Thursday Realignment Saga Update

There's not a great deal of new news to report on the realignment front, but there are a few pieces worth mentioning:

1. Oklahoma State issued a tersely worded release saying that anonymous reports mentioning OSU as part of some legal action against SEC and A&M were false.

2. Per tweets from a couple of different sources, OU will NOT recommit to the Big 12. Reports from some message boards rumoring that OU had decided to stay in the Big 12 are false.

3. Rumors circulating that there had been a "conspiracy" uncovered among Texas and the Big 12 are false.

4. Baylor is apparently very interested in overtures from the Big East, and an invitation from a BCS AQ conference may go a long way to pacifying their current refusal to sign a lawsuit waiver.

5. BYU has reportedly expressed interest in joining the Big 12 if Oklahoma stays. This is in direct contradiction to reports I trust that said the BYU flatly turned down the Big 12 before Oklahoma's conference exploration went public.

6. Oklahoma officials are, to be kind, not at all happy with what appears to have been a fabricated (?) report, possibly (allegedly?) initiated/planted by Baylor, implying OU could save the Big 12 by staying

Analysis: Not a great deal to analyze, except a bit of speculation Texas may have no choice but to go independent by 2012. Baylor is fishing for a soft-landingn in an AQ conference, and I somehow suspect an invite from the Big East would end their huffy holdout over A&M, and ISU would have no teeth to perpetuate the battle. Oklahoma's apparent option not to reaffirm commitment to Big 12 is important, meaning it is not going to be intimidated by reports (true or otherwise) about their relative ability to "save" conference. Beyond that, I seriously doubt OU will make any kind of announcement prior to next week, because of pending serivces for the late Lee Roy Selmon pending in Tampa and Oklahoma City over the next few days.

Ultimately, we're not much farther than we were the other day. All we can do is watch and wait.

Updates as they make sense.


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