December 1, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers wide receiver Stedman Bailey (3) runs after a pass reception against Kansas Jayhawks during the first quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. The West Virginia Mountaineers won 59-10. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Ken Durbin’s Predictions: Tavon will go for 350 all-purpose yards and 2 touchdowns. Not to be outdone, I think Stedman Bailey will own the Kansas secondary to the tune of 12 receptions for 250 yards and 3 touchdowns. WVU dominates KU from start to finish, 63-31.

Well, I kind of overstated the contributions of both Austin and Bailey in this one. The way the Jayhawks have struggled defensively this season, I figured that Austin and Bailey would be able to find plenty of open field. I thought Tavon would get 350 all-purpose yards and a pair of touchdowns, and he ended up with roughly half of my projection, 187 yards and 1 touchdown. Credit Kansas punter Doherty for keeping Austin bottled up in the return game.

Stedman Bailey, who should be the Biletnikoff winner, had a great outing, just not as great as I thought he would be. He tore up the KU secondary for 11 grabs for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns. Bailey probably would have had an even more impressive stat line if it were not for Kansas’ inability to keep the game remotely close.

Finally, WVU got the huge offensive explosion I thought they would, powered mostly by the run game. I thought that the defense could play pretty well but would give up more points based on how quickly I thought the WVU offense would score. Joe DeForest’s kids played one heck of a game in the face of an option rushing attack. In total, a great team effort.

Brandon Miller’s Predictions: I’m going to go really bold and say Geno throws for 550 yards and 5 TDs. Stedman Bailey, who may or may not be playing his last game in Morgantown as well, will contribute 13 catches for 250 yards and 2 TDs. Shawne Alston will run all over the Jayhawk defense and go for 125 yards and 2 TDs. And finally, Tavon Austin will have a another amazing game to finish out his career, going for 450 total yards and 3 TDs. I’ve been burned twice when predicting the defense would turn in a good game, soI refuse to do so this week, but I still think we will win big. WVU 70, Kansas 34.

If you ever wondered what this season would have been like if we were still in the Big East, the game against Kansas should tell you all you need to know. I’m still glad to be in the Big 12 though. It gives you a sense of how big of an upgrade in competition we faced- probably a difference of 3 wins on our record.

I have to give credit to the defense in this game. I predicted they’d give up 34 points and they turned in their best performance of the year. Yes, Kansas has a terrible offense overall, but they do have one of the better rushing attacks in the country and we held them in check. (I’ll caveat all this with the fact that we would have given up 30+ points had they had a QB that could throw the ball well). Kudos to the players and staff.

We did about what we expected on offense. The Jayhawk defense was no match for Geno, Tavon, Stedman, and Buie. I predicted over the top stat lines for our offense, but overall we weren’t that far off except for Alton- not sure what happened, but if he had played in the second half he would have come close to what I predicted. But everyone else was great. Geno had a great game. Tavon showed us again why he should win the Heisman. Bailey showed us why he should win the Biletnikoff. I’m glad we sent the seniors off right.

Now it looks like we get Syracuse in the Yankee Bowl. I guess hanging a bunch of points on them will be a nice way to end the season, but I’d rather be playing a power conference team in the Holiday Bowl.

Alan Searles’ Predictions: We will still make too many mental mistakes to blow them out, but Stedman and Tavon account for 300 yards receiving and 100 rushing and the Eers win 35-31.

Similar to Miller’s thoughts on what this team would look like in the Big East, if you were wondering what we would look like when we didn’t make stupid mistakes and played a complete game, then Saturday was for you.

Certainly Kansas played into the outcome as they are an awful squad, but very soon we are going to look back and think, how did we spoil all of that talent? As I documented in my preview earlier in the week, if you come out focused against KU you will end up having fun. We sure did have a fun day. It really makes me happy we could send Stedman, Tavon and Geno out that way. Hopefully we can romp in our bowl game as well.

December 1, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Geno Smith (12) runs with the ball against the Kansas Jayhawks during the third quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. The West Virginia Mountaineers won 59-10. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Patrick Pishko’s Predictions: I’m predicting that Geno Smith goes 15-20 for 260 yards and 2 touchdowns. Defensively, I think Karl Joseph will make 13 tackles and 1 forced fumble.

