johnintx
1st String
Posts: 2,449
Joined: Jan 2016
Reputation: 371
I Root For: Oklahoma
Location: Houston
|
RE: What would have happened if the SWC had not lost OU and oSu?
Very interesting. In my opinion, possible scenarios if OU and OSU never left the Southwest Conference:
- The Big 5 of the MVIAA would have stayed together as long as possible.
- Not sure if they would have taken a private school such as Drake, Washington of St. Louis, or Tulsa in those days to expand conference numbers.
- Big 5 takes Colorado to make 6. It is possible that they also take Colorado State and Wyoming to go to 8. Until its dying day, one thing the Big 8 took pride in was that it was the "nation's oldest conference made up solely of public universities". The old Big 8 was created by and for flagship and land-grant schools.
- Meanwhile, the SWC stays with 9 members until Texas Tech is added in 1960. Since conferences didn't go above 10 members until the 90's, Houston is on the outside looking in at this point. In 1960, Texas Tech exercised more political pull and were able to get into the SWC.
- The scandals of the 80's still happen. OU and OSU were recruiting the same players as the SWC schools, and were penalized severely.
- Therefore, Arkansas takes advantage of the situation and accepts the offer to go to the SEC in 1992.
- The issue that led to the formation of the Big 12 would still exist: lack of television sets in the Plains states. They needed the TV markets in Texas to obtain a larger TV contract.
- The SWC would be in a slightly stronger position with OU and OSU on their side, with the conference in two states instead of one (after Arkansas left for the SEC). After Arkansas left the SWC, one of the strikes against it was that all of their teams were in one state.
- From that position of strength, the Texas seven (UT, A&M, Tech, SMU, TCU, Baylor, and Rice), OU, and OSU invite Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri to go to 12. Houston is snubbed again. Rice continues to play at the highest level possible.
- Colorado and Utah are invited to the Pac 10.
- This version of the SWC would have still disintegrated, as A&M and Mizzou would still have gone to the SEC when they did, and Nebraska would have gone to the B1G when they did.
- Houston moves into the SWC as a replacement for A&M. At that time, 12 teams were needed for a football championship game. Kansas State and Iowa State would be brought in as teams 11 and 12.
These are crazy scenarios. It could have gone any number of ways. You can blow holes in all of them. It really impacts every school between the West Coast and the Mississippi River, as the WAC and later MWC may have looked different.
One huge difference is that if OU and OSU had stayed in the SWC for their entire history, the SWC would have had the upper hand in organizing what we know as the Big 12. The private schools of the SWC could have landed in the new conference. Instead, all of the former Big 8 schools had spots in the new conference, and SWC schools were left behind. In this scenario, I leave SMU in the SWC through the death penalty years, just as it happened. They would not have been kicked out.
Another alternate scenario: What if OU moves to the Missouri Valley/Big 6 in 1919, but Oklahoma A&M stays in the SWC? From 1925 to 1958, OAMC was part of the MVC. They were blocked from the group that formed the Big 6, until they were approved in 1957. (1958 is the year that they became Oklahoma State University, but that is irrelevant to their conference affiliation) The Cowboys spent the 30's, 40's, and 50's playing the likes of Drake, Tulsa, and Wichita(State). With 6 Texas schools, Arkansas, and OAMC, the SWC can take Texas Tech and eventually Houston, as they did. OSU remaining in the SWC leads to all sorts of other alternate history.
My brain hurts.
(This post was last modified: 09-27-2018 06:51 PM by johnintx.)
|
|