(09-11-2014 03:56 AM)JRsec Wrote: I seriously doubt the SEC would take both Baylor and T.C.U.. Either delivers the DFW market, but Baylor has better academics and better all around athletics, not to mention a larger following. That said the only way we would take the Bears is if nothing is in the offing in the East and we needed a traveling companion for the Sooners. And that presents a minor rub. The Sooners by themselves deliver DFW as well as Oklahoma. So why Baylor? Because if a swap for N.C. State should ever occur we will need a private, emphasis on "a" private and a second Texas school and Baylor is probably considered in many fronts to be the #3 school in the state, (sorry Tech). If there were no interest ever on the horizon for a Vanderbilt/N.C. State deal then I think the SEC might have a dilemma on their hands. Who would be a mate for Oklahoma, Baylor, Kansas State, or West Virginia? With Oklahoma it might be argued that Kansas State or West Virginia would be more profitable, since OU covers DFW. WVU offers a slither of the Beltway and a slither of Pittsburgh but drags down the academics and brings a dubious acting fan base with it. Kansas State is not considered southern enough to fit the profile but offers a nice market. So there are no easy answers. All things being equal I would still take Baylor.
I completely disagree about Baylor being number 3 in the state. Yes, Baylor has been good in football the past couple of years. They've had success in basketball as well (especially if you ignore the murder) and they've been consistently good in baseball.
That said, they've been the laughing stock of the Big 12 since its formation. What's the first thing Big 12 fans think of when they think of Baylor? The tarp. They always had the tarp covering seats in their football stadium so that it didn't look that empty. Sure they built a new stadium and it looks great, but you know what? The most that's been said about it around DFW is that the bricks around the field at the front of the stands aren't really bricks, they're tarps with brick images printed on them.
So where does Baylor rank as university in DFW? Certainly behind UT and A&M, everyone agrees on that. They're also well behind Texas Tech. In fact, of all the people that I know that pay any attention to college sports in DFW, I'd rank all of these schools as having more fans in DFW: Texas, A&M, Tech, SMU, TCU, OU, OK St, Ark, LSU, Notre Dame, and frankly, I'd even include North Texas, Texas State, and Kansas. I'm good friends with several Michigan and Ohio State fans as well.
Now maybe I just hang out in the wrong circles, and maybe there are more Baylor fans than I realize. There are 2 people in my office of about 300 guys that I've seen wearing Baylor stuff there. But hey, there are two Louisiana Tech fans there as well.
I'm probably ranting a bit too much on this, but I just don't see why there's been so much love of Baylor going to the SEC in so many different realignment boards. I get they have a good football team now, but 4 years ago nobody would have dreamed of including Baylor. SMU, TCU, and Houston would have been way ahead of Baylor back then, and probably even Rice because of their academics.
Has Baylor really done that much in the last 4 years? What happens if their football team returns to even just average? They're a small private school outside of a major market. If they were located within DFW like SMU and TCU are you could at least have that, but Waco isn't that close.
If the SEC wanted to increase presence in DFW in any measurable ammount, there are only two schools that would do that. Texas and OU. Other than that A&M covers enough of the area that adding a small private school is not going to change it enough.
If the SEC did indeed want a private school to replace Vandy, Miami would almost certainly get the first look. If they couldn't get Miami (due to GOR or any other reason) I'd think they'd go to SMU next. SMU gets teams a game in the city of Dallas, not 100 miles away, which would be great for recruiting. Rice and Tulane could also be considered.