Until late last week, Texas politicians had given Texas A&M a free-pass to exit and head east to the Southeastern Conference.  But now legislators are worried that Texas and Texas Tech could bolt from the Big 12 and race west to the Pac-12.  Some/many/most politicos in Texas don’t want to see that happen.  So…

According to Orangebloods:

“Sources said the reason lawmakers are hot is that they received assurances from the Big 12, including (UT president Bill) Powers, that the Big 12 would survive without Texas A&M.

And because of those assurances, lawmakers did not take an aggressive stand against Texas A&M withdrawing from the Big 12.  But that may be changing.

Sources said members of the Legislature are or will be reaching out to Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin to tell him the Aggies may no longer have the blessing of lawmakers to leave the Big 12, especially if it looks like the Big 12 will collapse.”

In addition the site claims that Big 12 sources have said there is “an increasing likelihood of litigation” against the SEC.

Good luck to the Big 12 on that front.

The Big Ten began the expansion craze last summer.  The Pac-10 then began flirting with Texas and others in an effort to swipe four- to six-teams from the Big 12, which would have extinguished the conference in one push.  The Pac-1o was conducting an all-out raid last summer.  By comparison, the SEC simply answered a phone call this July.

When the smoke cleared in 2010, Nebraska had left for the Big Ten and Colorado had departed for the Pac-12 (as it’s now called).

Unless the judge overseeing such a silly case attended Baylor, the Big 12 would have a hard time convincing any sane person that it was actually the third school out the door that destabilized the league.  Especially when Oklahoma president David Boren has been making comments like this to the press:

“The Big 12 is not the same Big 12.  I was extremely disappointed when Nebraska departed.  Disappointed when Colorado departed.”

Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel also stated last week:

“Obviously we have some issues in our league… When Nebraska leaves one year, Colorado leaves and then also now Texas A&M.  So it’s three real good football teams (that) are leaving.”

Do a Google search and you’ll find countless other Big 12 figures who’ve been publicly stating the obvious — that Nebraska and Colorado exited and hurt the league a full year before A&M started looking for an escape hatch.

But while a tortious interference case would likely be hard to prove, that doesn’t mean such a lawsuit still couldn’t gum up the works for Mike Slive and the Aggies.  The mere threat of a lawsuit could cause SEC presidents to slow down out of fear that the person hearing such a case really would be a Baylor grad… angry that his Bears are in danger of being left for dead in this round of realignment.  (Nevermind the fact that the Bears left TCU, SMU, Houston and Rice for dead when Baylor jumped to the Big 12 without remorse in the mid-90s.)

Back in 2003, several Big East schools filed suit against the ACC for a raid that netted the Southern league Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech.  In 2005, the ACC settled that suit for a grand total of $5 million.  Pocket change.

But television contracts have jumped to another level since 2005 and the Big 12 — whoever’s left of the Big 12 — would likely ask for a cool billion of SEC cash.  Well, even if there were just a 1% chance of losing that kind of cash, the SEC would need to do some serious risk/reward analyses.  Perhaps the league would decide to stand pat and not offer A&M a landing spot.  If that were to happen, would the Big 12 then be forced to re-admit a suddenly homeless Texas A&M?  Now that would be a happy, long-lasting marriage, to be sure.

Bottom line?  This thing isn’t over, folks.  In some ways, it may just be getting started.

Oh, boy.  Great.  ’Cause who wants to talk about football?

UPDATE — Pete Thamel of The New York Times reports that Judith Zaffirini — the chairwoman of the Senate Higher Education Committee in Texas — claims the state senate has no intention of getting involved in conference expansion and realignment.

And they’re excited about it.
Source: Florida Today
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The CEO of FedEx is prepared to pay upwards of $10 million a year to a BCS conference that will add Memphis, according to an online report.

CBSSports.com’s Gary Parrish, citing unnamed sources close to the Memphis program, reports Fred Smith is leading the effort to get the Tigers to move up from Conference USA.

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USC will be losing scholarships and postseason eligibility thanks to recent NCAA sanctions. The Trojans might lose their 2004 BCS national championship, and Reggie Bush might lose his Heisman Trophy.

However, USC will still get to keep its 2004 Associated Press national title, the Los Angeles Times reports.

