LONGHORNS BROKER DEAL ALLOWING BIG 12 SHIP TO STAY AFLOAT

These past two weeks in college athletics have been a super-condensed equivalent of the volatile financial markets and world economy of the last two years—an emotional roller-coaster, rumors of break-ups, takeovers, distress, panic, uncertainty, the potential loss of things held dear for so many years that was earned through hard work, sweat and tears.

When the Big Ten Conference set out to acquire at least one more high profile team to give them an even dozen (despite the misnomer, they had 11 teams) and first pursued Notre Dame, then others, the wheels were set in motion for every other major conference, as well as the conference member schools, to look out for themselves. The dust has now settled and the world of college athletics is just slightly different than it was a short while ago, but not without a lot of anxiety and consternation.

The PAC-10 had hopes of beating others to the punch by creating a super-conference of 16 teams, which would certainly have caused a chain-reaction that would turn the conference world upside-down. In order to do so they poured their efforts into recruiting some heavyweights from the Big 12. AS recent as late last week it looked like that conference was dead man walking as Nebraska accepted the Big Ten’s offer to become their 12th team. Also, Colorado decided to join the PAC-10, giving them 11 schools, while the likes of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State, were rumored to be headed west, too, with the lure of more money stemming from the prospects of a soon-to-be PAC-10 Conference television network, ala the Big Ten’s. The key to all of this happening was Texas.

Folks, there are a couple of famous sayings in the Lone Star State—“Don’t Mess with Texas” and another, “As Big as Texas.” After developments that leaked out Monday night, as Texas essentially saved the Big 12 Conference, we now have a better appreciation of those two expressions.

Texas spurned the PAC-10’s offer and pledged their support to maintaining the remaining Big 12 because the PAC-10 would not allow Texas to keep their local television rights (Don’t mess with Texas). The Longhorns are now planning to have their own network (As Big as Texas), as well as share in what is promised to be more conference television revenue based upon the Big 12 negotiating a new lucrative contract among several suitors. The ‘Horns felt the Big 12 gave them a chance to have their cake and eat it, too. For that, the schools who were about to be orphaned—Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Missouri and Baylor—are thankful. Yet, they and the other member schools fully realize who calls the shots in the conference, and who will be poised to be the boss for years to come, on and off the field.

So, as it stands now, with Nebraska joining ranks the Big Ten has 12 teams. Minus the Cornhuskers and Colorado the Big 12 is down to 10. The PAC-10 has 11 and needs to recruit one more (hello, Utah) to get their twelfth, thus providing a conference championship game. OK now, anyone want to play the “Name That Conference Name Game”?

What had the potential to be, and was feared to be, a period in our lives that would bring total restructuring of the college football landscape—all because of the need to grow bigger conferences for TV revenues—has now passed, at least for the short term. Stay tuned, fans.

Big Ten Arrow Up, Pac-10 Arrow Down, ACC Up Slightly in Bowl Action

There are still a number of big bowl games to come today and in this coming week, but at this point it's easy to draw some conclusions about what certain conferences did or didn't do with their post-season opportunities.

The arrow is pointing up for the Big Ten with Ohio State's big win over Oregon in the Rose Bowl, Penn State's topping LSU in the Capitol One, and Wisconsin stopping Miami 20-14 on the Champs' Bowl. As a point of comparison, last year the Big Ten struggled with a 1-6 bowl mark, the lone victory turned in by Iowa. The conference stubbed their collective toes in two games decided by a total of three points this past week. Northwestern lost to Auburn by two and Minnesota finished the year 6-7 by losing to Iowa State. The Midwesterners still have two games to go--in tonight's Alamo Bowl Michigan State tangles with Mike Leach-less Texas Tech and on the Orange Bowl stage Iowa takes on Georgia Tech this Tuesday night.

The arrow is pointing down on the Pac-10. The west coast conference schools finished the bowl season a disappointing 2-5. Their lone wins were UCLA having to furiously comeback to beat Temple (believe that?), 30-21, and USC bested Boston College 24-13. In a very entertaining Rose Bowl Oregon's point-a-minute offense was kept in check and fell to Ohio State 26-17 . From the bad news department, the conference took two real solid body shots delivered by the Mountain West Conference, a non-BCS league, but, nevertheless, one that should be. Cal was popped by Utah 37-27, and BYU ripped Oregon State 44-20. One of the better bowl games featured Stanford vs. Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl. The Big 12 Sooners beat the Cardinal, 31-27. But, the game that took a big swipe at the Pac 10's power ranking was another Big 12 team, Nebraska, totally dominating Arizona 33-0 in the Holiday Bowl.

The ACC arrow is slightly up, but their final game pitting their GT Yellowjackets against Iowa in the Orange will determine the conference's finish. They are 4-3 right now, but the only game that was a mild upset was Florida State sending venerable head coach Bobby Bowden out with class in a 33-21 win over West Virginia. Other wins for the conference were Auburn edging Northwestern in overtime, Clemson topping Kentucky 21-13, and Virginia Tech handling Tennessee impressively, 37-14. The ACC didn't get any help from North Carolina who lost to Pitt 19-17, and the previously mentioned games with Miami losing to Wisconsin and BC dropping their contest to USC.

By the end of next week we'll have a new national champion and the final wrap-up on other conferences like the Big East, Big 12 and SEC. Stay tuned.