Well, I was correct in my assumption that WVU would wallop the Jayhawks of Kansas; I, however, was not spot on in my anticipation on how they would accomplish such a beatdown. Geno threw it four more times than I had predicted, but outgained said prediction by over 140 yards and a touchdown. The combo of Alston and Austin did do well, combining for 117 yards and three TD’s.

My current favorite Mountaineer, Karl Joseph registered a pick, a forced fumble, a half tackle for loss, and 7 total tackles. This young man is thriving in his role for the Gold n’ Blue. Can you imagine what his sophomore year will hold?

It was a nice finish to an up and down season. I look forward to the Pinstripe Bowl, even though it pains me to say such a thing. This team failed to live up to the media’s hype, but to those of us true Mountaineer fans, I believe it was sort of expected. We will continue to get better, and I really do think WVU will surprise a lot of folks next year; after all, it seems as if we always do our best when no one expects us to.

December 1, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Geno Smith (12) celebrates in the student section of the stands after defeating the Kansas Jayhawks at Milan Puskar Stadium. The West Virginia Mountaineers won 59-10. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

On the other side of the field, West Virginia fans showed up well to fill in the vast majority of the stadium to honor the class of 2012.The Mountaineers faithful would be loud and proud from the very start.

Geno Smith came out slinging the ball 53 yards to Stedman Bailey to put the Mountaineers on the fast track to an opening drive touchdown. The senior quarterback would play an almost perfect game tonight completing 23 of 24 passes on the afternoon. Smith’s lone mistake came on the second drive of the game when he misread the coverage, throwing an easy interception to the Jayhawks defense.

From that moment on, Geno Smith would complete the rest of his pass attempts, 21 in all. His 21 straight completions set an NCAA record for consecutive completions.

Smith finished with 407 yards passing, 5 yards rushing, and 3 touchdowns. That is an impressive way to end your tenure in Morgantown.

December 1, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers wide receiver Tavon Austin (1) rushes the ball against the Kansas Jayhawks during the third quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. The West Virginia Mountaineers won 59-10. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Smith’s great game was somewhat over-shadowed by the potency of the Mountaineers rushing attack. The Mountaineers employed 4 rushers in the game, with 3 of those rushers receiving 10 or more carries. WVU was able to change the tempo and running style on a play to play basis by utilizing Tavon Austin, Shawne Alston, Andrew Buie, and Dustin Garrison. The fantastic four combined for 38 carries for 247 yards and 5 touchdowns against the weak Kansas defense.

Senior, all-purpose star Tavon Austin showed once again why he is one of the most dangerous players in all of college football. Austin carried the ball 12 times for 77 yards and a touchdown. Austin also excelled in the receiving game with 4 grabs for 110 yards. Unfortunately, the Jayhawks punter was able to keep Austin from returning any punts which could have further blown the game open.

Austin’s performance against Kansas should be but a cherry on top of a well deserving consensus All-American season.

Fellow teammate and All-American hopeful Stedman Bailey put in yet another 100+ yard receiving performance. Bailey once again proved to be Geno Smith’s favorite target, hauling in 11 receptions for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns. With tonight’s performance, Stedman Bailey has compiled 95 receptions for 1,501 yards and 23 touchdowns.

Stedman Bailey’s numbers this season scream for the Biletnikoff Award and his final regular season performance should have gone a long ways to helping Bailey bring home the high honor.

Of course, none of those spectacular offensive statistics would have been possible without the exceptional play of the offensive line. Seniors Joe Madsen, Jeff Braun, and Josh Jenkins anchored the line that led the Mountaineers to 647 yards and 8 touchdowns. Hats off to the big men in the trenches for their best performance of the season.

On the defensive side of the ledger, the Mountaineers played well against the run-first Jayhawks. All week long, Charlie Weis stated that he was looking to air the ball out against the struggling WVU secondary. That did not happen in this game as Dayne Crist only lasted for the first few drives of the game, only completing one pass against the Mountaineers secondary and throwing an interception to Karl Joseph on one of the few deep penetration all afternoon by the Jayhawks.

