter the whole “12th Man” thing?
Go 'Dawgs!
haha
I have a feeling any sweet chants or jokes are gonna revolve around “The 12th Man”.
Inhale deep, like the words of my breath—I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
by Anthony Pace on Jun 13, 2010 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions
kyle,, what we need is a new post every 3 hrs. feed the machine. )
"One thing I will never do as long as I’m at Georgia is lose to Florida." - Herschel Walker
Someone can figure out an automated system
Include links to: Joe Schad’s latest tweet, latest Doc Saturday expansion article, and an article containing the words “expansion,” “SEC” and “Mike Slive” chosen at random. Just fill up the rest with some sort of needlessly verbose variation on “We have no clue.”
Leaving insightful football commentary and analysis to other people since 2006.
Sorry, tankertoad; just trying to do what I can.
I will note for the record the following observation by Orson Swindle, the truth of which cannot be denied:
Right now, we are all message boarders when it comes to conference expansion. The unit of “all” includes ESPN, whose rumor board is now citing “influential message boarders” when it comes to picking out clear rumors about expansion. Take note of it: for one special moment, Joe Schad, Wildcat9384eva, the New York Times, and you all occupy the same tier of information. . . .
Go 'Dawgs!
Can't add only one team.
That just doesn’t make sense. So who is the 2nd? I don’t like Texas, never have thought they would be a good SEC team. I hate the idea of Texas in the SEC. I like A&M, though.
But then comes the question of, who else?
Having 13 teams makes no sense. It would be a nightmare for scheduling. If we add one to the west, we have to add one to the east. Or, maybe, if another team in the west (except Texas) joins, we move Auburn to the East. I like OK State if we take 2 from the Big-12. The SEC may not be able to schedule a permanent opponent from the other side of the conference, but everything could be rotated. This solves the conundrum of scheduling the cupcake for the 12th game and puts a legitimate opponent in that spot. Further eschewing the fact that a one loss SEC team is far better than a no-loss any other conference team.
If we take a team that is East of the Big-12, i vote for Clemson. Or, maybe Va Tech. But I think Clemson creates more rivalries.
But you can’t have a conference at 13 teams. If the SEC takes Texas A&M, they have to take another team as well.
I’d put money on Clemson or OK State.
Aaron Murray for Heisman!!
I'd rather have OSU
than OU. At least OSU fans are tolerable most of the time.
"Never refuse to do a kindness unless the act would work great injury to yourself, and never refuse to take a drink- under any circumstances." Mark Twain
Apparently
Oklahoma Quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel announced at a banquet that OU will be going to the SEC West per a text message he received from another assistant coach while at dinner.
Please Disregard.
Did some snooping on it and that clip was from June 10. Obviously not true.
Sorry for spreading misinformation (though in the past couple of days its hard to tell what is legit or not).
It isn't Clemson
The SEC has said it has no interest in adding Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami, or FSU. Of course, that probably means that they do want them, which means they expect us to think that and, therefore, they really don’t. Who knows at this point?
Auburn won’t get bumped over without cross-divisional rivalries; how else are they going to play Bama every year? If they do, that means the UA-UT rivalry ends, which plenty of people won’t be happy with. (In addition, UGA could end up with a school like OU as our division rival; imagine drawing Bama, LSU and OU in the West).
Virginia Tech or North Carolina would make the most sense in the East, since they represent new TV markets. Three of the schools SG mentions below reside in markets in which the SEC already has a significant presence, and Miami (Miami) is not a good cultural fit. UNC gives the conference geographical contiguousness, for whatever that’s worth. They also bolster our BB cred (again, for whatever that’s worth, since FB is the real issue here). Ultimately they represent a solid school which would give the conference more parity rather than more polarization. VT would be cool to have in the SEC, but they’d only make the conference more top-heavy (even if they had a harder schedule here).
Ultimately, like Snoop, the SEC has it’s mind on it’s money and it’s money on it’s mind. If Washington is included with the Virginia markets they may beat out North Carolina; however I think it would be close and NC/UNC have the geography, history and culture to make a better fit. The question is whether they would leave without Duke, which could be huge or not-so-huge (a week ago everyone involved swore up and down that UT would never go anywhere without TAMU).
Finally, if we had a yearly game with UNC, instead of playing for a stupid made-up trophy we could play for the rights to brand ourselves “The Nation’s Official, Undisputed Oldest University.”
Leaving insightful football commentary and analysis to other people since 2006.
