I grew up in Lubbock, Texas, home of Buddy Holly, cotton, and endless miles of flat dirt. Which means I also grew up as a Texas Tech fan. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of going to the Tech games with my grandparents. My Papa would always wear his red and black cowboy boots, and I’d cross my fingers and hope the Saddle Tramps would throw a little red football my way. Then when it got cold, we’d huddle under a blanket and drink hot chocolate out of a Thermos and ooh and ahh over the Goin’ Band from Raiderland. On a field trip once, we got to run out onto the field at Jones Stadium, and it was like a dream come true.

But when I was in junior high, we moved to the DFW Metroplex, and I soon discovered that Red Raider fans were practically non-existent outside of West Texas. Most people were either loved Texas or Texas A&M, and over the years, my allegiance to Tech waned in favor of the Longhorns.

It’s important to point out, though, that even then, I wasn’t really a big fan of any sports, college or otherwise. Yeah, I liked sports, but I didn’t pay much attention to them, preferring Star Wars, comic books, or any other nerdy endeavor to football or basketball. (My dad once tried to get me excited about baseball cards. To this day, I still don’t understand the appeal of them.)

It wasn’t until late into high school and into college that I started to get interested in sports, and it wasn’t until after college that my love of college football really took off. (Of course, I don’t think it helped that I went to the University of Texas at Arlington, the only college I know of that has a marching band but no football team.) Late bloomer or not, though, today I’m a college football junkie and a die-hard Longhorns fan.

But it’s not just Texas that I root for now.

In the last couple of years, I’ve gotten hooked on the TCU Horned Frogs, a team I’ve always liked going back to the days of the Southwest Conference but never really paid much attention to. Part of my new-found admiration, of course, is due to their rise as a football powerhouse under Coach Gary Patterson. And part of it is due to my rediscovery of the city of Fort Worth. I worked in Fort Worth a while back but it wasn’t until we moved into the city limits a few years ago that I really began to think of it as my home. And how can you not root for the home team, especially one with such a Cinderella story?

Until Thursday, that dual affection for both Texas and TCU was perfectly acceptable, seeing as how since the breakup of the SWC in 1994, they’ve been in separate conferences and rarely play each other. It was perfectly fine to wear my TCU purple while flashing a spirited “Hook ‘Em Horns” to a fellow Longhorns fan. But all that changed when news broke that the Big 12 had invited the Frogs to join their conference, thus reuniting them with UT and causing a potentially embarrassing conflict of interest. Suddenly, I was faced with a serious dilemma: Do I have to choose one team over the other? And if so, where do my true allegiances lie?

It’s not an easy question. There are those that would say that you can only really be loyal to one team, and if you didn’t go to that school, you aren’t even worthy of wearing its colors. Which again, creates an immediate problem for those of us that didn’t have a team to root for. I guess I could say that since UT Arlington is part of the UT system, I’m sorta justified in bleeding burnt orange. But then I could say that I should stand behind the home team, which is of course outsized by Texas in every possible way except for the cost of tuition. I’ve always been a champion of the underdog, and TCU, despite its recent successes, is the epitome of an athletic underdog.

But the truth of the matter is, I don’t wanna choose. I don’t wanna stop throwing up a “Hook ‘Em Horns” any time I feel like it or tagging half my tweets with “#GoFrogs”. I don’t wanna trade my purple or burnt orange in for a single shade of collegiate attire. Why can’t I love them both equally (albeit for different reasons), even if this time next year they’ll be facing off against each other in a Big 12 conference game? After all, I may not be as enthusiastic about the Red Raiders as I once was, but I’ve never stopped liking them (although I always hated Mike Leach). Heck, I even like Baylor!

Does that make me a sports hypocrite, a fair-weather fan instead of a lifelong devotee? Perhaps, I don’t know. But at the end of the day, I really don’t care.

I say, Go Frogs, Hook ‘Em Horns, and hooray for college rivalries reborn.

