OU, Texas Regents to Meet - Is The First Shot to be Fired?

Update 9/17: 1:26PM - New rumor making the rounds is that Texas is running out of options. The reported deal with the ACC has fallen through because they could not secure Texas Tech's agreement to go along with UT to the ACC, and the ACC rejected Baylor as an alternative. If this is true, it leaves Texas with only two options for itself and its nascent network: Independence or the Pac 12+.




Update 9/17 @ 9:50AM - Looks like for all the discussion of the Big 12 imploding, the Big East might actually beat them to the punch. ESPN and several other media outlets are reporting that Pitt and possibly also Syracuse have already submitted paperwork for admission to the ACC, jumping ship from the Big East. 




The Board for Regents for both the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas independently plan to meet Monday to discuss the issue of conference realignment. The results of either or both of those meetings stands to serve as the shotgun start to an overhaul the in the face of college football.

The likely results of that meetings are all-but impossible to predict, but rumors across the Internet abound. Some suggest that Texas, despite a carefully orchestrated PR campaign involving the ACC, has found no home for itself and its infamous Longhorn Network should the Big 12 fold its tents. Some suggest independence is ahead for the Horns, although this is in opposition to the stated objectives of Texas AD DeLoss Dodds. The four alternatives ahead for Texas seem to lead either to remaining in a gutted Big 12, moving to the ACC, moving to the Pac 12, or going independent.

For Oklahoma, the paths seem less muddled. Speculation has been rampant for weeks that the Sooners are headed to the Pac 12 along with Oklahoma State. Although other reports have suggested (and yet still maintain) that Texas and Texas Tech will follow Oklahoma west, there are still some who believe the Pac 12 is stringing along the Sooners with the notion of an invitation in the hopes of gaining Texas in the deal.

Multiple sources reported last night that Syracuse and Pittsburgh were in talks to move to the ACC, with other rumors suggesting that long-standing "gentleman's agreements" about the SEC not inviting schools from states already  having SEC members are likely to be discarded. The end-game is impossible to predict.

The gunshot starting conference realignment fires on Monday. Until then, the rest is pure speculation.