Pac-12 Expansion Rejected: Who Got Screwed?

So you know about all that superconference talk that’s been dominating the headlines in college football for the past few weeks?

Well, as it turns out, April Fools came early.

On Tuesday night, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott announced that his conference would not be seeking further expansion at this point in time, meaning the heavily discussed western migration of Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech is off the table, at least for now.

What seemed like a ‘done deal’ has turned out to be just another trick.

Just like last summer, once again we were duped into believing that cataclysmic moves were going to change the face of college football.

While superconferences could be the future of college athletics, as it turns out, they aren’t in the present plans.

Hopefully, this means we can get back to focusing on the actual on-field action instead of throwing around all of these different silly scenarios and tired rumors.

Still, even though this latest wave of college realignment wasn’t all it was actually cracked up to be, there are still some who have felt the effects of all of this.

Let’s take a look at who got screwed.

The Big East

Seeing the potential shift to a superconference structure on the horizon, the ACC decided to be proactive by poaching Syracuse and Pittsburgh from the Big East in order to get their team total up to 14.

This move severely weakens the Big East and it puts the future of the conference in jeopardy.

Six teams remain in the Big East, with two of them, Connecticut and Rutgers, reportedly eyeing a move to the ACC as well.

TCU, who was planning on making the move to the Big East next year, has already expressed concern that this could shift some plans. 

Admittedly, you had to have a feeling that the Big East would end up being a casualty when all of this expansion stuff finally hit, however, it’s still sad to see a conference that has been one of the most prestigious organizations in college athletics over the last few decades, dying a slow, painful death.

Missouri

Missouri was reportedly receiving some serious interest from the SEC, even though the conference denied sending the Tigers a formal invitation.

After accepting Texas A&M, the conference is now in need of a 14th team and Missouri seems like a great fit.

If the four schools had made the move out west as expected, the Big 12 would have likely dissolved and Missouri would have had an easy choice on their hands. But now with the possibility of the Big 12 reforming, the decision is a difficult one to make.

Dan Beebe

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe has to be glad that his conference at least has a few breaths of life left, however, Beebe can’t be happy with the reports that Oklahoma will only agree to return to the Big 12 if a new commissioner is put in place.

Some feel that Beebe isn’t equipped for the job and that he started this whole mess by losing Texas A&M to the SEC, and if a power program like Oklahoma wants you ousted, that's probably not going to help your cause.

Oklahoma State and Texas Tech

Oklahoma State and Texas Tech appeared to have a free ride out to college football’s new cash cow conference, the Pac-12,  but their big brother schools, Oklahoma and Texas, couldn’t get the deal done.

Considering Oklahoma State just got a $165 million donation from T. Boone Pickens a few years ago, I choose to reserve my sympathy.

Still, you have to wonder if both athletic departments have been left wondering what could have been.

The Sports Media

For weeks, the rumor mill has been running rampant and all of the prognosticators and self-appointed experts have crawled out of the woodwork to weigh in on what was going to happen. As it turns out, it was all just a bunch of hot air.

For those who took the "Breaking News: Sources say Oklahoma to the Pac-12 is Imminent" reports with a grain of salt, I commend you.

After reading all the rumors that have been floated out there during all of this, I think it’s safe to say that some writers need to check the credibility of their sources.

Not Texas!

All along, Texas has made it clear that the main goal was to keep the Big 12 together, and while that still remains to be seen, we at least know that Texas will not be divvying up the revenue from the Longhorn Network just to join the Pac-12.

No matter how this all plays out, trust me, Texas will figure out a way to maximize its profits.

It's what the Longhorns do best.