TX Tech
Who cares about TAMU? I want Tx Tech so we can get Wingnut back in the SEC. Also, for personal reasons it would mean that at my new place of work in HK we would have the following SEC schools represented:
Auburn (2)
Arkansas
Georgia
LSU
Tx Tech
We would be building a little SEC enclave out here in Hong Kong.
TTU doesn’t have any kind of historically successful program. I feel like their recent success was due in large part to a hokey offensive system that could only really thrive in a conference like the Big XII. Not to mention they don’t really bring anything to the table in other major sports, academically, or any significant fanbase.
Inhale deep, like the words of my breath—I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
by Anthony Pace on Jun 13, 2010 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Precisely.
The Aggies have had a down decade in the 2000s, but they’ve been good historically.
The Red Raiders just ran off the coach who brought them the only sustained success they’ve ever had. What possible reason is there for believing Texas Tech will be a respectable program in the future?
Go 'Dawgs!
I think you are missing the point
If you go back in read my post, I didn’t give any logical reasons, so answering with logic wasn’t really the best play. But since we are here, let me take you back to the early 90s and an invitation to South Carolina, who up until that point didn’t really have a historically successful program.
I’ll also throw this card into the deck. Lubbock happens to be a hotbed of chain restaurant R&D. Many chains will try out a new concept in Lubbock before they will expand to other markets. So there is always the potential to try the next great mediocre dining experience while on a road trip.
I'm fascinated by the news of chain restaurant R&D
and also by how you would know of it, as it doesn’t seem to go hand in hand with most fields that would call for an office in Hong Kong. Why Lubbock?
by GwinnettGamecock on Jun 13, 2010 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Actually, I was replying to Robert Downey Sr., but I take your point.
I wish we’d extended an offer to Clemson instead of South Carolina, but the Gamecocks were an independent and expanded the league footprint to a neighboring state. If we bring in Texas A&M, Texas Tech doesn’t deliver a new market, and the Red Raiders appear to be joined at the hip with the Longhorns, so they’re not exactly easy pickings.
If you’re going to use Lubbock as part of your argument—-and God bless you for having the chutzpah to trot out Lubbock as a plus—-I think you’d do better to focus on Buddy Holly and Mac Davis. I’m not interested in being a guinea pig for any restaurant chain that doesn’t end in “-fil-A.”
Go 'Dawgs!
So, if A&M is in...
Who is number 14? I believe SG is right. There’s no way it’s going to be Clemson as much as a lot of us would like that. I don’t think VT is possible w/out Virginia and I don’t think 16 teams is in the cards for the SEC (thank God). So who would it be?
I’ve got to think that Slive has all of this figured out if there is a firm offer to A&M—like samxrm said—can’t be 13. I don’t think it could be another western team (how can you move ‘Bama and Auburn to the east? Can’t be done). So is there another team from the east that fits the criteria that would be interested. I don’t think UNC would want to leave the ACC for basketball reasons. NC State wouldn’t make sense. Neither does Wake, Maryland, Duke or the teams that SG mentioned as non-candidates. It would have to be a team at least on par with A&M to maintain balance so that would leave out a Louisville, South Florida, etc.
Who knows? My best guess would be that Slive has assurances that VT would break from UVA and it would be them.
How 'Bout Them Dawgs!
Just like A&M can play Texas every year, VT can play UVA every year for the Commonwealth Cup. I’m all for having fewer D-2 softies scheduled on the conference’s team schedules
Inhale deep, like the words of my breath—I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
by Anthony Pace on Jun 13, 2010 5:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Exactly.
The SEC has plenty of teams whose in-state rivals are out-of-conference teams: Georgia has Georgia Tech, Florida has Florida State, Kentucky has Louisville, and South Carolina has Clemson. Texas A&M having Texas and Virginia Tech having Virginia hardly would be aberrational, particularly since the Hokies and the Wahoos played each other out-of-conference for most of their history.
Go 'Dawgs!
The doubts about VT not parting ways w/ UVA...
has to do with Virginia politics (or my understanding of it based on some of the things I’ve read), not any loyalty to UVA or not being able to continue their rivalry.
How 'Bout Them Dawgs!
by Marshmanslim on Jun 13, 2010 9:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I do greatly like the prospect of 9 conference games
This year, for instance, we have 2 sisters of the poor, a bad BCS team and Penn State (last year was 3 sisters of the poor). With a 12 game schedule and 9 league games; we’re pretty much guaranteed an end to scheduling 3 patsies per year on the part of most teams (e.g., UA, UF, LSU).