Previously:
That awkward moment your daughter says she wants to go to Texas A&M
College football realignment? Done
The future of the Big 12 and how to stop it
…And win they did

The Aggies apparently weren’t too keen on their intrastate rival Longhorns getting their own television network, despite the fact that the Longhorn Network will be available to exactly seven households in America, none of which are in Austin. But logic has never been A&M’s strong suit, so they’ve chosen to abandon 100+ years of tradition and possibly as much as $30 million in exit fees in hopes that the SEC will let them in to their exclusive club. Yeah, good luck with that. Let’s see, how many Big 12 football titles has A&M won? How many BCS games have they gone to? How many National Championships have they won since the rise of the BCS? Zero. And yet they really expect to do better against the likes of Auburn, Florida, Alabama, and LSU?

I have a suspicion that winning isn’t really important to the Texas A&M Board of Regents, though. Their decision to leave is strictly fueled by pride, with a healthy dose of TV cash mixed in. Win or lose, A&M stands to make more money in the SEC, where the TV contracts are greater and revenues are shared equally among all its members. The Aggies were never going to make money off the Longhorn Network; Texas was. It’s just that simple.

Was that the right decision to make? I don’t know. And I don’t care, quite frankly. I think it was a tad petty and childish, personally. If the Aggies really wanted respect, all they had to do was go out and win ballgames. No temper tantrums necessary. That’s been the strategy of OU, and it seems to have worked out pretty well for them so far.

But right or wrong, the Aggies have made their decision, and a year after Nebraska and Colorado bolted for the Big Ten and Pac-12, respectively, Dan Beebe’s bunch is left with only nine members. So what now? Does the Big 12 recruit another school to replace A&M, or does this latest departure signal the beginning of the end of the conference? Here’s how I see the different scenarios:

Scenario 1: The Big 12 recruits a new member.

Maybe it’s BYU. Maybe Air Force. Notre Dame has been floated, but I don’t think they’d be interested. The Big 12 is attractive to non-BCS teams such as Air Force due to the conference still being a BCS automatic qualifier. That was what drew TCU to the Big East, after all. But everyone knows that Texas dominates the Big 12 when it comes to money, so any team coming in would have to be willing to do so at a discount. Who would do that? SMU, for one, who’s already publicly begged for the spot. And I’m pretty sure BYU would as well.

Odds of this happening: Very good.

Scenario 2: The Big 12 disbands.

With only nine teams remaining, OU, OSU, and others may decide to get out while they have the chance. OU, OSU, and Tech go to the Pac-12. Missouri goes to the Big Ten. Kansas and K-State go to the Big East. Baylor goes to the Mountain West. And Iowa State goes, um, somewhere. And Texas? They go independent, happy to still be flush with cash on their very own burnt orange island. Would this really happen? Maybe eventually, but I don’t think any time soon. As long as OU keeps winning Big 12 titles, they’ll probably be content to stay, and none of the other conferences have expressed much interest in expanding further. So if the Big 12 eventually breaks up, it probably won’t happen for at least a few more years.

Odds of this happening: Unlikely.

Scenario 3: The Big 12 does nothing.

But what if the Big 12 chooses to stay at nine members? Is that even realistic? Well, the Big East only has eight teams right now, nine if you count TCU, which joins next year. And they’re an AQ conference. And with two of the Big 12 being Texas and OU, I can’t see them losing their AQ status. So in a way, there’s not that much of an incentive to rush to fill the 10th spot. Only when it becomes financially necessary to do so will the Big 12 be forced to expand. Why do you think they chose not to replace Nebraska and Colorado? How sustainable is such a scenario in the long run? Not much. But again, that’s in the long run. In the short run, it’s actually very doable.

Odds of this happening: Possible.

Obviously, nothing in college sports is set in stone. Heck, it’s even possible that A&M could change its mind if the SEC doesn’t give it an invite. All I know is that the college football season kicks off tomorrow with TCU and Baylor. And right now, that’s all that matters.

Previously:
Wait, that was it?!
Speculating on conference expansion rumors
Longhorns Inc., Part 2
Longhorns Inc.

