College Football: The Next Generation

With Texas A&M sending shockwaves through college football barely three weeks before kickoff, it doesn't take a rocket scientist from either the Pac 12 or the SEC to know that change is, again, on its way, and that change is going to be monstrous.

And in the midst of the change there will be winners and losers.

And I'm not sure the broader sport of college football won't be on the losing side of the ledger.

No, it isn't because of the greed of the game, or the money-grab spoiling the "purer" part of amateur athletics. It's simpler than that.

Its in knowing that once this next round of realignment happens, the face of the game will change, and some colleges playing now may not be playing tomorrow.

For every Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, and Nebraska that headlines ESPN in the fall, there's an Iowa State, a Baylor, a Colorado State, and a Kansas State that lives on the fleeting notoriety of a few magical seasons, but more largely on the coattails of the larger, more traditional programs. When this next shakeout occurs, it will consolidate the power of college football at the top. There will be a mad scramble to snag the membership of the few scattered power programs should conferences fracture, looking for Oklahoma and Texas, but hardly anyone will be too worried about the likes of Iowa State. Or Central Michigan. Or (insert mid-level program here).

Mind you, this is not intended as an insult to the Cyclones. Its just a recognition that a great many of these programs, full of dedicated, hard-working players and coaches, are quite likely to slip through the cracks and become forgotten in college football's race to power conferences and big-game payouts.

If Division I (sorry, it will never be "FBS") sports over 100 teams - perhaps closer to 120 - but the rumbling suggests that the superconference era might consist of four conferences of 16 teams each, that leaves those 120 teams vying for 64 spots. Let's get even more optimistic, and suggest a way is found to manage 24 teams in a conference - that's still only 96 teams, leaving close to two-dozen looking for a home.

If "traditional" college football is on a journey to its own future, the sad reality for smaller schools is that they may well find themselves on the Titanic, realizing they are among the unfortunate passengers stranded on deck, only to see the lifeboats to better conferences have set sail without them.

For college fans, that leaves one with a sinking feeling, indeed.

Texas A&M to the SEC - Update

Update @ 9:13 PM CST: Sporting News is reporting that stories of A&M joining the SEC are "just not true." However, considering the other stories that have come out tonight, this "high ranking SEC" statement is consistent with what we've known - that there cannot be a formal announcement until August 22.

Moreover, the SN story quoted their source as saying that various other leaders within the conference must be contacted before a formal invitation could be extended, which makes perfect sense given the 11 days between now and the reported August 22 announcement date.

It's all still fluid, and could still go by the boards, but right now I still stand on the side of A&M leaving. I keep wondering if we're going to hear rumors about contingency plans for OU, Texas, and the rest of the "Not Even Close to 12" should the A&M defection happen. Stay tuned.


Update @ 8:03 PM CST: Lots of media rumors and stories, hard to separate original reporting from reports-on-other reports. Newest source of fairly reliable information is coming from Orangebloods.com, link here, which says that A&M regents will vote on an SEC membership issue on August 22, and nothing official can be discussed before then.

Now, obviously, all of this is very fluid, and tons of hype is flowing everywhere, so all of this is subject to change, but the rumbling continue to suggest that A&M really is going to the SEC.


Update @ 7:47 PM CST: According to the Texas A&M Rivals site, A&M is going to the SEC!!! I must admit that I'm stunned. Read their story here. If this proves true, it almost certainly spells the end of what's left of the Big 12, and who knows where the dominoes will fall. Only time will tell!!!

Rumors on the Internet are like flies around the tail of a Texas horse - frequent, annoying, and generally swatted away.

Yet one such rumor - that of Texas A&M moving to the SEC - was promoted to full-fledged credible gossip when A&M president R. Bowen Loftin issued a curious statement pledging that he will always "look after" the best interests of the University.

You can read the entirety of the quote here.

Rumors of A&M to the SEC started last year as talks of a mass migration of teams from the Big 12 to the Pac 10 gained steam. Just as the move seemed an inevitability, an eleventh-hour deal among "interested parties" funneled more revenue to the conference and putting the kibosh on the move. Now the talks are, supposedly, starting up again.

There's only one problem. The SEC isn't going to accept just one team. If the SEC is serious about inviting A&M, it makes sense they're just as serious about inviting another, as yet unnamed school to compliment the Aggies.

The question is simple: What other school is in the SEC's gunsites? The only two high-profile programs that would seem likely candidates from the remnants of the erstwhile Big 12 would be Texas and Oklahoma; yet Texas with its new Longhorn Network hardly seems a fit for the SEC and its new ESPN contract. Oklahoma could be a legitimate second candidate, but chances are the Sooners would not move without a package deal including Oklahoma State.

The bigger fish is out there. Common sense says it has to be, with A&M serving only as the lure. That means that, as the Aggies deal with the SEC, they would do well to tread very, very cautiously. Why? If the second team on the SEC's agenda falls through, prospective talks with the Aggies could end abruptly, leaving A&M nowhere to go but back to league it, apparently, desperately wants to leave.

Let the rumors fly.

