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**UPDATE, 4:30 p.m. _ There may be as many as six schools declining to waive their legal rights to sue the Southeastern Conference if Texas A&M leaves the Big 12.
That report comes from the Waco Tribune Herald, quoting an unidentified Baylor source. The schools are Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Texas Tech and Missouri.
Baylor was the first school to protest the potential move of the Aggies.
Were still waiting for the Big 12 to issue a statement regarding its teleconference conducted earlier today.
<p>I hope the Aggies get what they wish for. And get what the SEC is hoping to get by accepting another former SWC renegade school. Perhaps they deserve each other. </p>
<p>In a way, Razorbacks and Aggies seem to share a passion for the less sophisticated and the wild. They do, however, seem to enjoy a whiff of civilization when allowed to visit the House of the Cowboys in Arlington.</p>
<p>It’s all about the money, given the lucrative nature of high-end college sports but good athletics is a big intangible for a lot of kids and parents. No way around it :-)</p>
<p>As a UT alum, though, I do wonder what will happen to the decades-old rivalries between UT/A&M, UT/OU, and UT/Arkansas (not quite as fierce as A&M and OU). I have to think those rivalries will lose some steam if they’re in different conferences.</p>
<p>I am only hoping Texas A&M gets to play Bama at home in the next couple of years. Son is slated to graduate in 2014 from Bama. Although I grew up hearing my Cajun uncle tell Aggie jokes, when I actually met some real life Aggies, I was surprised by how nice and intelligent they were. Like Bama, TA&M is very generous in scholarships to bright middle class kids, and I’m happy to financially contribute to a school that puts money behind not just their athletics, but their academics as well.</p>
<p>Even if they all end up in different conferences, there is no theoretical reason why they cannot have annual or almost annual games against each other (like UF-FSU, UGa-GT, USC-Clemson, USC-ND, Stanford-ND, Stanford-SJSU, USMA-USNA-USAFA).</p>
<p>On the other hand, many teams like to load up their non-conference schedules with cupcake games, with at most one potentially strong team out of the three or four non-conference games.</p>
<p>Yes, they can still be rivals, but a win against a rival in another conference doesn’t give you bragging rights in your own conference. Since games against A&M have always fallen on the same weekend, late in the year, it often has great significance on the final rankings of the conference they’re in and placement in bowl games (well, except for this year - UT fell off the face of the earth by the end of September!).</p>
<p>Really, Hopscout? Wonder how many options UT had in the past years? Did they have to stay firm last year in their desire to keep a viable Big 12? </p>
<p>Did the school that inked a commitment for the next ten years care as much about the lower tier schools? I hope you realize that 10 years should mean the same to the Aggies than to others. </p>
<p>In simple terms, the Aggies have never gotten over their own stupidity when they passed on the generous proposal by UT to share the network. Add envy, selfishness, and greed to ATM’s stupidity, and you have a pretty good subject to blame for the collapse of the Big 12, if it happens.</p>
<p>To the SEC, I would guess Texas A&M brings an excellent fan base more than anything else in football-crazy Texas. The SEC has basketball in good hands with Duke and Kentucky, Mississippi State, Alabama, Florida, Vanderbilt, maybe even LSU on a good day, and then in football, some pretty strong teams with big followings (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Miss, etc) so adding Texas A&M could do wonders there, and they’re also well respected in basketball to boot.</p>
<p>Maybe such a consolidation would lead to fewer, but better, conferences…</p>
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