In what can only be explained as a miracle (by football-loving Baptists, at least), the Big 12 has been saved from destruction, with the ten remaining members swearing allegiance to Dan Beebe and the unnamed sports network (*cough*FoxSports*cough*) that bribed them to stay.

Who would’ve guessed that at the end of the day all of this realignment mess was really just about money? Huh.

So for now, there are no 16-team superconferences. No realignmentpocalypse. No ripping of the very fabric of the time-space continuum. Heck, not even a single punch thrown (unless you count Vince Young’s pummeling of an irate OU fan outside a Dallas strip club). In fact, Big 12 ADs would be singing “Kum Ba Yah” right now if it weren’t for the fact that they were too busy counting their enormous stacks of cash.

Where, then, does that leave us?

Big 12.

Appreciate the irony for a moment that the Big Ten now has 12 teams while the Big 12 now has ten. I wonder if they’ll trade names. Probably not, but anyway…

The biggest winner by far out of this whole deal is the University of Texas. UT, OU, and A&M get more money than the other seven teams, plus UT gets the opportunity to create their own network, which has been their end-game all along. And now that the Big 12 Championship game is no longer, UT benefits even more. Other winners include Baylor and what’s left of the Big 12 North, who would’ve been kicked to the street if the Big 12 had imploded.

But the losers? Us, the fans. Seriously, if you’re a UT fan, how can you be happy that an already weak Big 12 has become exponentially weaker. I mean, how many times can you watch UT or OU beat the crap out of Kansas and Iowa State before you change the channel? At least with the Pac-16 arrangement, there was the possibility of Texas playing some tougher teams. Now, Texas and OU are virtually guaranteed at least 10 wins every season, even with mediocre players.

Pac-10.

The only Big 12 team that the Pac-10 managed to snag was Colorado, an accomplishment that commissioner Larry Scott should probably leave off his résumé. Sure, they get the Denver TV market, but what they don’t realize is that people in Denver care way more about the Broncos and shoveling their driveways than they do about college sports. (Meanwhile, for their jumping the gun and bolting to the Pac-10, Colorado will have to pay between $6 and $8 million to the Big 12, money that they don’t have to spend right now.) There’s also the possibility that the Pac-10 could get Utah away from the Mountain West. If they do, good for them. But with USC crippled by NCAA penalties, it’s gonna take more than a decent Utah team to salvage this mess of a conference.

Mountain West.

The Mountain West picked up Boise State, but if Utah heads to the Pac-10, they’re back to square one. Still, that’s not a bad place to be. Even without Utah, the MWC is on a path to BCS automatic qualification and is certainly gaining national recognition. They’ll be fine, regardless of what happens with the Utes.

Big Ten.

All this expansion nonsense started with the Big Ten, but after all the dust settles, their only net gain will be Nebraska. They now have enough teams to have a conference championship game, but little else changes. Oh, except now the other members have to share TV revenue with one more team. Boy, for a conference that prides themselves on academics, they sure don’t understand math very well.

SEC.

There was a lot of talk that the SEC would invite Texas A&M, but nobody could ever explain what the Aggies brought to the table. Instead, they’ll stick with the teams they have now, which is the smartest decision to come out of this entire process. The SEC is the most dominant conference in the nation, both in athletic success and TV deals. They don’t need to expand, and they knew that all along.

So there you have it. After months of rumors and speculation, theories about how the entire face of college sports was about to change overnight, the end result was a total of only 3 or 4 teams changing hands. That’s not to say there won’t be more changes next year, but for now, the status quo has largely been maintained.

Only with more money.

Previously:
Speculating on conference expansion rumors
Longhorns Inc.

Is this college sports or As The World Turns?

The latest rumors have the Pac-10 asking Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, OU, Oklahoma State, and Colorado to be their new BFFs, thus elevating the Pac-10 to a 16-team superconference and completely decimating the Big 12. That would leave Baylor out in the cold, a result that doesn’t sit well with Waco’s state senator, David Sibley, who is apparently now fighting to have the Bears superglued to the other Texas teams. Meanwhile, the Big Ten, which has been rumored to be courting everyone from Texas to Nebraska to the North Dakota School for the Deaf, is supposedly focusing its efforts on Notre Dame. And Boise State, which was a lock for the Mountain West, is putting its plans on hold to see how everything else shakes out.

