Despite UT’s early public support for Houston’s “consideration” for Big XII inclusion, I hope they now know their dreams of expanding within the Houston city limits just evaporated! Book’em Horns!
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The eyes of Texas … governor legislature on down are on the horns RIGHT NOW … and they aren’t off the hook …
Which is why Fenves’s unity statement with every Big12 president was a sham … he knows he has the Texas govt. and top donor breathing down his neck … and the UT-Houston about to be flushed down the commode.
It won’t come over night … but soon … as is every Texan from El Paso to Beaumont knowing for certain now …
the horns aren’t long for the Big12 …
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@PAWRFUL you’ve been on the nose with a lot of this. I find it interesting that for a conference so unified, the other presidents sure skedaddled out of there quickly and left Boren/Bowlsby holding the bag. I’m not saying that they should all be holding hands at a press conference, but all of them running out of there 4 hours prior to the press conference (with Leath saying “I’ve got a school to run”) is not a good look and they all knew it wasn’t a good look. These guys are all politicians in some form or fashion; they wouldn’t normally just run out of there knowing the image that would portray.
What worries me more than anything at this point is that this won’t be the end. Boren’s comment of “never say never” and that this “active agenda” item had been closed was very carefully worded. Basically, he was very pointedly talking directly to ESPN/FOX and letting them know that they better pay up or else this “agenda item” would quickly be opened again. We were all used as pawns in Boren’s little chess game to extract as much money as possible out of the networks. I think David Ubben said it best when he said that he’d take the under at six weeks as to when Big 12 Expansion talks would start again.
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My take on what REALLY HAPPENED and this is just a seat of the pants bordering on a Tennessee tall yarn guess.
Texas and TT were ready to start talking about expansion with TCU tagging along blocking any dissension … unfortunately the froggies and Baylor went with the other six with Boren as leader to quell any expansion talk OR vote.
Texas powerless without any blocking abilities could not proceed any further and I suspect Fenves decided that keeping the peace was the better part of valor as in order to implement his plan B … feigning compliance would be the best route to take without arrousing any suspicion …
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Sounds about right
I truly think also that’s what happened and was facilitated by TCU being against expansion.
When the conference dies (sooner, rather than later, I hope), I will so enjoy watching many of those dissenters searching - and not finding - another home! 
I keep hearing mentions of the Big 12 eventually dying…
serious question: How does a conference “die”? Do the members just leave?
Well, pretty much. When enough members of a conference leave, the conference will cease to exist because it would not have enough members to be considered a conference. I believe the number is no less than 8? (don’t quote me on that). I believe the WAC basically went this way after the last round of conference realignment.