re: Tom Herman and the (10-0) Houston Cougars

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The Big 12 will not expand for the sake of expanding.

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How about b/c they are consistently considered inferior to the college playoff powers that be? Which they are.

IMO, that will be the impetus to their expansion. Not the need for revenue, but the need for more inter-conference competition.

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All of this only matters if the conference adopts a network which it won't because the conference is falling apart when the GOR is up

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The Big 12's only hope of existing once the GOR is up is to

1. Keep Texas and Oklahoma
2. Expand by poaching established P5 schools, not promoting G5 schools. Such as raiding the ACC and taking a Florida State or a Clemson.

If they expand and take anyone but BYU I think it confirms the Big 12 is finished and every school except Texas/Oklahoma/Kansas will have to fend for themselves.

I think Kansas can get into the B1G, Oklahoma to the B1G or SEC, and Texas can get into the B1G or Pac-12, or go Indy. The rest, good luck.

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Adding a school in another state would open up an entirely new market of viewers

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1. They don't have a conference network for that to really matter that much.

2. Big 12 fandom in Houston has taken a pretty good dip ever since A&M left. The most talked about college team on Houston sports radio this season is rightfully so Houston, an AAC team. If they were in the Big 12 and had more to play for every year without having to have a perfect season every year, I think that would be more consistent.

3. If they were to expand, they would have to add 2 schools. What other 2 schools would they be able to add that would bring more fans and value than UH?

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1. They don't have a conference network for that to really matter that much.

2. Big 12 fandom in Houston has taken a pretty good dip ever since A&M left. The most talked about college team on Houston sports radio this season is rightfully so Houston, an AAC team. If they were in the Big 12 and had more to play for every year without having to have a perfect season every year, I think that would be more consistent.

3. If they were to expand, they would have to add 2 schools. What other 2 schools would they be able to add that would bring more fans and value than UH?

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Houston is probably being talked about the most because Texas A&M and Texas suck this year. Here in Dallas TCU was talked about a lot in 2009 and 2010 as well because they had good seasons. Didn't mean they were the most popular team in the area.

2 schools that would bring more fans and value would be BYU, Boise State, and Colorado State. New Mexico would also bring more fans.

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Neither The Pac12, nor the ACC, have to worry about their undefeated champion being left out of a 4 team playoff. Only the BIG12 has to worry about that.

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So let me get this straight.

Say all 10 Big 12 teams go undefeated in non conference play, and each of them beat a Top 25 team in non conference.

Say 13 of the 14 ACC teams lose 2 or more games in non conference play.

Are you telling me that the undefeated ACC team in this scenario would be a playoff lock and the undefeated Big 12 team in this scenario would not be?

You have lost your mind.

According to your logic, a Pac 12 team that beats 1 ranked team all year and goes 13-0 will get into the playoff before a Big 12 team that beats 7 ranked teams and goes 12-0.

According to your logic, an ACC team that goes 13-0 on the year and beats 0 ranked teams will get into the playoff over a Big 12 team who goes 12-0 beating 5 ranked teams in conference play and 2 ranked teams in non conference play.

According to your logic, a Big 10 team who beats 1 ranked team all year and wins all their games by 1 point will get into the playoff before a Big 12 team who beats 8 ranked teams all by 21 points or more.

You realize a 13th game really isn't as important as you think it is? You realize it is possible to have a better body of work playing 12 games instead of 13? You realize its possible to have a better body of work not having played a CCG?

What if the Big 12 champ went 12-0, beat 3 P5 teams in non conference, then ran through its 9 game conference schedule like a knife through butter? Still think they are 5th in pecking order?

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It took TCU 9 ten win seasons, 8 conference titles, 7 seasons in which they entered the AP Top 10, 5 AP Top 10 finishes, 2 BCS Bowls, and a Rose Bowl win before they finally got invited to the Big 12.

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that isn't even what got them in at the end of it all.