And of course, everything in the previous paragraph will be null and void by the time you finish reading this post.

Personally, I’m fine with the UT et. al heading to the Pac-10. I would prefer that to them going to the Big Ten or SEC; I just think it’s a better fit. What I would hate to see is Texas and A&M separated from Tech and OU. Those rivalries are just too good to relegate to non-conference status.

If the Pac-10 does expand to 16 (plus-or-minus Baylor or Colorado), the Big Ten and SEC would almost certainly follow suit, probably gobbling up Nebraska and/or Missouri or other Big East or ACC teams. The result would be three superconferences plus a handful of wannabes. Can you imagine how much griping about the BCS there’d be at that point? Yikes!

As far as Baylor is concerned, though, as I tweeted yesterday, I think they’d be better off in the Mountain West, where they’d face their old Southwest Conference rival TCU every year in addition to Utah and Air Force. Strictly looking at football (which is where all the money is, and let’s face it, that’s what’s driving all of this), the Bears have a much better chance at success in the Mountain West than they do anywhere else. They’ll never win a Big 12 championship, and they would certainly never have a chance in the Pac-16. Which is why I wish Sibley and his buddies in Austin would stay out of it. It was Austin politics that got Baylor into the Big 12 instead of TCU 16 years ago; we don’t need to repeat that same mistake this time around. (And understand, I’m not bashing Baylor. I like Baylor a lot, which is why I want to see them be successful.)

One thing’s for certain, though. Change is coming in college sports. With so much money at stake, it’s undeniable. It may be a complete shake-up, or it could just affect a handful of teams, but something is eventually gonna give. I just hope fans don’t get lost in the process.

Update, June 9:
Orangebloods.com is now reporting that Nebraska has unofficially accepted the invitation to the Big Ten, which pretty much guarantees the Big 12 South teams will bolt to the Pac-10. And yes, that will include Baylor and not Colorado. If UT has any say over the matter — and they absolutely do — there’s no way they would choose the Buffaloes over the Bears. First, Waco is just up the road from Austin (and conveniently directly between Austin and the Red River Rivalry game in Dallas). Second, there is a huge amount of history and tradition between the two SWC schools, something both Mack Brown and Darrell Royal highly value. And third, there’s always the political factor, which shouldn’t be ignored.

Of course, there’s always a chance UT could decide to keep the Big 12 intact, gambling on its attempt to form its own TV network. But I don’t think that’s gonna happen. There’s no loyalty in Texas (both the school and the state) to the Big 12 North, so there’s little incentive in Austin to keep this sinking ship afloat.

So where does that leave the other five Big 12 North teams? The most logical choice for Colorado would be the Mountain West, and probably for Kansas and K-State as well. If the MWC goes through with their plans to add Boise State, that would go a long way toward acceptance as an automatic qualifier for the BCS. Plus, Kansas and K-State both bring a lot to the table in basketball, so that would be a huge win for the MWC.

As for Missouri and Iowa State, they’re probably out of luck, at least in the short run. The Big Ten doesn’t seem interested in Mizzou any more, instead focusing on Notre Dame and then probably looking east to Rutgers and maybe Pitt. I suppose one or both teams could go to the Mountain West or Big East, but that’s probably the best case scenario.

Then that leaves the SEC. So far, they haven’t shown much interest in expanding, and really, they have no reason to from a financial standpoint. But with a 16-team Pac-10 and an expanding Big Ten, I think they’re gonna be forced to keep up whether they want to or not, at which point they’ll probably target teams such as Miami and Virginia Tech in the ACC.

It’ll most likely take a few years for all the dominoes to fall, but the momentum is definitely picking up!

Previously:
More March Madness is, well, madness
Legislating a playoff system isn’t the answer
The BCS: ‘Communistic’ or not?

