Will Oklahoma & Texas join the SEC?????

Photo By: USAToday

7/23/2021
By: Terrill J. Weil
Da Boot Sports


   BATON ROUGE, LA:  Are we about to witness the first NCAA Super Football Conference?  It's been talked about possibly happening for years now, and was stirred up again on Wednesday when it was reported that both Texas and Oklahoma have reached out to the SEC to discuss possible expansion to join the top conference America. 

   I like the idea of this happening. The first power conference is bound to happen sooner then later as teams seem to jump from conference to conference on a regular basis, so why not it be the SEC? Such a move would solidify the SEC as the top football conference in the country.
   
   Most are against the idea of a super conference ever happening, hoping to keep some type of conference parity. Many SEC fans will express that they don't need a Texas and/or Oklahoma to join the conference, feeling that we are dominate enough without that type of expansion. Other conferences are already sick of the success of the SEC and by no means want to see the conference become more powerful.
   
   If it were to happen, what changes would take place in the conference? Would you drop the division format and go to a format like the SEC has in basketball?  Then simply have the teams with the two best records play in the SEC Championship game? 

   On Thursday the SEC Network showed a proposal for a four division alignment with four teams in each division. In this format, a team would play every team within their division every year, and then play two games against each of the other three divisions on a rotating basis. Then everyone would play everyone else over a two-season span, and everyone would travel to every other stadium in a four-season span. Then the SEC Championship game would put the teams with the two best records against each other.  The divisions would look like this....

SEC EAST:  Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina

SEC NORTH:  Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

SEC WEST:  Texas A&M, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma

SEC SOUTH:  LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri


   If they vote to stay with the division format, do you realign the divisions to make better geographical sense? Or do you just add one expansion team to each division like what was done with Texas A&M and Missouri? New geographical realignment would be a no brainer, and would be my choice of change. 

SEC WEST:  Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M

SEC EAST:  Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt



   Next move is a vote must be conducted by the SEC before either school can be allowed in the conference. To go through
with the transaction, at least 75% of the SEC’s schools must approve. 11 of the 14 current members must vote yes. To turn down the proposition, four members must vote against. Sources report a decision is expected to be made within the next two weeks.

   If the expansion would approved, sources report that the Longhorns and Sooners, are prepared to wait until the current grant of rights agreement, which is slated to run until 2025, expires. Should the two schools elect to move earlier, they would be forced to forgo their remaining Big 12 television revenue of $160 million. However, that doesn't mean the move will not happen sooner.

   College athletics is going through big changes on top of dealing with COVID-19.  As most of you know the NCAA now allows athletes to be paid for their 'NIL' (Name, Image, Likeness). This is perhaps the biggest change ever in college athletics. 
   
   The NCAA Transfer Portal is another change that several of us seem to dislike, as it allows players an easy 'OUT' if they aren't happy with playing time, break team rules, or get their feelings hurt... 
 
   College basketball has been changed for years now with allowing young men to go 'One & Done' causing head coaches to scramble to rebuild their rosters every season.

   So, now it looks like the big change is headed to college football, with the possible birth of the NCAA's first ever Power Conference, that no doubt will change the sport as we know it today. 
     

---