What The SEC Should Do RE: The Rose Bowl Axis

Now that I have explained why the Pac 10 acted first and just who is calling all shots ( http://bleacherreport.com/articles/404583-why-did-the-pac-move-first-in-forging-super-conferences?just_published=1 ), I need to offer my advice to the SEC.

I am a graduate of an ACC university, and I am a fan of the ACC first. But I have many family ties to the SEC, I have lived in 3 SEC states, and I have attended football games in several SEC stadiums. I was even at Ole Miss's Vaught-Hemingway the week of the LSU game, the week after Chuckie Mullins broke his neck against Vanderbilt.

It is a given that the main reason the Big Ten concocted its scheme to remake the college conference landscape is that it clearly was losing to the SEC, in a big way. SEC football is much better at the top, is deeper, and is considerably more exciting. College football fans across the country, even those who harbor decidedly anti-Southern prejudices, tend to respect and admire SEC football. Most of the same people see Big Ten football as plodding and dull, the bland midwest expressed truly on the gridiron.

The first thing the SEC must realize is that it requires an ally. The Big Ten clearly is allied with the Pac 10 in all these moves, and without an ally, the SEC is easy to isolate and outfox. The Big 12 and BE will not exist as BCS AQ conferences if the Big Ten plan proceeds as outlined. That means that the fourth remaining BCS league will be the ACC. By default, the ACC and SEC must be allies, because standing alone against the Rose Bowl Axis guarantees defeat.

It is only common sense that you want and need your ally to be as strong as possible. That means that if the SEC could take a couple of ACC schools, disrupting the ACC to gain at its expense would backfire on the SEC long term. The weaker the ACC is, the weaker an ally it is.

And, if the SEC were to attempt to strike the ACC, the ACC would be no better than neutral in all subsequent clashes between the SEC and the Rose Bowl Axis.

The SEC attempting to gain at the expense of the ACC would be as self-defeating as the British declaring their intention to rule the Acquitaine and Normandy just after the Nazi invasion of the USSR.

But the SEC should be pursuing expansion as hotly as in the Pac 10, and for the same schools. The SEC needs to prevent the Rose Bowl Axis from totally controlling the southwest.

It seems as if the University of Texas is led by people who are ashamed of the state's culture, which is at least double first cousin to Southern culture and married to a girl with roots in both Nashville and the Carolina upcountry. That means that if it possibly can, Texas will join the Pac or perhaps the Big Ten.

The SEC must act ceaselessly to make certain that it controls the rest of the southwest. Texas A&M is never going to fit into either the Pac or the Big Ten, and its leaders are smart enough to know that. If they also have cojones, they will flat refuse to be led around by the nose by orange steers.

I would assume that A&M has enough power in state politics to prevent being given orders to do whatever Texas demands. That means that the SEC should be able to land A&M, especially if it is willing to take Texas Tech. Each would be better off out of the Longhorns' shadow and playing schools like LSU, Arkansas, and Auburn than playing Colorado and the Pacific coast schools.

Oklahoma poses another issue. The Sooners might prefer to do what Texas desires, and Oklahoma State will do what Oklahoma wants. Unless T. Boone Pickens gets involved. Even so, the SEC should be wooing both OU and Oklahoma State, independent of its wooing of A&M. In other words, the SEC must offer both OU and Oklahoma State without the offer contingent on A&M accepting the SEC offer.

If the OK schools cannot be added to the SEC, it could add Baylor and TCU to go along with A&M and TTU. Saving Baylor from small conference status and lifting TCU back to major conference status would please quite a few powerful Texans. That might also be what finally frees A&M from being expected to follow the lead of Texas.

The SEC cannot hit a grand slam unless it lands Texas. But adding A&M and OU would be a 3 run homer with no outs. Adding A&M and any other 3 TX schools would be a 1 run triple with no outs. Adding OU, Oklahoma State, Baylor, and TCU would be a 1 run double with no outs.