"Hush now, let it go now. I know it's time to go. Time to let this fall from my hands" VNV Nation, "From My Hands"
by Stuck in the Plains on Jun 13, 2010 12:48 PM EDT reply actions
When a hurricane approaches...
…and bulletins are issued, they are received once every 6 hours. When watches and warnings are posted, the frequency increases to every 3 hours. Once land based radars get a fix on the “eye”, bulletins are produced hourly…and when landfall is imminent, bulletins may be issued every 15 minutes or more if needed…
This whole expansion episode reminds me of a big storm. The eye is now in sight and the news cycle continues to shorten. The F5 key on my laptop is literally broken. But once the dust settles, who has the most damage? And I use the word damage with a purpose. The more I research this whole thing, the more I’m begining to believe that it will ultimately damage college football, including the SEC. Assuming Virginia Tech is even in the conversation, it would be attractive because of the high exposure the Conference would receive in the populous Mid-Atlantic. Other than that, I don’t see a viable team to fit anywhere. Then the SEC would have to settle and/or compromise to create a balanced 7 and 7 East/West league. Does it mean square peg meets round hole? Texas A&M is fine, but what about the potential East representative? I hope we don’t just pick someone to round out a nice number.
I’m not liking where this is going…
No Sir…I don’t like it.
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
great analogy
But, some of us are storm chasers!
"Hush now, let it go now. I know it's time to go. Time to let this fall from my hands" VNV Nation, "From My Hands"
by Stuck in the Plains on Jun 13, 2010 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions
If you happen to run into Jim Cantore on your travels...
…punch him for me. Just because.
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
Then put a stick of butter in his mouth.
Gotta leave a calling card.
by vineyarddawg on Jun 13, 2010 4:37 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm glad DavetheDawg isn't the one who got Luca Brasi.
If he had been, that fish dropped in Sonny Corleone’s lap would have been a heck of a mess.
Go 'Dawgs!
Also great analogy
because some of us are meteorology majors! :)
CMD
by ugaweatherguy08 on Jun 13, 2010 2:25 PM EDT reply actions
Heck, I enjoyed the analogy . . .
. . . because it reminded me of Helen Hunt in a tank top in her prime in “Twister”!
Go 'Dawgs!
Or...
Coach Richt in a tank top…they were separated at birth, you know.
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
Please don't do that to me again.
That photograph deeply disturbs me in ways I’m not emotionally prepared to confront.
Go 'Dawgs!
It wouldn't have had the same effect
if coach Richt hadn’t gone off and fixed his teeth a few years ago. Bloody dentists.
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
Helen Hunt had to have
one of the shortest time periods of any Hollywood star “in her prime”. She went from every guy’s ideal, attainable-hot Hollywood star to ‘whatever happened to Helen Hunt’ in about six months.
by GwinnettGamecock on Jun 13, 2010 6:15 PM EDT reply actions
Once Jack Nicholson had her
she became tainted goods, IMO.
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
Obviously, you arrived late to the party, GwinnettGamecock.
There was at least about a six- or seven-year period in there, from the start of “Mad About You” through “As Good as It Gets,” “Dr. T and the Women,” “Twister,” and “What Women Want,” and I’d argue that it went back a little farther to “The Waterdance.”
For those of you who haven’t known me that long, Helen Hunt : 1990s :: Kristin Davis : 2000s.
Go 'Dawgs!
O.K. Kyle...
at the risk of sleeping on the couch, if Helen Hunt is your ’90s gal, K.D. your 00s choice, who has your eye as we head into the new decade*
*Lane Kiffin doesn’t count.
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
My wife and I are working our way through "Smallville" on DVD right now . . .
. . . and I have to say that Kristin Kreuk shows much promise.
Go 'Dawgs!
In Germany, they say
Schwwwwwwing! Schvergen! Schwasser!
I wonder if she’ll join the SEC East?
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
Most definitely.
I’m not sure how her last name is pronounced, so I tend to call her “Kristin Kr—-” and then just let my voice trail off into a growl.
Go 'Dawgs!
A&M is South Carolina but with off-field traditions and a few good
seasons
Lots of talk, very little on-field success
Yes, very little success indeed...
… unless you count their 18 conference titles (more than Georgia) and one national title. In fact, the Aggies have won at least one conference title in every decade from the 1910’s to the 1990’s.
It really is a shame they haven’t had more success.
by vineyarddawg on Jun 14, 2010 7:55 AM EDT up reply actions
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