Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

Here’s what they’re saying about Iowa State this time around:

Starting with the Cedar Rapids Gazette’s Mike Hlas, who lays it out in no uncertain terms (read the whole thing):

If the first of the inevitable four superconferences should involve the breakup of the Big 12, Iowa State is in severe trouble. … [If] there’s no Big 12 next year and the Big East maybe just scoops up Kansas for even more basketball prestige? Then Iowa State is left scrounging for membership in a league such as the Mountain West or Conference USA.

The Oklahoman, on the position of T. Boone Pickens Oklahoma State:

For OSU, the Pickens-made-possible ascension in football puts the Cowboys on the radar in terms of appeal and relevance — a status that didn’t exist even five years ago, before the Stillwater version of the Pickens Plan was complete.

Ten years ago, before Pickens penned his first big check to OSU athletics, the Cowboys weren’t much more thought of than Iowa State.

All that has changed.

Houston Chronicle:

SMU, Houston and TCU are the three schools that ought to be invited, but Texas fears all three. All have rebuilt their programs, and all three would cut into Texas’ recruiting. The Big 12 is a Texas production, and with schools like Baylor and Iowa State desperate for the affiliation, the conference will live a bit longer even in a diminished state.

Topeka Capital-Journal:

Why Notre Dame wouldn’t fit in the Big 12: “Hard to see the Fighting Irish making that road trip to Ames.”

(And why SMU wouldn’t fit: “They’re SMU.”)

Blogger at the Kansas City Star:

At this point, nobody can foresee how it will play out. One would presume Texas, Oklahoma and OSU would remain together in some form or fashion. And, certainly KU and KSU would be happy to feast on the crumbs that fall from their table. So would Iowa State, but the more strung out the conference gets, the better the odds the Cyclones are going to end up elsewhere devoid of any other B12 schools. Can the Missouri Valley be far away?

The Missouri Valley. UNI’s conference. About 13,000 people a game. Now that is a vote of no confidence.

Texas offered a Big 12 Network; Texas A&M refused. Texas reportedly offered a Lone Star Network; A&M refused. Texas created the Longhorn Network, just like everyone expected, and now A&M has gone off the deep end. Austin American-Statesman:

Texas A&M notified the Big 12 conference Wednesday morning that it is seeking league membership elsewhere.

President R. Bowen Loftin sent a letter to commissioner Dan Beebe to alert him of the school’s decision. Once the school finds another league – it’ll be the Southeastern Conference – the Aggies will cut their Big 12 membership June, 30, 2012. …

The move by the Aggies, which is not unexpected, could cause a monumental shift in the college football landscape if the Big 12 fails to come up with an adequate replacement team. The Big 12, which started competition in 1996, could implode, allowing its marquee teams like Texas and Oklahoma to be free agents to align with other top conferences.

A 13-team SEC would have to be looking to poach another team from somewhere else, potentially setting off a chain reaction. And if there is a game of musical chairs, Iowa State isn’t going to have one.

Jamie Pollard is being, um, nonchalant: “It is unfortunate that Texas A&M is moving forward with plans to depart the Big 12.”

“Unfortunate.” Can we panic now?

Desktop pictures for Texas A&M’s 2011 football schedule put the opponents’ logos in a strip across the bottom. (Full collection is here.)

Take a quick look at this one in particular. Is A&M playing the Cyclones twice? Now look closer. Trimming out the games in between, we get this:

Now, Idaho and Iowa State references don’t usually appear in the same place at the same time. (Except for Nebraska’s schedule last year, oddly enough.) But when those logos are in close proximity to each other, and the color is washed out, it may take a second to tell them apart.

And Idaho was first by a long shot.

(Also of note: Of A&M’s 12 games, only three will be played outside the state of Texas, in Ames, Norman, and Manhattan.)

Texas A&M has decided it would rather be seventh place in heaven than second or third in hell. The Aggies appear intent on filing for divorce from the Big 12, citing irreconcilable differences and sibling rivalry.

Houston Chronicle:

COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M on Monday moved two steps closer toward bolting the Big 12 and joining the Southeastern Conference.

One step took place in Aggieland, the other in Austin.

In College Station, A&M regents unanimously approved A&M president R. Bowen Loftin’s taking any actions necessary concerning “conference alignment.”

In Austin, State Rep. Dan Branch postponed indefinitely a planned hearing for the House Higher Education Committee on conference realignment scheduled at the Capitol for today, citing “no immediate need” for the meeting.

An A&M insider Monday dubbed the action of Branch, whom the insider said had been inundated with phone calls from Aggies, a “good thing” for proponents of A&M’s switching allegiances to the SEC, perhaps as soon as next year.

And just like that, things are falling apart. Again. And this time, not even the Texas Legislature appears able to stop it.

The Associated Press has already joined this round of the “sucks to be Iowa State” dogpile:

It was only a year ago that talk was rampant about four 16-team super conferences basically seizing control of college football — everyone else be damned. …

When it’s all said and done, we’ll have what everyone projected a year ago: A college football world comprised of the very wealthy haves (SEC, ACC, Pac-Something and Big Ten-In-Name-Only) and the begging-on-the-street-corner have-nots (everyone else in Division I).

Sorry, schools such as Baylor and Iowa State, you’ll likely be getting a demotion.

But of course, the AP isn’t the only one (Muskogee Phoenix):

So those Pac-12 suitcases, new logo and all, are packed at Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Contingency plans, you know. Kansas and Kansas State may go begging the Big Ten or settle for the Big East, making the acquisition of TCU make some geographic sense. Iowa State? The seemingly unwanted stepchild if you read the blogs. How about the new MAC power Iowa State?

This time around, these are hurting a little more, because they could be as little as one unnamed 14th SEC team away from becoming true.

(Footnote 1: I liked “Big 12 Missile Crisis” as the title for what happened last year, with Nebraska and Texas staring each other down, but this has the potential to be much much bigger, hence the title of this post. A Part II usually has more drama/effects/explosions than the original.)

(Footnote 2: The lead-in to this post comes from SI’s Stewart Mandel, pointing out about where A&M falls in the SEC pecking order.)