I agree with RLR that more than likely Notre Dame won't happen. Texas would be borderline, but outside of their state, I don't think they even garner the ratings of OU. So independence could be a dicey situation for UT if their program continues to stay down. I've even heard ideas bantered around about forming a conference of Independent teams consisting of Texas, ND, BYU, Army and whoever else willing to come in. Maybe some of the AAC teams or Boise St? It's kind of a wild idea, but you never know.
If the Big 12 East/West ever was to happen, you know the conference that is going to be left out in the cold. It's the Pac-12. Their probably crossing their fingers it never happens. BigJunkDaddy keeps beating his chest about the big bad Pac-12, but in fact they are in the same boat as the ACC. If the PAC wasn't protected by it's geography, they would be targets in realignment. The Big 12 is in the ideal part of the country. They are centralized enough to where they could potentially join up with anybody.
The Pac-12 does have the biggest potential to beat everyone in their TV deals (except for the Big 10 because of their Tier 1 & 2 deal). But they also have the biggest bust potential. They own all of their TV rights, which is why they didn't take UT in the big Pac-12/Big 12 deal they proposed a few years ago. And from what I understand they just buy back from ESPN and Fox. If their Tier 3 was picked up, and they expanded properly, they would have a huge amount of cash flow. Unfortunately they aren't doing well in negotiations. And unfortunately for the PAC, there isn't that much interest in collegiate sports like there is in SEC country. The reason the PAC network hasn't taken off is because no one wants it. It's even hard for them to sell it in PAC country. Otherwise, it would be flourishing like the SEC and Big 10 networks. Like I said, the only thing that has kept the PAC from being picked apart in realignment is geography. It's really surprising to me (so far) that they haven't capitalized on the LA market at all, which is pretty sad considering the number of TV sets we are talking about.
Something tells me things will get better for the Pac-12. It's way too early to kick dirt on them. When they add DirecTV the revenue should shoot up quite a bit for each school. It took the Big 10 a few years for their national carriage to take off. So it could be that way for the PAC. The SEC and the BIG are going to end up blowing the doors off the PAC and Big 12 going forward. The PAC is set up to compete with them if things turn up. It would help if they could somehow produce a national title team. But at any rate, they will get more and more money as playoff revenues continue to grow. The trouble with the Big 12 is they are fairly locked in. I don't think things will get that much better for them. But the geography is perfect for any kind of realignment or conference musical chairs.
By the way, I'm not hatin' just statin' with the PAC situation. I personally love the conference and would have liked OU and a few other Big 12 teams go in for a joint venture with the Pac-12. But there was two mistakes made in that Pac-12/Big 12 realignment offer the first time around. Texas wouldn't give up their network, and The Pac-12 wouldn't take OU if they had to take other Big 12 schools with them minus Texas. They really wanted Texas and OU specifically or no deal. The PAC could rue the day they refused to take OU and Okie Lite together. Just think how different things could have been today. If OU and all of the other power teams in the conference move eastward (like I think they could) the Pac-12 will be stuck with 12 teams because there really isn't anybody else left out there that is on the Power 5 level except BYU and Boise. And in the past the PAC has expressed zero interest in these two schools.