But I’m trying again this year, a little more educated and a lot more hopeful. OK, so I really don’t know how hopeful I am, but who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky.

Breaking it down by region:

Midwest. aka “The Group of Death.” The Midwest is tricky because there are a lot of wildcards, teams that are probably seeded too high (Ohio State), and others that are probably too low (Tennessee). I think the Buckeyes will make it past Oklahoma State, but the Vols will knock them off to make it to the Elite Eight. No. 1 Kansas should survive, though, and win the region.

East. As a huge Texas fan, I would love to pick the Horns here, but they’ve completely blown it this season. And a result, they have a horrible spot on the bracket. They can probably make it past Wake Forest, but they won’t survive Kentucky. As for most of the rest of the region, there will probably be a few upsets, but it’s still going to come down between the Wildcats and West Virginia. Look for Kentucky to go to the Final Four.

West. The West seems like a weird region to me, chock full of great teams, any of which could be spoilers but none of which strike me as national champions. Pitt let me down last year, and though they should make it to the Elite Eight, I’m not confident they can go any further. I’m calling an upset of No. 1 seed Syracuse by Vanderbilt, who’ll go on to win the region and make it the Final Four.

South. I’m really rooting for Baylor, and I think they can hold their own for a couple of games. But I think Villanova will probably beat them to face Duke in the Elite Eight. But I’m gonna have to play it safe and pick Duke to win the region.

Final Four. Will three of the four top-seeded teams make it to the Final Four? Yeah, that’s me hedging my bets to some degree. Last year, I predicted some bigger upsets and got burned pretty bad. The Jayhawks will beat Vandy, and Kentucky will hold out to beat Duke.

Championship. I’m not really a Kansas fan, but they’ve been one of the most consistent and dominant teams in college basketball all year. And even if I get my other Final Four picks wrong, I still think the Jayhawks can and will win the national title.

Here is my full bracket. Click to enlarge.

Previously:
March Madness: My picks
More March Madness is, well, madness

A few of the Wii scores were fairly close to the actual ones (Florida Atlantic, Rice, Texas A&M) while others were way off (Arkansas, Missouri, Baylor), margins of error probably not too different than what you’d get from ESPN and other “expert” prognosticators.

Which brings us to the final Texas game of the season, the Fiesta Bowl. It’s been yet another wacky season thanks to the BCS computers, biased voters, and controversial Big 12 tie-breaking rules. Heck, it even involved competing fleets of airplanes over Austin and Norman as the Red River rivals taunted each other by air.

But while Florida and OU are busy trying to justify why each of their 1-loss teams are more deserving of the National Championship than undefeated Utah, the Longhorns are happy to settle the score with the Ohio State Buckeyes. UT and OSU have met twice before, in 2005 and 2006. The Horns won the first with Vince Young on their way to a National Championship, then lost the second with Colt McCoy — that game only being Colt’s second game of his college career.

A lot has changed since 2006, however. Colt is now a Heisman runner-up, and the Horns are a dropped pass and missed tackle away from a perfect season. Ohio State, meanwhile, has two losses for the season, both to teams who squared off against each other in the Rose Bowl. Texas had one of the toughest schedules in the nation, while the highest ranked opponent beaten by Ohio State was No. 18 Wisconsin, and even that was only a 3-point victory. (It should also be noted that Wisconsin went on to get thumped by Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl.)

Now some might argue that a team’s regular season schedule isn’t always an indicator of how well they’ll do in the bowl game, and that’s true (just ask Alabama). So how well have Texas and Ohio State fared in recent bowls? Well, the Buckeyes have been to the National Championship game the last two years, but they lost both times. Texas, on the other hand, has won its last four consecutive bowl games, two of which have been against Big 10 teams.

And this year should make it number five, with Texas beating the Buckeyes 20 to 7, according to the Wii.

As always, I’ll update the blog after the game with the real score.

And as always, Hook ‘Em, Horns!

Real Score: 24-21.

