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Mailbag: New rivalries, UT as a savior?

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Scott in San Antonio, Texas, asks: How will Big 12 break up conference? 2 fewer North teams.

Jim in Spokane, Wash asks: I may have missed it but what is the status of the Big 12 title game. I was under the impression that you had to have 12 teams to have a title game. Is that incorrect?

David Ubben: Don't forget, the conference will be division-less after Colorado and Nebraska leave. Instead, you'll see a nine-game, round-robin schedule, which is one more conference game than the league's teams currently play. As for a conference title game, you can petition to be granted a game if you wish, which is an option for the Big 12, but it doesn't sound like it's going to happen. The coaches oppose the game, and commissioner Dan Beebe's comments on Tuesday support that.

“My colleagues would support having less than 12 members and still have a conference championship," Beebe said.

“But I’m not sure if we’re going to do that. There are a lot of benefits to having a nine-game schedule and scheduling out to that weekend in December -- and not having the potential to knock off a team headed to the national championship."

Zach in Lincoln, Neb., writes: Instead of putting this whole expansion thing to rest. Why not tie in a little football? What games do you think are going to be the most intense this year given the circumstances? I'm going for Texas/Neb as game of the year because of the split.

DU: That's really kind of a fun side effect with this whole drama. It probably won't stick with the players, coaches or diplomatic administrators. But it will with the fans. And they're the ones making the noise. Texas and Nebraska was already going to be the game of the year. It's been ratcheted up even more now.

Here's a few to look forward to:

Missouri at Texas Tech, Nov. 6

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon mouthed off early in the realignment process about the academics of Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. The Cowboys and Tigers don't play this year, but these two do.

Baylor at Colorado, Oct. 16

The on-field product might not be great, but Colorado won out over the Bears for a spot in the hypothetical Pac-16. Along the way, plenty of e-mails were exchanged between Baylor's heads that got the Buffaloes going. They'll remember those in October.

Missouri at Nebraska, Oct. 30

Missouri went 30 years between victories in Memorial Stadium, but they won the 2008 game, 52-17. This game already had a lot of implications for the North, but this year will likely be the last time that happens, assuming Nebraska gets to leave prior to the 2011 season. Missouri will remember last year's rainy disappointment at Faurot Field, and if it beat Nebraska in Lincoln for the second consecutive time, it might be awhile before the Tigers go back. Missouri fans won't let Nebraska forget it, either.

Jeff in Keller...writes: Why is it that ESPN cannot report the facts? They have Texas listed as the savior of the Big 12, but really it is they who wanted to destroy it. A&M tried to convince them last Thursday to salvage what was left of the Big 12 and they did not want to at that time.

DU: Easy, now. If you want to get technical, sure, Texas "saved" the conference. But don't expect Bill Powers, DeLoss Dodds and Mack Brown to reenact the final Star Wars parade through the streets of Austin. Texas made the decision in its own interest for all kinds of reasons. Chief among those: money. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Any other school or business in the same position would have done the same. I'm saying the Big 12 surviving just happened to be a side effect. But commend Beebe for helping hold the league together and presenting Texas with an attractive package that convinced it to stay. It sounds like he did a lot of legwork with the TV networks and others to figure out what he was looking at in the future. Clearly, it paid off.

Zane in Waco, Texas, asks: DU- Why does the Big 12 not consider bringing in more teams now that they lose NU and CU? I'm not a TCU homer but I'd love to see the frogs match up with some of the big boys. Not to mention if we could bring in BYU, Boise St, and Utah if the PAC-(mystery number) doesn't pick them up. If we lose 2 teams why not pick up 2 or more and keep the divisions and the CCG?

DU: I keep getting hypothetical questions about this. It's not going to happen. The Big 12 has no interest in expanding in its own five-state footprint, and teams like Utah and BYU wouldn't bring in enough money to warrant splitting the pot for an 11th and 12th team without the rest of the conference suffering financial loss. For more on this, see this post.

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