December 1, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; Kansas Jayhawks quarterback Michael Cummings (14) scrambles away from pressure by West Virginia Mountaineers linebacker Shaq Petteway (36) during the second quarter at Milan Puskar Field. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Kansas made the switch to Michael Cummings and Christian Matthews at quarterback for the majority of the game. The game switched almost exclusively to a spread option attack, one that played right into the Mountaineers defensive strength. The Jayhawks rushing attack was snuffed out at the line of scrimmage more times than not. Shaq Rowell and Jorge Wright dominated the interior running channels while Karl Joseph, Terence Garvin, and Josh Francis did an excellent job of playing their assignments correctly, keeping the pitch from going for big yardage.

The Mountaineers defense bottled up Kansas’ offense for only 274 yards and 10 points. The Mountaineers got one turnover from the Jayhawks, the Joseph interception. Joseph would also force a fumble that was recovered by Kansas.

In total, this was the most complete performance that the Mountaineers have put together all season long. The defense forced 6 punts, two turnovers on downs, and one interception while holding the Jayhawks to 10 points. A great night for a unit that has been the lightning rod of blame for the disappointing season.

The win moves the Mountaineers to 7-5 (4-5 in the Big XII). West Virginia will need to wait for the bowl selection committees to determine their bowl fate. The two leading bowl options for the Mountaineers are the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in New York against a Big East opponent or the Bridgeport Education Holiday Bowl in San Diego against a Pac-12 opponent.

The bowl committees will select their participants tomorrow afternoon.

Ken Durbin:

One last game for some WVU players to lock up high honors against the Jayhawks. Tavon Austin, having recently been named AFCA All-American, is pursuing a consensus All-American honor and will need a big final performance to give him a solid shot at locking down his consensus nod. Equally important, Stedman Bailey is in need of a huge statistical game to give him a chance at taking home the Biletnikoff trophy. Bailey trails Lee and Williams statistically in receptions and receiving yards. While leading the nation in receiving touchdowns by an overwhelming margin should give him the inside track to the award, he will need another Baylor-like stat line to lock down the trophy.

With that in mind, I think that WVU’s dynamic duo, Bailey and Austin, will rack up the statistics necessary to achieve their high honors. Since the Mountaineers are facing their least challenging opponent of the season with pride and bowl placement on the line, I expect WVU to take Kansas to the woodshed.

Tavon will go for 350 all-purpose yards and 2 touchdowns. Not to be outdone, I think Stedman Bailey will own the Kansas secondary to the tune of 12 receptions for 250 yards and 3 touchdowns.

WVU dominates KU from start to finish, 63-31.

November 17, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers wide receivers Tavon Austin (1) and Stedman Bailey (3) gesture as they await a kick-off from the Oklahoma Sooners during the first quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. The Oklahoma Sooners won 50-49. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Brandon Miller:

When I looked ahead to this game at the beginning of the season, I hoped it would be the game we needed to win to lock up a national championship bid, or at the very least win #10. The season certainly hasn’t went the way we all planned, but we have a great chance to finish the regular season on a high note this weekend. After one of the worst collapses I’ve ever seen by a team, we’ve started to recover. We should have won games against TCU, OK St, and OK, and finally put it all together and won last week against Iowa State. Now, we face probably our weakest opponent of the year in Kansas.

Charlie Weiss’s first year as a Jayhawk has been downright dreadful. The only thing they do well is run the ball (19th rated running attack in the country), and their passing game is dreadful. This might actually be a good matchup for our defense, as our run defense is not terrible. It’ll really be interesting to see who is more mediocre, the Kansas offense or WVU defense. And our offense vs. the Kansas defense should be laughable. Their defense is almost as bad as ours. Geno, Tavon, and company are in for a big sendoff.

This game belongs to the seniors. Geno Smith has earned his place as the most prolific passer in WVU history (as of now… I have a feeling in 3 or 4 years we’ll be saying the same thing about Ford Childress). When he’s in the zone, there’s no one better. Tavon Austin is going to be the most missed though. He’s the most elusive and quick player in the country, college or pros. And he tries, every play, every reception or carry, he’s giving 100% and is a threat to go to the end zone all the time. I can’t even recreate what he does on video games- he’s that unreal. I really hate that this season has went this way for him- he and Geno should be 1 & 2 in the Heisman battle, but our record will likely keep them both from being a finalist. Hopefully the coaches find the next Tavon Austin and bring him to WVU, because we need players like him.