Wow, what an incredible game! Frustrating, of course, for most of the game, but the final two minutes made up for it. It was very fitting that the final touchdown was made by Quan Cosby, who, like Vince Young, can say the final play of his college football career was a game-winning touchdown made in the final moments of a BCS game. Coupled with Brian Orakpo’s sack seconds later, you couldn’t have asked for a more fitting ending to the season.

The Longhorns finish the season 12-1, and while they likely won’t end up as national champions, they have nothing to feel bad about. Keep in mind that most people looked at their schedule this year and expected them to finish the regular season 9-3 or 8-4, maybe 10-2 if they were lucky. Yet, they were nearly flawless.

I just want to say I’ve had a lot of fun this season doing these prediction posts. If anything, it’s given me an excuse to play video games once a week. Maybe, I’ll do it again next season just for grins.

Of course, right now that seems like an eternity away.

So here’s where we stand: Texas moved up to No. 2 in the BCS while OU is No. 3 by a razor-thin margin, with Tech dropping to No. 7. Texas has to beat A&M, period. That shouldn’t be hard this year since the Aggies are 4-7 for the year. And Tech will almost certainly beat Baylor. That leaves the OU-OSU game as the wildcard.

If OU wins, they’ll probably leapfrog UT in the BCS and will face Missouri for the Big 12 Championship. A win there would probably put them in the National Championship against the SEC Champion (either Alabama or Florida). Texas still ranks higher than Tech and would probably go to the Fiesta Bowl.

If OSU wins, Tech wins the Big 12 South tiebreaker and heads to Kansas City to play Mizzou for the Big 12 Championship. If the Red Raiders win there, they are guaranteed a BCS bowl, but it wouldn’t be the National Championship. Texas would move back up ahead of OU in the polls, and it’s very possible they could end up in the National Championship game.

So as long as the Horns beat A&M, they should be fine regardless of the outcome of the Bedlam game. But an OSU win would probably be more beneficial. Is it possible? Sure. Is it likely? I think it’s 50/50, but only because they’re playing in Stillwater, so the Cowboys will have the home field advantage.

Of course, all of this is ammunition for the anti-BCS crowd, and I kind of agree. How would it look for the Longhorns to be playing for a National Championship when they didn’t even win their own conference?

I’d like to find out.

The 3-6 Bears have the unenviable task of visiting Austin this week to face the No. 4 Texas Longhorns a week after the Horns were upset by the still-unbeaten Texas Tech Red Raiders. No longer the masters of their own destiny, the Horns will most certainly be fired up to prove they’re still contenders for the Big 12 Championship and possibly the National Championship (not holding my breath). Thus, Baylor, ever the low man on the Big 12 totem pole, should be prepared to receive the brunt of UT’s frustrations.

Coach Briles, welcome to Waco.

According to NCAA Football 09 on the Wii, the score will be UT 80, Baylor 7. Ouch. (Let me tell you, by the third quarter, even I was ready for the game to be over with just to put the little electronic players out of their misery!)

Now, is an 80-7 score realistic? Probably not, especially considering Baylor lost to Missouri last week by only 3 points. Think about that for a second. Yes, it’s a loss — no surprise there — but it’s a loss to No. 14 Missouri by 3 points. Still, while a 73-point victory might be an exaggeration, don’t expect much of a nail-biter in Austin this week.

Of course, the Texas-Baylor game isn’t really the main event this weekend. No, all the eyes of Texas will be upon the Tech-Oklahoma State game, in hopes the Cowboys can do what Mack Brown & Co. failed to do last week: shut down Graham Harrell and the Red Raider offense.

Repeat after me: Go, Pokes!

And of course, Hook ‘Em, Horns!

Real Score: 45-21. As they did during the Missouri game, Baylor kept the score close, at least for part of the game. That says a lot for how far Baylor has come already under Art Briles. We’ll see if that improvement continues into the future. In the meantime, Texas hits the road again this week to take on the Kansas Jayhawks, a tougher team than Baylor for sure, but one that shouldn’t put too much scare into the Horns.