Oklahoma To Pac-12 Rumored; President David Boren Talks Realignment

It's the day before the first college football Saturday of the year and realignment talk has reappeared again. In a time when the focus should be on football, and the follies of Morgan Newton, it's all about money, the implosion of the Big 12 and superconferences again.

The latest involves Oklahoma and a package that would create the Pac-16. That package, according to Jon Wilner, includes Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. In other words, a similar scenario to last summer.

If Texas is part of the league’s expansion puzzle, the other teams would be Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

If Texas is not part of the puzzle, I was told, the conference would have to be convinced that there’s a combination of four schools, obviously including Oklahoma, that would not cause the per-school revenue to decrease.

It's all guesswork, but this time around Oklahoma is reportedly leading the charge.

Sooners athletic director Joe Castiglione isn't talking, but that sure isn't stopping Oklahoma president David Boren from speaking his mind. Boren is uncertain about the future of the Big 12, but expects something to happen fast, putting a two- to three-week timetable on a conference decision, it seems. He added that Oklahoma tried to fight Texas A&M's decision to leave the conference, but to no avail.

Finally, Boren said "I don't think OU will wind up being a wallflower on this in the end" and that the school is "active" at the moment. So is Oklahoma spearheading a charge to either find a replacement for Texas A&M or find a new home? From his comments, it sure seems likely.

The Big 12 could be saved, with Boren saying the goal is to get back to 12 teams. But reading between the lines, his words sound more like a eulogy than words intended to revive the conference.