Onto predictions- Kansas won’t be stopping our offense much. I think we could run the ball all over the Kansas defense, but Holgorsen will make sure Geno gets monster numbers in his final game. I’m going to go really bold and say Geno throws for 550 yards and 5 TDs. Stedman Bailey, who may or may not be playing his last game in Morgantown as well, will contribute 13 catches for 250 yards and 2 TDs. Shawne Alston will run all over the Jayhawk defense and go for 125 yards and 2 TDs. And finally, Tavon Austin will have a another amazing game to finish out his career, going for 450 total yards and 3 TDs. I’ve been burned twice when predicting the defense would turn in a good game, soI refuse to do so this week, but I still think we will win big. WVU 70, Kansas 34.

Alan Searles:

We are finally bowl eligible which means at this point we are positioning for a better position. How embarrassing would it be if we gave Kansas their first league win since the Turner days? I think we will come out motivated tough. Dana’s comments about Weiss tell me he doesn’t like him so let’s bring on. We will still make too many mental mistakes to blow them out, but Stedman and Tavon account for 300 yards receiving and 100 rushing and the Eers win 35-31.

November 3, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers running back Shawne Alston (20) runs with the ball against the TCU Horned Frogs during the fourth quarter at Milan Puskar Field. The TCU Horned Frogs won 39-38 in two overtimes. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Patrick Pishko:

I think we are going to beat the hell out of them. They only run the ball and our defensive strength is against the run. The key will be to shut down the run and force them to throw. And Kansas doesn’t throw too well.

Don’t look for much out of Tavon Austin in the return game because Kansas does have good special teams. But I think the thunder and lightning combination of Alston and Austin will strike against the Jayhawks. Geno may be an on-looker in this game.

I’m predicting that Geno Smith goes 15-20 for 260 yards and 2 touchdowns. Defensively, I think Karl Joseph will make 13 tackles and 1 forced fumble.

Oct 27, 2012; Lawrence, KS, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Mack Brown (left) talks to Kansas Jayhawks head coach Charlie Weis (right) before the game at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Dear BFA’s,

I never thought it would take until Iowa State to become bowl eligible, but here we are.  I thought this might be the week we put it all together and play a complete game, but this week we decided our error of the day would be costly penalties and giving up big huge third downs.  Ok, the last part is pretty common.  Kind of crazy that Oklahoma couldn’t touch Tavon, yet Iowa State fared much better isn’t it?  I predict that this week’s unforeseen downfall will come courtesy of a distraction.  That’s right, you heard it here first, holgo’s passe of strippers on the sideline will lead to huge drops on deep routes.

Alas, we get the worst team in the league this week, and that is by a landslide.  Seriously though, if we stay focused we should crush these fools.  In 8 conference games (8 losses), they have lost by just over 21 points on average.  The interesting thing is that in 4 of those, they have lost by an average of 7.75 points, which is skewed up by one 14 point loss, and the other 4 they have lost by 35.  What does that mean?  Overlook them and they will hang around.  Come out prepared, and have a little bit of fun at their expense.  Might as well get it in this week, because it is gonna be ugly when we head out to Phog Allen in the winter.

We have plenty at stake still as we are trying to avoid being placed in the Pinstripe bowl and get a legitimate holiday in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.  More importantly though, we are going up against a team that is led by a man that is well known to be one of the biggest dicks in college football.  Many of the tenured readers here, know my distaste for Ole Charlie, or my love of ripping on him, as he is ripping open a bag of Doritos on the sideline.  Kansas just seems to have a thing for incredibly overweight assholes running their program.  Even Holgo ganged up on Weis this week, in hilarious fashion.  

“We’re going to be at a major schematic disadvantage going against their coaches,” Holgorsen said during Monday’s Big 12 conference call. “They’ve got coaches with tremendous pedigrees who have coached everybody in the world and coached for decades and decades. We’re going to have to regroup real quick.”

