No one is in rush to go to 16. It forces a 9-game schedule, and all the scheduling headaches that brings. It also means a longer time between playing cross-divisional rivals, especially if there is one protected opponent per team. And no one except ND, OK, or UT brings enough with them to be worth extra mouths to feed. Anything above 16 in football is just a stupid idea, period. Presidents vote on these things, not cfb fans.

It did and still does hinge on whether OU decides to leave at the end of the GOR (and if the B1G or SEC are interested). If the Sooners and KU end up in the B1G, I'm not convinced UT has that many options. I don't think the SEC wants them. I'm not even convinced the ACC presidents would invite Texas as long as the myth of ND full membership is dangling out there. Nor do I think the ACC would offer UT a ND-type deal. The ND deal was negotiated in a position of weakness, and that's no longer the case.

So Texas is left trying to get itself and maybe 1 or 3 others into the PAC, and the political crap in the background of that would probably squash that too.

If OU and KU leave, Texas will be stuck trying to prop up the B12 by bringing some G5 teams in. I don't think there is any doubt they'd stay a P5 in that case, but there has to be some pressure in Austin to maybe make itself OU's + 1. If OU and Texas both leave, I don't think the B12 keeps its P5 status very long.