Nobody is leaving the SEC.
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Those weasels have never gotten over the butt kicking that UH put on them. Although their leverage is now light, they are negotiating a get out of town so they can get their butts really beat in the SEC. But I am sure they will do all they can to negotiate and avoid UH in their final years in the Big 12. They know we’ll want their blood very badly.
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I’m nauseous just thinking about the upcoming UT TAMU hype taking so much oxygen in sports media. It’s gonna suck.
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I’d add a qualification there: Nobody is ever leaving the SEC unless like half of the SEC leaves the SEC.
If it helps, I think there is a good chance that they don’t resume their annual Thanksgiving Day matchup (or have any annual matchup at all).
A really good chance.
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The good thing is one of them will lose ruining their season along with the other 3 or 5 loses.
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What are you talking about? They will renew their great rivalry and play every year…When during the year to be determined by SEC and espn…
100% certainty that UT and A$M will play each other.
If nothing else The Legislature will force it.
Also predict OU is assigned to different division than is UT but UT and Aggies in same division.
UT-OU game continues.
Like The Aggies The ‘Horns will never get out of their SEC division alive.
I think the SEC will go to some kind of quadrants with 4 four team div. You play every team in your div every year and 2 teams in the other 3 divisions rotating every other year.
If so, ut, OU, a$m and Ark could be in one division.
Alabama and Auburn in same division
Miss and Miss State in another division.
Georgia and Florida in another division
The other teams cast about fill the divisions
And of course all would want Vanderbilt in their division 
This would maintain all of the hardcore rivalries.
UT and A&M won’t play each other on Thanksgiving if they don’t want to. It’s a rounding error on the SEC’s contract. The legislature that let A&M in the first place isn’t going to put their foot down over something that (unlike that) isn’t entirely in the school’s control anyway.
It would go like this:
A&M is going to want to keep playing LSU. It’ll be the last shred of “We’re not UT’s sibling” they have and they’ll have a better opponent than Texas, who will play Arkansas. For Texas’s part, they are too proud to force the issue, they know it would look bad if they did, probably believe that their game against Arkansas will actually be the bigger deal (incorrect) and will believe that A&M needs the rivalry with them more than they do (probably correct).
Not playing each other on Thanksgiving would be incredibly stupid, but it would be incredibly stupid in a way that both schools can be incredibly stupid.
Will this happen? I don’t know. I do know they have had a lot of time to talk about how excited they are to renew the traditions of that rivalry to get people excited about the conference and to my knowledge they haven’t.
(UT and OU absolutely continues. That one I am sure about.)
The other issue is that this leaves out a lot of important rivalries. They might go this route, but there are some pretty strong arguments against it. Is LSU playing South Carolina two of every four years so important that they shrug off playing Alabama annually anymore? Or might it make more sense to do something else and play South Carolina two of every six years so that they can play Alabama annually?
It’s honestly a tough call.
As I say before, I think A&M wants LSU to be their rival (and I think LSU wants that, too). That complicates the otherwise natural UT-OU-A&M-Arky division. Might be Missouri instead of A&M, and A&M with LSU and the Mississippi schools. Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, and Vady or Kentucky together. Kentucky/Vandy, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia together. Spitballing.
For a school in the AAC, we sure do spend a lot energy thinking about the inner workings of the SEC.
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It is important because when USC, UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State join the new big12, there will be 16 teams and we will have the same problem !
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Who’s up for a conversation about Conference USA?
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We’re talking about hypothetical scenarios of future SEC divisional matchups and of course the continued obsession over ut and a&m. I just made an observation. Carry on!
It’s hard for me, given the demand among their alumni bases, and the potential TV ratings, to believe that aTm and UT won’t once again play on Thanksgiving.
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Who cares about the Texas / A&M game on Thanksgiving. Not me
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Thanksgiving football now belongs to the NFL, period.
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The donor alumni are probably the main relevant force in bringing the game back.
Interesting point about the legislature. Should not the legislature then impose that all Texas DIV I schools play in the same conference?