Anyone familiar with the infamous Weis quote, where he proclaimed he would have a “decided schematic advantage” over other schools, was just rolling on this diss.  Its nothing new for Dana to be a bit of an ass in press conferences, but this first time I’m aware of him channeling his inner Steve Spurrier and calling out another coach.  Heck, he didn’t even go for the easy kill on his hated foe Todd Graham, so I wonder whats up with Weis?  Not that I’m complaining; I was ecstatic when I heard this beautiful  trash talk.  My guess is that Dana holds himself as an offense innovator, while Weis is a failed college coach who walks around with a stick in his ass, sometimes mistaken as his cane, calling himself an offensive genius, which insults Dana.  Whatever it is, I hope it continues, great stuff.

Around The Nation

I truly do hate the Irish, but I have to give it up to them.  They went undefeated and no matter what you say, they do deserve to be in the position they are in.  Damn Pitt for not sealing the deal when they can.  Damn those Big Ten teams for being awful this year and the refs robbing Stanford.  But ya know what?  They always say to win a championship that you have to be lucky.  Notre Dame was, but also beat a lot of decent teams, more than Alabama and Georgia.  They beat 9 bowl eligible teams, Bama had 6, and Georgia 5.  I don’t like it, but have give it up to them.

If this were 2014 and we were staring down the barrel of a playoff, we would be looking at a Notre Dame, UGA, Florida, and Bama playoff.  If you thought this would open us up from SEC dominance, think again.  I have long stated that being a conference champion is very overrated when determining who should play in a title game and Florida exemplifies my argument.  Closing out the year by beating a top ten FSU team on the road, if you were to look at a blind resume of the Gators versus their conference foes who made the conference title game, Florida unquestionably has the superior resume.  The only thing that you can hold against them is low scoring, close wins against lessor teams like Louisiana Lafayette, Bowling Green, and Mizzou.  I’d urge you to read Stew Mandel’s synopsis of this, as it looks like we may see more scenarios of this with super conferences and unbalanced schedules.

If you didn’t, you are in luck.  The silly season is in full effect, and there are too many firings for me to list here, so here is a graph.  Tom O’brien was a bit of a shock, but couldn’t have happened to a bigger dick.  I would say the most drama this week though, came from Arkansas’ recruitment of Les Miles.  I am not sure that anyone really thought it would happen, and it did end up in Les just getting a pay bump, but that would be a crazy inter-conference downgrade.  Perhaps Miles just wanted to upgrade in office eye candy?  Across the SEC pond, its hard to know what to make of the constant Tennessee Gruden rumors, which makes this the best analysis I have seen.  Also in the You Got to be Friggin Kidding Me book, there are rumors that Mangino may be taking the Colorado job.  Seriously?  On top of the fact that he had a most justifiable firing, do we really think he won’t pass out during his first spring practice in the thin air???  Outgoing coach Jon Embree said that they couldn’t even afford water bottles for coaches or chairs for offensive lineman; how are they going to afford air tanks?

I hope you were able to absorb as much of the last great football weekend of the year this past weekend, because outside of the SEC championship game, there are a few okay games, and then nothing much else.  We wont have a solid slate of games again until we hit New Years Day.

Conference Realignment

God almighty has it cooked up again.  We now have Maryland, Rutgers, Louisville, Tulane, ECU, Middle Tennessee  and Florida Atlantic all moving to new digs.  There are rumors that the Big East will now be picking up University High in Morgantown.  Can we officially follow the Al Gore path and rename conference realignment to global conference shift??

