Conference Realignment

GoPowercat’s Tim Fitzgerald, which is the K-State 24/7 Sports site, gathered the quotes from Jason Scheer, who publishes the Arizona Wildcats 24/7 site about his thoughts on the two Arizona schools and if they are tied together:

Are Arizona and Arizona State tied together in conference affiliation?

“I haven’t been able to get a clear answer about that. Every time I asked, it’s kind of, ‘We’re gonna do what’s best for ourselves.’ My gut tells me that they are tied. I would be really surprised if Arizona moves without ASU or vice versa. It feels like Arizona is kind of driving the train a little bit by being a little more aggressive than ASU, but I would be really surprised that there’s a scenario where they don’t move together. You got to think, also, once a couple of these schools move in the Pac-12, let’s say it’s just Arizona and Colorado that decide to move, the other schools have to follow. They’ll have no choice. And even if ASU wants to look around or kind of see the landscape or wait a bit, they really won’t have that option. And so to me, these schools are pretty tied together. I’d be surprised if they broke up.”

The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel writes that the Big 12 and Pac-12 merger was never going to happen:

A Big 12 poaching is not guaranteed. I’d still say there’s a 50-50 chance the Pac-12 stays intact, despite the impending losses of UCLA and Southern Cal. My guess: the Pac-12 adds San Diego State and Boise State, then tries to make a go of it. The Big 12 did something similar last year after OU and Texas pledged to the SEC.

But you never know.

ESPN reported that the Big 12 walked away from partnership talks with the Pac-12, mostly due to financial reasons.

The Pac-12 also has explored scheduling and television options with a potential ACC partnership, but that’s even more complicated, since the ACC has zero schools outside the Eastern Time Zone and has an ESPN contract that goes through 2036.

College Football News’ Pete Fuitak has thoughts on the Big 12 and Pac-12:

On the flip side, the Big 12 is far more likely to flip Colorado, Utah, Arizona State, and Arizona than the Pac-12 is at getting, say, Iowa State and Oklahoma State, who make a ton of sense but aren’t going to bail for the Pac-12 brand in the current situation.

Again, the Big 12 has the upper-hand here.

It’s got the improved TV contract likely coming. It landed huge schools with good markets in Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF, and it has an underappreciated gem in this whole process with BYU and its international fan base.

I still say the Big 12 should be all over USF, and beat the Pac-12 to the punch on San Diego State and UNLV, but it’s clearly thinking big. It wants Pac-12 schools and it might just be able to get them.

So now, the Pac-12 has to D up big-time.

It has to come up with something fast to put in front of its remaining member schools to show there’s still life without USC and UCLA.

There has to be proof of a better media deal and more positive things on the horizon. It doesn’t have to be massive, but it has to be something to make it look like there’s a future.

Copy what the Big 12 just did and go get big schools that make sense – and bite the bullet on the whole Tier 1 thing, for now. SDSU, UNLV, and Fresno State or Boise State don’t make up for losing USC and UCLA, but it evens the playing field a bit with the Big 12 after its recent moves.

Baseball

Austin Becker being drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 16th round makes it 5 Red Raiders who were drafted in the latest MLB Draft. Go chase those dreams!

Football

I mentioned yesterday that TCU’s recruiting coordinator popped off about the Matador Club’s new NIL deal and saying that Texas Tech is in a desert. That started an avalanche of people putting a cactus and/or multiple cacti in their tweets. KKAM’s Rob Breaux has an excellent summary and explanation of yesterday’s events.