link
The SWC, which was founded during World War 1, had some of the most colorful rivalries in CFB history, which makes sense if you understand TX Friday Night Lights. In effect, the SWC grew out of what simultaneously was producing TX Friday Night Lights. The conference was facing future trouble from the start because after Oklahoma and then Oklahoma A&M (now State) left, the league had teams in only TX and AR. That severely limited radio coverage. But even the rise of TV could not dampen the exciting quality of competition in the SWC.
I did live in SWC land for a while, my mother grew up there, and at one point my wife worked for the executive secretary of the President of an SWC school - I taught at an SWC school. I was on campus when the SEC decision to expand to 12 was directed at destroying the SWC, which eventually would allow the SEC to grab the entire state of TX by having either UT or A&M (with the burning desire to have both).
SWC officials sensed as early as the dawn of the SMU Death Penalty that the SEC was eyeing its destruction, so the SEC could take TX talent and TX TV markets. But before the SEC discovered the discovered the NCAA ruling allowing a Conference Championship Game for a D1 league restricted the the state of PA, everybody was certain that no league could afford a massive strike to cripple another Major conference in order to steal its best assets. So rather than get deadly serious about adding new TV markets via expansion, the SWC hunkered down to ride out the storm.
That should have remained a major warning to the ACC, one discussed everyday.
After the SWC lost Arkansas and had 8 members, the Big 8 actually suggested talks about a merger to become a 16 member league. That move would have kept all members of both leagues in a Major conference that made geographical sense, added TX to the old Big 8 footprint, added major markets Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, St Louis, and Omaha to the SWC, and tripled the basketball strength and fan base of the SWC.
But Texas wanted a smaller league and so was ready to act to leave behind almost all those very fun old SWC rivalries. Yes, super rich Texas even then was an insatiable whore right up the Big Ten and SEC alley. So the Big 8 and SWC disbanded, and a new league with a new charter, the Big XII, was created. Half the SWC was excluded.
Best quote from a good article. The speaker is new TCU HC Sonny Dykes, who last year was SMU HC: "I think it makes sense for teams that are close to each other to play each other," Dykes said two weeks ago when the drumbeat started for his return to Dallas. "You know, that's why it makes so much sense for USC to be in the Big Ten ... they're right there next to each other."
Dykes' sarcasm comes at a time when realignment continues to pull at the strings of college football's fabric, breaking up long-standing rivalries and making it harder for fans to get to, or even care about, games. The Iron Skillet -- once so celebrated that legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice called the 1935 edition the "Game of the Century" -- has no guarantee of continuing past 2024 when the current contract ends."
The SWC, which was founded during World War 1, had some of the most colorful rivalries in CFB history, which makes sense if you understand TX Friday Night Lights. In effect, the SWC grew out of what simultaneously was producing TX Friday Night Lights. The conference was facing future trouble from the start because after Oklahoma and then Oklahoma A&M (now State) left, the league had teams in only TX and AR. That severely limited radio coverage. But even the rise of TV could not dampen the exciting quality of competition in the SWC.
I did live in SWC land for a while, my mother grew up there, and at one point my wife worked for the executive secretary of the President of an SWC school - I taught at an SWC school. I was on campus when the SEC decision to expand to 12 was directed at destroying the SWC, which eventually would allow the SEC to grab the entire state of TX by having either UT or A&M (with the burning desire to have both).
SWC officials sensed as early as the dawn of the SMU Death Penalty that the SEC was eyeing its destruction, so the SEC could take TX talent and TX TV markets. But before the SEC discovered the discovered the NCAA ruling allowing a Conference Championship Game for a D1 league restricted the the state of PA, everybody was certain that no league could afford a massive strike to cripple another Major conference in order to steal its best assets. So rather than get deadly serious about adding new TV markets via expansion, the SWC hunkered down to ride out the storm.
That should have remained a major warning to the ACC, one discussed everyday.
After the SWC lost Arkansas and had 8 members, the Big 8 actually suggested talks about a merger to become a 16 member league. That move would have kept all members of both leagues in a Major conference that made geographical sense, added TX to the old Big 8 footprint, added major markets Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, St Louis, and Omaha to the SWC, and tripled the basketball strength and fan base of the SWC.
But Texas wanted a smaller league and so was ready to act to leave behind almost all those very fun old SWC rivalries. Yes, super rich Texas even then was an insatiable whore right up the Big Ten and SEC alley. So the Big 8 and SWC disbanded, and a new league with a new charter, the Big XII, was created. Half the SWC was excluded.
Best quote from a good article. The speaker is new TCU HC Sonny Dykes, who last year was SMU HC: "I think it makes sense for teams that are close to each other to play each other," Dykes said two weeks ago when the drumbeat started for his return to Dallas. "You know, that's why it makes so much sense for USC to be in the Big Ten ... they're right there next to each other."
Dykes' sarcasm comes at a time when realignment continues to pull at the strings of college football's fabric, breaking up long-standing rivalries and making it harder for fans to get to, or even care about, games. The Iron Skillet -- once so celebrated that legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice called the 1935 edition the "Game of the Century" -- has no guarantee of continuing past 2024 when the current contract ends."
