He’s upset about trying to stop the inevitable – and makes an SMU comparison in the process:
Instead of a giant leap toward further consolidation of power and money, major college football is getting there through with a series of agonizing half-steps and missteps.
Change isn’t coming too fast. The process of conference realignment is actually happening too slowly. The Big 12 is being whittled into extinction …
Baylor and the other ugly ducklings in the Big 12 such as Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State are facing the possible downgrading of their athletic programs. What if there are no spots left in BCS automatic-qualifying conferences for them?
Just go ask SMU, which currently resides in Conference USA and has been practically begging for an invite to the Big 12, how important it is to live in the right neighborhood….
Nebraska and Oklahoma, once one of the great rivalries, has gone from dying to dead. The Texas-Texas A&M rivalry is heading down that road, too.
But at this point we’d all be better off if they just got there already — because this trip is excruciating.
Well, forgive us for not wanting to go gently into that good night. But really, Iowa State hasn’t done anything yet. In what may be the first public comment since Aug. 31, ISU hasn’t said it intends to sue, it just hasn’t waived its right to do so:
John McCarroll, an Iowa State spokesman, told the Des Moines Register on Wednesday that the school has not waived its rights to sue either the SEC or Texas A&M for the involvement in that university’s decision to leave the Big 12 Conference.
Buried in a column by SI’s George Schroeder about Baylor “tilting at windmills” is this:
Fifteen months ago, when it looked as though [Pac-10 Commissioner Larry] Scott was about to slice the Big 12 in half, I ran into an administrator from a Big 12 North school. He knew what was coming, and what it might mean. “We’re going to Conference USA,” he moaned. The Mountain West was more likely, but his point remained. I felt sorry for him. Even when it didn’t happen last summer, we all understood it would happen sometime, and that it would create a much wider chasm than already exists.
Let’s see. It’s definitely not Nebraska or Colorado and probably not Missouri. That leaves three likely suspects, and guess who’s still on the list.
Tulsa, 493 miles: Closest C-USA school to Iowa State, and only one of four 1-A football teams within 500 miles that’s not in the Big 10, Big 12, or named Notre Dame.
Today, we are also reminded that these sports teams have academic institutions attached to them:
Iowa State University enrolled a record number of students this fall. … A total of 29,887 students enrolled this fall, a 4.2 percent rise over last fall’s record of 28,682. …
[Admissions Director Marc] Harding said the university did what it has always done to enroll students at ISU — recruit aggressively, tout its academic programs and show off its social draws, such as student groups and Big 12 conference athletics.
And, while grasping at straws for positives, this column from a Wisconsin student about improving the Big Ten may be as good as it gets:
Step 3: Add Missouri and Iowa State
Adding these two schools makes sense. Before the Big Ten announced Nebraska was to become its 12th member, Missouri’s name was all over the rumor mill.
A natural fit because of the high level of their sports programs, academic prowess — ranked in the top 50 of public universities — and geographical location, Missouri is a promising school to add to the Big Ten. Iowa State is an odd pick I admit, but they will be one of the easiest pieces to grab once the Big 12 ceases to exist. Our conference already has one team in Iowa; why not bring in another?
Because Iowa State doesn’t give you any more TV footprint, that’s why they won’t. But thanks for the thought.