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Just like how Fonzie of Happy Days literally jumped the shark, college conference realignment has done the same.
On Thursday the Big 12 Conference officially gave Texas Christian University an invite. Friday morning officials from TCU were mulling over the invite, and by all accounts it looks to be a done deal.
After the first wave of movement two summers ago TCU decided to jump from the Mountain West Conference to the Big East. At the time TCU desperately wanted not only a shot at the championship game but also the big money involved in being in a BCS conference. The Big 12 spurned them at the time seemingly content at sticking with being a ten-team conference. So TCU went with the Big East and agreed to make the move in 2012.
Jump to the present day. The Big 12 is in shambles because of Texas’ Longhorn Network. Texas A&M is bolting to the SEC and Missouri is looking to make its escape. Oklahoma has been very vocal about looking for a better situation. Baylor is threatening to sue everyone for its survival.
Everyone looked to the Pac-12 to bring over Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and see the dissolution of the Big 12, but the Pac-12 rejected expansion namely because of Texas’ Longhorn Network. So the very instrument of the Big 12’s demise is what is keeping them together.
Except all is not well. Oklahoma forced the ouster of the Big 12 Commissioner, and there was a complete overhaul on how revenues are shared within the conference. Now they are looking at a conference of eight teams, and with a huge sigh finally extended an invitation to TCU.
So here we have it. A school that has already announced a jumped to a conference will be jumping to a different conference before making that first jump.
There really is nothing more to say really. And just before you start saying that it’s about time a small school like TCU got its due, just note that they would have the second largest endowment in the Big 12 with $1.2 billion. Must be nice to be a Disciple of Christ.
Here’s the schedule.
Oklahoma at Texas. 9:00 a.m. ABC.
Kentucky at South Carolina. 9:00 a.m. KDOC.
Mississippi State at UAB. 9:00 a.m. FS Prime Ticket.
Maryland at Georgia Tech. 9:00 a.m. ESPNU.
Minnesota at Purdue. 9:00 a.m. ESPN.
Louisville at North Carolina. 9:00 a.m. ESPN2.
Florida State at Wake Forest. 9:30 a.m. KCOP.
Florida at LSU. 12:30 p.m. CBS.
Air Force at Notre Dame. 12:30 p.m. NBC.
Iowa at Penn State. 12:30 p.m. ABC.
Arizona State at Utah. 12:30 p.m. FS Prime Ticket.
Pittsburgh at Rutgers. 12:30 p.m. ESPNU.
Miami (FL) at Virginia Tech. 12:30 p.m. ESPN.
Arizona at Oregon State. 12:30 p.m. Fox College Sports Pacific.
Gannon at California (PA). 12:30 p.m. Fox College Sports Atlantic.
Southern Mississippi at Navy. 12:30 p.m. CBS Sports Net.
Eastern Washington at Northern Arizona. 3:30 p.m. Fox College Sports Atlantic.
Texas A&M at Texas Tech. 4:00 p.m. FX.
Iowa State at Baylor. 4:00 p.m. FSWest.
Vanderbilt at Alabama. 4:00 p.m. ESPNU.
Auburn at Arkansas. 4:00 p.m. ESPN.
Georgia at Tennessee. 4:00 p.m. ESPN2.
East Carolina at Houston. 4:00 p.m. CBS College Sports.
Colorado at Stanford. 4:30 p.m. Versus.
Ohio State at Nebraska. 5:00 p.m. ABC.
San Jose State at BYU. 7:15 p.m. ESPNU.
Washington State at UCLA. 7:30 p.m. FS Prime Ticket.
TCU at San Diego State. 7:30 p.m. CBS Sports Net.
