The Little Five are attempting to band together to keep the Big 12 name, and their plan is to invite the top of the Mountain West, C-USA, and perhaps some Big East teams:
if Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State break away, the source said the remaining five schools -- Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State and Baylor -- could attempt to reconstitute the Big 12 by adding the top teams from the Mountain West -- TCU, BYU, Utah and Air Force --plus schools from Conference-USA and even a school such as Louisville out of the Big East, a conference that could soon be facing an uncertain future of its own.
The source said "several teams" have already initiated contact with the Big 12 about such a scenario if the league splits as expected.
The idea behind a rebuilt Big 12 assumes that the league would retain its status as a BCS conference, which grants an automatic bid to lucrative BCS bowl games. That would be an enticing scenario for the Mountain West teams. The MWC is in position to become a BCS conference, but not for another two years once a four-year evaluation period expires.
(Wait for reader to stop laughing)
Wow! these left over teams: Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Missouri think they have the pull to lure other teams to their mid-major-esque league? The problem with all of this is that the new Big XII would begin play in 2012 and by the time the invites are dolled out the Mountain West would should all ready know if they are an automatic qualifying league. Unless, the invites come this summer the teams could accept on the uncertainty of the Mountain West not having a BCS berth. If I am not mistaken the rule allowing auto bids for a new league would fall in place:
Under N.C.A.A. guidelines, a conference needs at least six universities that have played together for five years. The Big 12 would lose its Bowl Championship Series bid and automatic bid to the N.C.A.A. basketball tournament.
The football auto bid to the BCS would not apply, but the hoops most certainly would and unless the Little Five take six Mountain West teams then there is no hoops auto bid. Plus, even if the BCS bid is enough to entice some schools for a new league, it would not be a major league as they would be a major league in name only. These five schools do not have any leverage besides a BCS bid that most likely would be granted to the Mountain West, and a television deal with essentially the top of the Mountain West, Kansas, and a Big East team would not be much more if any more then the current Mountain West deal.
A quick chart of what the two leagues would look like between an expanded Mountain West and a new Big XII:
Mountain West
| East | West |
| BYU | Kansas |
| Boise State | Missouri |
| Utah | TCU |
| UNLV | Wyoming |
| San Diego State | Colorado State |
| New Mexico | Air Force |
Big XII
| North | South |
| BYU | TCU |
| Utah | Baylor |
| Missouri | Louisville |
| Kansas | Houston |
| Kansas State | Memphis |
| Iowa State | Air Force |
The new Big 12 looks to be slighter better from top to bottom, but the same teams that would anchor football reside in the Mountain West. So, why would they give up everything to join a league that was once good and now has only the name of a once good league.
I say let the Mountain West create their own good fortune and do not jump to some league that used to be good. Once the Big XII falls the Fiesta, Holiday, and Cotton bowls could become a place for the Mountain West to go for post season play instead of Las Vegas, Poinsettia, or Armed Forces Bowl.
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