The only pertinent question is how will this impact the Big XII.  The Big Ten is expected to reap mountains of cash in this deal upping its per team conference split to a reportedly $40 million plus figure.  If that is factual, you can bet your ass that the PAC 12 and SEC won’t sit by watching.  I thought we would stop short, but it is looking more realistic that we could migrate to 16 team power conferences.  So, how does this effect the Big XII?  I don’t think that it will unless someone can lure Oklahoma or Texas (that would create pandemonium).  First of all you need to look at the motivations of schools.  There are a few main components involved in a school moving on from their existing conference; money, disdain, and competitive edge.  All of the schools abandoning the Big East and ironically joining the Big East are all doing so to move up the food chain of competition in hopes that they survive in a competitive world.  Many of those same schools along with the ones leaving (rumored or already gone) the ACC are doing so to move up in Money (Maryland is broke).  Finally, schools like Nebraska, Colorado, and Tamu all grew tired of big brother Texas, the weak Big XII North, and the fact that there was uneven revenue sharing in the Big XII.  While the influence of Texas is undeterred, the old North and lack of even revenue sharing model are items of the past.  The schools left over seemingly have no gripes with the Big XII and are happy to be in a solid conference.  Lets be honest, WVU and TCU are ecstatic to be in the conference.  The other Texas schools do not share the angst that AM had, in that they knew they were the lessor schools, and are just happy to beat Texas every once and awhile, while eating at their table the rest of the time.  Oklahoma State is not leaving the side of their rival nor do they need money as they have one of the largest benefactors in college football.  The Kansas schools?  I just don’t see anyone really wanting those markets, not to mention that outside of KU bball and Kstate football (when Snyder is around), their athletic programs are very weak.  Kansas likely has no worries because they are very capable of being a powerful basketball independent if worst case scenarios arise. So . . . . all I am saying is that there does not appear to be a motivation for Big XII teams to leave.  I could see the Pac 12 being interested in a few of those teams, but I don’t think that they could guarantee the money that would make everything worthwhile.  It has been heavily rumored already, but if you like my chain of logic, the teams that would have motivation to move on, would be the football schools in the ACC.  I’d look for the Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12 to poach the likes of FSU, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech.  Those schools would bring enough prowess or market share to be able to bring an additional partner without lowering the cash pot for the other members (think UVA to the Big Ten, a Carolina school to SEC).  Long story short, I think we will settle out just fine in the long run, unless someone makes a dream offer to one of the two big boys, which with the Longhorn Network, may be very difficult to find a good match.

Random

Not a lot of random stuff this week as the internet is busting at the seems with realignment and the coaching carousel spinning out of control.

If Wisconsin beats Nebraska in the Big 10 title game, Wisky will have the worst winning percentage for a Rose Bowl team since 1928.  I can get behind that!  Go Badgers.

Speaking of the Big Ten, here is some early Christmas cheer for Buckeye fans:

Oh, you silly Russians.  You remind me of Kazakhstan.

This is an excellent read on the mindset behind the future selection committee that we will be subjected to.  Amazing that they pick two teams that won’t even play for their conference title.  It will no doubt, be an extremely tough job, but I think that these guys have the right foundation.  I hope Ollie is our representative!  This type of writing is why I spend more time at SI than ESPN.

Hope you all have enjoyed the season,

Love Al

Just imagine this scenario…

WVU went to the Big12 a year earlier. In the transition year. TCU also got in the Big12 a year earlier.

So, for the next 10 weeks, we will be posting results of games against Big12 teams from the 2011 season.

After the jump is the entire schedule.

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Daily Mail: Done deal: West Virginia headed to the Big 12 Conference

WV Metronews: Multiple Reports: WVU To The Big 12

What a great day for Mountaineer Fans everywhere, especially those in the midwest.

After the jump is our reaction to it all… you all should check out Smoking Musket’s reaction first.

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Was I surprised at my findings? Not really. However, others may be… I’ll be posting the chart and a small write-up after the jump.

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Notice all of this realignment points to Austin, TX with UT and their TV network?

Other conferences, namely the SEC and the ACC, are not going to sit idly by and watch. They’re going to expand their operations, too. In business, you must expand in order to succeed. Same for college football conferences. Expand to succeed. More after the break.

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Left out in the fields would be Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska and Missouri. Just like what the Big 10 wants to do with their possible expansion, the Pac-10 is doing it in the name of cash and cable TV. A lot of rivalries would be preserved in the 6 teams invited to go to the Pac-10. Of course, the Nebraska-Colorado rivalry may not last.

Lest we forget that the Big 10 could go after Missouri and Nebraska from the Big 12, as well as Pittsburgh, Rutgers, and Syracuse from the Big East and Big East part-timer Notre Dame.

The Pac-16 (or whatever it would be called) would definitely be a super-conference.  The article also has rumors of Texas A&M going to the SEC.

Who knew the Big 12 could be another victim of the Big 10/Pac 10 invasions? The Big 12 AND The Big East need to fight back.

More on this story as it develops.