According to ESPN.com report, not only does Colorado have an invitation to join the Pac-16, an anonymous Big XII football basically confirmed the scenario we have been discussing here at RBR for the past couple of days:
With Nebraska apparently headed to the Big Ten, the Pac-10 is poised to become the Pac-16.
Colorado already has received an invitation to join the conference, while five other invitations will be extended to Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
A Big 12 football coach, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach on Wednesday night that if Nebraska left the Big 12 the conference would dissolve, according to his athletics director and university president. The coach said Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado would join the Pac-10, leaving Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Iowa State behind.
Meanwhile, Chip Brown is refuting the general consensus on Missouri, and says that the Big Ten not expand as much as originally expected:
It appears Big Ten may be prepared to expand by only 3, possibly holding open a spot for Notre Dame and one other school down the road.
Don't know who the other 2 schools would be outside of Nebraska to go to B10, but right now it doesn't appear to include Missouri.
It's hard to say that either bit of news is overly surprising. Missouri has long been discussed, but seriously what do they really bring to the table? And, frankly, we've all known for twenty years now that Notre Dame was the twinkle in the Big Ten's eyes, so it's not a shock that they would hold open a spot for them later on down the road. The real question is just who the other two teams will be? It will be someone from the East, but who really knows? I'd probably place my money on Rutgers and Pitt at the moment, but it's a crapshoot.
The interesting thing is that if Missouri gets left out in the cold -- which would be terrible news for them, even if it would be pretty meaningless for the Big Ten -- then perhaps there is hope that the "Big XII" in some very limited, shell of its former self, form could continue in the years to come. It'd be about on the level that the Big East is right now, but maybe they can band together Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, TCU, Baylor, and another team or two (Boise, Houston?) and squeak by that way. Sure it's about like going from being the CEO of General Motors to scrubbing the bathrooms working nights at the Bourbon Street Arby's, but it's better than nothing I suppose.
And, as an aside, even if the Big Ten only goes to fourteen teams, combined with the Pac-10 going to sixteen, then the SEC will almost certainly still expand. It may not go to sixteen -- though that's possible too -- but it will still add at least a couple of teams. The SEC is almost certain to expand, regardless.
Finally, it does appear effectively written in stone that we will get the ruling on USC tomorrow, and Joe Schad writes on Twitter that there will not be a press conference after all:
USC's response to penalties will now come via statements instead of a news conference, like previous basketball announcements.
Who knows what this means, if anything? It probably doesn't do anything to throw a bucket of cold water on those who think that USC will get hit hard, but in all fairness it probably does not mean much of anything either. Nevertheless, for those who think you just heard the black helicopters fly over your house, it's something.