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But those weren’t the only things we learned on yet another busy day.

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Coaches’ compensation now represents the biggest strain on collegiate athletic budgets, to the point that about $1.8 billion in student fees and university funds were used to cover gaps in athletic operating costs at Division I schools last year, according to a study conducted by USA Today.

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NASHVILLE—Mississippi State assistant coach Robert Kirby was sitting three rows from the floor here at Bridgestone Arena with just under seven minutes to play when Kentucky’s Darnell Dodson knocked down an open 3-pointer on a pass from DeMarcus Cousins. It was Dodson’s second 3-pointer in a span of a minute, putting the Wildcats up by 15 and helping send Kentucky to a 74-45 blowout win over Tennessee, putting UK into the SEC championship game.

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Five Up

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A month from now, it’ll be time to talk about which basketball teams look like potential NCAA champions. At this point, it’s more interesting to judge the four remaining one-loss teams according to the value in those records:

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But one team in each league that was lingering in “others receiving votes” territory in the preseason is emerging as a threat to the top teams in its respective league.

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Remember that episode of The Flintstones, where our beloved Fred was being berated by the lovely and talented Wilma, and shrunk in his chair, moment by moment, until he was nothing but a small shell of a man with a squeaky little voice?

Welcome to Tennessee football, 2010.

The Tennessee Volunteers suddenly have become Tennessee-Chattanooga. No offense to the Mocs.

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Matt Hayes says we probably haven’t heard the last of Urban Meyer this offseason.

They are the rock stars of college football, and it has been one wild, paparazzi-worthy offseason for coaches.

What should’ve been a relatively quiet period has quickly given us once-a-decade story lines—not one, but a handful of huge coaching changes from coast to coast.

Sporting News’ Matt Hayes ranks the coaching wackiness in terms of significance since the end of the regular season:

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Sunday, Pearl will coach his team against No. 1-ranked Kansas in a home non-conference game. Following a practice session, He spoke Saturday with Sporting News college basketball columnist Mike DeCourcy:

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Sports Radio Interviews is a streaming independent sports blog which provides analysis on breaking sports news, upcoming games, and sporting events from a sports radio perspective. SRI articles frequently appear on SportingNews.com.

Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy says his team is not afraid to defend its national championship.

It is impossible to truly know what would’ve happened had Colt McCoy been able to play the entire BCS championship game for the Texas Longhorns. Unfortunately, McCoy suffered a serious shoulder injury on his fifth snap of the game and had to sit out the rest of the contest, leaving untested true freshman Garrett Gilbert at quarterback, and opening the door for Greg McElroy and the Alabama Crimson Tide to run over Texas for the national title.

McElroy joined Into the Night with Tony Bruno to talk about how it feels to win a national championship, what this win means for him and the program, and whether or not he was concerned they might lose when Texas threatened late in the game.

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Oregon bounced back from the loss to Boise State and the LeGarrette Blount punch.

College football season began with a right cross from Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount to Boise State’s Byron Hout. It ended with the where’s-the-love Broncos taking another punch—despite a 14-0 finish, they had no chance at the national title given to tradition-laden Alabama.

In between came enough drama and plot twists to fill a decade in most other sports. Here’s a look back at 2009′s highlights:

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Sporting News: There was a lot of talk about Tennessee and your new coach, Lane Kiffin, heading into this season. How do you feel about this season?

Eric Berry: I feel like we shocked a lot of people, but at the same time I feel we didn’t reach our own expectation. We had big plans. I feel like we did good for the first year under this system and under these coaches, but … well, I think we laid the foundation. I’ll put it that way. And I feel like the sky’s the limit with this coaching staff and the team they put together.

SN: And next year?

EB: Next year I think UT is going to be very good, in the SEC championship. And if not, I think it’s a wasted season.

SN: What did it mean to you to be a finalist for the Nagurski?

EB: I did my research about the award. I wanted to learn a lot about it. I was just blown away by all the people who have won it. It’s a very humbling experience. I just don’t feel like my name is up there with those guys, just knowing how much they’ve accomplished. The guys I’ve seen, as far as Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey, Warren Sapp, all those guys, future Hall of Famers, that says a lot in itself.

Ryan Fagan is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at rfagan@sportingnews.com, and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ryan_fagan.

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