Texas is not the “Savior” of the Big XII

            We’ve all heard it before, and apparently we will keep hearing it again: the Big XII survived thanks to Texas staying put.  Perhaps everyone believes this because most of the news updates on conference realignment came through the Longhorns' sports page: orangebloods.com.   However, I always have and will continue to disagree with that statement.  As far as I’m concerned everyone saved the Big XII (with the exception of Nebraska and Colorado). 

Let’s begin with the schools that would have been left to find their own conferences: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas (who did end up receiving attention from the Pac-10), Kansas State, and Missouri (ignoring the fact that all the realignment talk really started with them).  These schools put in more effort than anybody else to save the conference by sticking together and agreeing to give up their share of Nebraska and Colorado’s departure fines to “pay” Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State to stay.  How about Commissioner Dan Beebe for finding ways to increase TV revenue and giving Texas exactly what it wanted all along: its own TV network (something it would not have had in the Pac-10)? 

Finally, what about the remaining Big XII schools who did have a place to go but also chose to return?  Obviously if they had not, the Big XII would not have survived.  It was already pretty much confirmed that Texas Tech and Oklahoma State were going to follow Texas to the Pac-10.  However, Oklahoma and especially Texas A&M (both without whom the Big XII would not have survived) were ready to head to the SEC, a move that made better sense geographically and recruiting-wise.  Apparently, losing its top rivals was too much for Texas to handle.  They went way out of their way to tell A&M that if they didn’t follow them to the Pac-10, the Longhorns would never play the Aggies in anything ever again.  A&M didn’t care: all that meant was being out of the shadow the Longhorns had cast over all other Texas schools, but it seems Texas could not stand to be disrespected or looked down upon. Perhaps they also realized they'd be at a disadvantage with recruiting.  It would be much more difficult to recruit players to play against and travel to west coast teams when they had the option to play for the much stronger and closer SEC.

Now let’s look at the Big XII’s survival from a different perspective.  Credit the five “left out” schools and Com. Beebe for doing what it took to keep the Big XII intact money-wise.  Credit A&M and OU for considering what was best for them, not Texas, and therefore letting them know that the only hope to remain together was to return to the Big 12.  Ultimately, Texas decided that by going to the Pac-10 it would lose the opportunity for its own TV network, overall revenue, and its top rivals, and it couldn’t handle those prospects.  Texas is not the Savior of the Big XII.  All ten remaining schools are, and the sooner everybody realizes that the better off we will all be.