Update: Some media outlets have pointed out that the ONLY place from which the A&M-to-the-SEC rumors seem to be originating is College Station. There's been no vibe or rumor from any SEC outlets or sources, which means this may all be nothing more than disgruntled saber rattling by the Aggies....and, as of 5:30pm CST Thursday, College Station continues to be the only place other than the media talking this issue...

To heck with the game, let's see your uniform!

There was quite a bit of buzz in the midwest leading up to Oklahoma State University's fall practice..not about the Pokes' new offensive coordinator, not about OSU's question marks at defensive tackle, but over something clearly becoming far more critical.

The uniforms.

Yeah, you read that right, uniforms.

Seems that the folks at Nike have decided to make Oklahoma State the "Oregon of the Southwest," and bestowing on the good kids at Stillwater more neon-infused color combinations of football uniforms than your local pizzeria has of cheese, veggies, and meat. And some of the colors are even actually part of Oklahoma State's official color scheme of orange and, uh, something.

This increasing obsession with the composition of the uniform raises the question, "So what?"

Having been a fan of college football for close to 40 years, I've never come across anything quite as particularly absurd as the obsession with the uniform. Gray helmets with bright orange pants. Black helmets with black pants. Orange pants with charcoal numbers and orange helmets. Glow-in-the-dark helmets with polka-dot pants.

Yeah, right.

In the broader context of college ball, who cares?

Does the running back run faster in a dark-colored jersey, or a light-colored one? Does the center snap the ball more quickly with a gray helmet instead of a white one? Does the wide receiver jump higher with white pants or green pants?

It is to boggle the mind.

I suppose the old axiom holds that any publicity is good publicity, but ultimately the game of college football is played and one on the field, not in the mirrored room of a fashion designer. I suppose the multiple permutations of uniforms gives athletic departments new sources of revenue for officially licensed merchandise, but it just seems a contrived issue designed to create news where there is none. Classic teams have a classic look. Teams with less tradition, I suppose, are looking for a "hook" to get them the notoriety they don't already have.

As for me, strap on the pads, put on the helmets, and get on with the game. Leave the designer permutations to the folks on "What Not to Wear."

Can the Horns escape uncharted territory?

The picture cast an image that resonated across the Big 12 in general, and the city of Austin in particular - that of Texas coach Mack Brown walking dejectedly off the field, arm-in-arm with his wife Sally, each with an expression conveying their mutual struggle to absorb yet another Longhorn loss in a disastrous 2010 season. Sally's expression was arguably even more telling, if for no other reason than to convey the frustration in her own inability to help, except to share the pain.

The question for Longhorn faithful going into 2011 is whether that painful picture stands to be repeated. Brown, who enters his 14th season as Texas' head coach, embraced the failure of 2010 with an overhaul of his coaching staff. Brown lost defensive mastermind Will Muschamp to Florida, and released nearly everyone else on staff not waving pompoms. Texas will enter 2011 with new co-offensive coordinators, a new defensive coordinator, a new wide receivers coach, a new defensive tackle coach, and a new strength and conditioning coach.

Texas' biggest problem, however, is that this new staff will be working with largely the same team. Despite what most termed a lackluster spring, Garrett Gilbert is still on tap to return as the Longhorns' starting quarterback in their revamped offense. Colt McCoy's brother Chase stands waiting in the wings, with his family legacy making him the automatic fan favorite. Rumors also hold, however, that this latter-day McCoy doesn't hold the same skills as his famed older brother, leaving Gilbert as the de-facto starter.

The next-biggest problem is an area that has proven a sore spot for Texas in the Brown era - the lack of a star running back. While several high-profile names have gone through Austin with varying degrees of success, none has been a legitimate mention among the nation's elite. Not surprisingly, neither has the Texas running game. As a result, huge hopes are being pinned on incoming freshman tailback Malcolm Brown - but whether it is fair or even reasonable to pin the hopes of an overhauled offense on the back of a kid just out of high school may be unrealistic.

Defense arguably minimized the bleeding for the Horns last year, finishing 7th in the nation in total defense. Contrast that against the 57th-place finish for Big 12 champ Oklahoma in the same category, and it makes Texas' offensive woes all the more painful. That makes the departure of defensive coordinator Will Muschamp just that much more painful, and leaving new DC Manny Diaz with big shoes to fill and bigger expectations to master.

Turning around the fortunes of a 5-7 program in a single season with one of the most extensive staff overhauls not involving the departure of a head coach is almost certainly asking too much. New systems, new people, new personalities, and new attitudes with the change of even one or two staff members can take a season to resolve - let alone those covering a half-dozen major staff positions. Combine that with the thinly veiled expectations that Malcolm Brown will revive the nascent Texas running game speaks volumes about just how bereft of offensive answers Texas was last year, and, to a degree, still is going into 2011.

Brown, to be sure, was caught off guard by last year's failure, and put in a position of having to do something to appear involved and concerned - particularly with the constant strength of Big 12 rivals Oklahoma, resurgence of Texas A&M, and emergence of Oklahoma State. In contrast, a coaching staff overhaul in response to a single seven-loss season could be seen as reactionary. In that vein, with new philosophies on both sides of the ball, but many of the same faces on the field - especially at quarterback - it's hard to see drastic improvement ahead for the Longhorns in 2011.