Dodds already held a grudge against Houston b/c of a seating fiasco that happened in the 90s. They were behind the eight ball from the get go. Considering that Dodds would hold a grudge for that long, it likely didn't help their cause that A&M was suggesting them as a replacement since we were gleefully giving him the finger on the way out the door.

Anyway, TCU still wasn't an odds on favorite to join. Their AD Chris Del Conte, however, is a skilled salesman and rolled up to Dodds uninvited and sold him on TCU over drinks.

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“Syracuse and Pitt announced they were leaving and shocked everybody ...", Del Conte said. “Mack Brown and DeLoss Dodds came out and said, ‘We're going to stay [in the Big 12].'

“Once I heard that I said, ‘OK, boy, let's go.' We had two weeks to make this work.”

Del Conte admitted, “the pressure of the entire institution was on my shoulders” to join the Big 12. He worked the phones, calling every Big 12 contact he knew. Support within the Big 12 was growing, including at Oklahoma where good friend Joe Castiglione had been encouraging. But Del Conte knew if he didn't have Texas, he didn't have a chance.

“I've got one shot,” he recounted, “to go see DeLoss.”

It was a quite a visit. Del Conte grabbed a car, a driver and a bunch of reference material, binders, extolling the advantages of TCU and Fort Worth.

“I get up at 8 o'clock in the morning and drive to Darrell K. Royal Stadium. I get to [Dodds'] office. Nine comes around, 10 comes around. I've got a GA [graduate assistant] outside waiting for me, by the way. I tell him, ‘Just wait 10 minutes I'll be back.' Pretty soon it's 3:30.

“[DeLoss] comes out and says, ‘Who are you?' Chris Del Conte, Texas Christian U. He doesn't hear ‘Chris.' he hears ‘Del'. ‘Del, let's go get ourselves a drink and discuss it.'

“We went to a restaurant and had a little libation at 3:30. By the time 8:30 rolls around, we were [into it] pretty good but we got ourselves in a situation. I kept trying to give him my [binders]. He said, ‘I've heard enough, Del' and just walked away.”

The Big 12 ADs had a conference call the next day.

“The next morning I got up. Joe [Castiglione] goes, ‘I don't know what you did but it worked.' We got the vote. The Frogs are in,' Del Conte said.

“Four hours of cocktailing I never got a chance to crack one binder,” Del Conte recalled recently. “The greatest thing I got from [Dodds] was interpersonal relationship. All he wanted to know was my personal struggles growing up and his personal struggles growing up, how they mirror each other.”

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LINK

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UH had 4 conference titles and a Heisman winner under the SWC. They aren't some historically bad program that is experiencing success for the first time ever right now. If they were in a good conference they would be more consistently good.

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If we are going to go back this far on past accomplishments as justification to add a team why not add Navy with their dominance in the 50s. Hell SMU had a championship in the late 30s I think and a good run pre-death penalty. BYU had a national title in the 80s. Tulane had an undefeated season in 1998.

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To my understanding BYU has no interest in joining.

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They have been begging for a P5 invite since they went Indy.

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They have been begging for a P5 invite since they went Indy.

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I thought they liked being independent? If I'm wrong then oh well, add them and UH if they want in. My whole point is that you are being too quick to dismiss UH's chances just for being in Texas.

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If we are going to go back this far on past accomplishments as justification to add a team why not add Navy with their dominance in the 50s. Hell SMU had a championship in the late 30s I think and a good run pre-death penalty. BYU had a national title in the 80s. Tulane had an undefeated season in 1998.

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Well the SWC at the time was the strongest conference in the country top to bottom, winning 4 titles in that conference is a pretty big accomplishment and shows the potential that school has for getting good players.

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My whole point is that you are being too quick to dismiss UH's chances just for being in Texas.

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what value does UH bring over a team like Cincy?

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what value does UH bring over a team like Cincy?

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The third largest city in the country...in arguably the most fertile recruiting state in the country. If UH was able to slap a big 12 logo on their field they would become legit on a more consistent basis.