Conference realignment (again) is topic of inquiry

Unbuckling the mailbag:

Question: The Pac-10 was just fine, thank you. Play every conference opponent once in football and home and home against everyone in basketball. What better way to determine a conference champion?

Bob Linde

Answer: Yessiree, Bob. Did you know, for years, the Pacific 10 Conference and Ivy League were the only two leagues not to have conference tournaments in basketball?

I thought that was keeping pretty good company. The Pac caved, of course, and now holds a lifeless annual hoops tournament every March at half-empty Staples Center.

I loved that the football league played a true round-robin format.

You know Utah can get to the first Pac-12 title game this year with a loss to USC and without playing Oregon or Stanford?

But they say you can’t stand in the way of progress or ESPN.

I miss phone booths, books, record stores, 50-cent gas and 10-cent ice cream at Thrifty’s.

I liked the Big Ten when it had 10 teams. I never thought Arizona and Arizona State should have been allowed into the Pac-8.

And they almost let Texas Tech in?

I miss transistor radios, four-man rotations, day-night doubleheaders, the Southwest Conference, Dan Beebe (already) as commissioner of the Big 12, hot towels in first class on Trans World Airlines and Lindsey Nelson.

Some progress is good: I don’t miss polio or changing television channels with my toes.

I could go on and on, but frankly I might cry.

Q: What are the odds this all cranks back up in a couple of weeks?

Chris Warren

A: I think the apocalypse has been avoided in terms of radical, reconstructive expansion. A move to the Pac-16 this week really would have been earthshaking and ultimately led to the collapse of the Big 12 and/or Big East.

There is still some settling to occur. Once Big 12 survival has been assured, I think Texas A&M will be set free to join the Southeastern Conference.

The SEC, logically, might come after Missouri. The Big 12 would then need two teams to get back to 10. Brigham Young would be a logical choice. The Big 12 might also go after Louisville in the Big East.

I think the Big 12 should consider Boise State, which needs to find a home in a major conference before it’s too late.

Boise can hang with Big 12 teams. Ask Oklahoma.

Q: Dumb question perhaps, but why do schools change conferences?

Cy Bolton

A: If you’ve ever read mailbag before, you know there are only dumb answers.

Why do schools change conferences? Sometimes it’s greed; sometimes it’s security; sometimes it’s fear. And it’s always about money.

Nebraska left the Big 12 for the Big Ten because it got tired of Texas trying to run things. Texas A&M is bolting for the same reason.

Colorado was never a good fit in the Big 12, so its move to the Pac-12 made some sense.

Texas Christian has no geographic reason to have left the Mountain West for the Big East. TCU, though, craved the security of being in one of the six conferences whose champion receives an automatic bid to a Bowl Championship Series football game.

As a Mountain West member, TCU needs to go undefeated to get a Rose Bowl bid. Last year’s Big East champion, Connecticut, earned a Fiesta Bowl trip despite four losses.

See how it works?

Pittsburgh and Syracuse, I think, panicked. They heard the future was 16-team conferences and didn’t think the Big East would be one of them. So they jumped to the Atlantic Coast Conference last week only days before the ebb of expansion was slowed by the Pac-12’s decision to stay at 12.

Q: You commented on the loss of traditional games and raiding by conferences. Seems the Pac-10 was willing to help crumble the Big 12 by taking Colorado. How about a Utah versus Brigham Young conference game?

I don’t see any conference as clean in this deal.

Jim Fuqua

Springfield, Mo.

A: Utah and BYU played last week. What may ruin the rivalry is Utah winning 54-10 every year.

Plus, even if Utah had stayed in the Mountain West, this year’s game would not have been a league game because BYU left the Mountain West to become an independent in football.

No one is saying the Pac-12 is clean. It wanted to raid the Big 12 of six schools last year but only raided Colorado.

The climate, though, has changed. The then-Pac-10 thought going to 16 teams was the best way to package the league in advance of negotiating the league’s new television deal.

Expanding by two, though, got the Pac-12 a $3-billion deal, so what was the rush this time?

Pac-12 presidents were allowed do what was best for them, the first priority, and possibly save two conferences (Big 12, Big East). It was win-win.

Q: I’m a KU grad and will probably see my Jayhawks in the Missouri Valley Conference soon?

Mike Solomon

A: The MVC might be too tough a league for a Kansas team that allowed Georgia Tech 600 rushing yards last week. I hear the Conference of Bishops is looking to expand membership.

Q: So the “Wazzu Network” is saved?

Maui Thomas

A: Very funny. Actually, with the money Washington State is going to rake in from Pac-12’s new television deal, it can start showing “The Red Green Show” on its regional network.

Can’t wait for Ryan Leaf’s new show: “#&!%@ you can say in the huddle but not to a reporter in the San Diego Chargers locker room!”

Keith Jackson could have his own show. He is a Wazzu alum who reportedly coined his signature phrase, “Whoa, Nellie,” after spotting a sophomore load his plate at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Drew Bledsoe could get his own show in Pullman. Tom Brady could not.

Q: Did you shake your fist in the air when you yelled at the neighborhood kids to get off your lawn?

Jason Wells

A: Yes, and I drive a Gran Torino. Make my day, kid.

Q: Why not 18- or 20-team conferences? Or 14? Why is 16 the magic number?

Nathan Bussey

A: I don’t know why 16 became the magic number for “super” conferences. Probably because it’s neat and tidy and orderly and reminds playoff proponents of the NFL. A 64-team format also looks more like an NCAA basketball bracket.

People like linear paths to a national champion. The BCS is the exact opposite.

With 16 teams and four leagues, you could have eight divisional winners playing down to four semifinal matches. Although I don’t think the powers that be are interested in an NFL-type system.

With the Pac-12 standing down this week, it appears the future might be five 14-team leagues.

Q: So remind me why Oklahoma and Oklahoma State can’t go to the Pac-12 without Texas?

M.A. Haddox, Idaho

A: The Pac-12 presidents, plain and simple, didn’t want Oklahoma without Texas. And they didn’t want Texas unless the Longhorns agreed to equal revenue sharing. When Texas refused, vowing not to budge on the Longhorn Network, there was no deal.

The presidents balked on just taking the Oklahoma schools. A 14-team format would have been a logistical nightmare for scheduling and travel, and Texas, academically, was the only school that fit the Pac-12 profile.

Q: Where is the Longhorn Network going to fly? And why does the BCS let the Big 12 remain with no conference championship game? Why does Texas have so much power?

Michael Saks

A: No fair asking three questions at once.

1. The Longhorn Network may fly in the Big 12 or if Texas goes independent. No other smart conference is going to take on the baggage.

2. Having a conference title game is a choice, not a mandate. The Big East doesn’t have one and the Big Ten and Pac-12 are staging their first this year. Coaches loathe title games. When the Big 12 was formed in the mid-1990s, the coaches voted 12-0 against having one, but were outvoted by their athletic directors, 12-0.

3. Um, beats me. Had USC’s LenDale White gained two yards in the 2005 title game at the Rose Bowl, Texas would have zero national titles since 1970. The Longhorns started their own network after a 5-7season!

Football, though, is a cash “Bevo.” Money is power. Texas is the state school and has always exhibited arrogance that exceeded its accomplishments.

More power to them — so long as they stay off my lawn.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com