Posted on 09/26/2011 9:07:31 AM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative
The Southeastern Conference Presidents and Chancellors, acting unanimously, announced today that Texas A&M University will join the Southeastern Conference effective July 1, 2012, with competition to begin in all sports for the 2012-13 academic year.
The addition of Texas A&M will increase the SEC membership to 13 institutions. It is the first expansion for the SEC since September of 1991 when the University of South Carolina joined the league. The University of Arkansas joined the SEC in August of 1991. With the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina, the SEC was the first conference to split into divisions and add a conference championship game in 1992.
"The Southeastern Conference Presidents and Chancellors are pleased to welcome Texas A&M University to the SEC family," said Dr. Bernie Machen, chair of the SEC Presidents and Chancellors and president of the University of Florida. "The addition of Texas A&M University as the SEC's 13th member gives our league a prestigious academic institution with a strong athletic tradition and a culture similar to our current institutions."
"The Southeastern Conference provides Texas A&M the national visibility that our great university and our student-athletes deserve," said Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin. "We are excited to begin competition in the nation's premier athletic conference. This is a 100-year decision that we have addressed carefully and methodically, and I believe the Southeastern Conference gives the Aggies the best situation of any conference in the country."
Texas A&M , located in College Station, will also be the third institution in the Southeastern Conference to hold membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities, joining University of Florida and Vanderbilt University. Texas A&M has an enrollment of 50,000 students, ranking as the sixth-largest university in the country, with 360,000 former students worldwide.
Texas A&M also adds to the athletic excellence of the SEC. Last season, the Aggies won three NCAA team titles (men's and women's outdoor track and field, women's basketball) and finished eighth in the prestigious Learfield Sports Director's Cup all-sport rankings.
"On behalf of our presidents, chancellors, athletics directors, students and fans, I welcome Texas A&M University to the SEC family," said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. "Texas A&M is a nationally-prominent institution on and off the field and a great fit for the SEC tradition of excellence—athletically, academically and culturally."
The Aggies sponsor 20 varsity sports. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country. Women's sports include basketball, equestrian, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country and volleyball. Texas A&M participates in every sport sponsored by the SEC except gymnastics and the SEC sponsors every sport the Aggies participate in except equestrian.
Did you forget A&M v Texas State?
Since 1945 - in other words, since the modern era of college football - OU is the winningest program in college football.
Now, it pains me to say that, because among my alma maters is the University of Texas. And although UT may have more all-time wins, OU has simply has the best modern college football record. Period. Any conference.
Texas A&M? Great people. Conservative. Good americans. Good Texans. Great school. A good rivalry.
But the smack-talking, have-to-wait-another-year rivalry for UT is OU.
How many conf games will TX have to play?
“OU has simply has the best modern college football record. Period.”
Typical Sooner rubbish that one starts keeping score at halftime.
Putting “modern” before football is same as putting “African” before American. Useless.
I'm no Sooner.
College football has gone through major changes since the game began. We no longer sew handles on the uniforms of ball carriers so that teammates can help drag them down the field. We have the forward pass. Flying wedges are illegal. The SEC admits black athletes.
I don't consider Yale as a college football power. Yet, if we consider the entire history of college football, Yale has seventeen national championships. Princeton has fourteen. From 1869 to 1922, the Ivy League dominated college football.
Times change.
Sometimes it's appropriate to take an institution and recognize different periods within the institution.
Would you recognize the steroid era in baseball, or the ancient dead ball era? Some mark 1945 as the start of college football's modern era.
Have fun out there, ags. Don’t let the door hit ya!
True that!
Why in the world would anybody ever begin keeping score then at the beginning of a game? Why not in the second, third or fourth quarter? Why not just say whoever scores last prior to the end of the fourth quarter wins the game?
OU is decidely NOT the best football team in the last decade, as they lost FIVE BCS games in a row over that time.
My point is one must begin somewhere, and to arbitrarily decide that we pick a point other than the beginning is rubbish.
Yes, Yale will always be known as a great football power, based upon their proven record, just like Texas is.
And I've loved every minute of every one of those losses. You made my day brighter just by bringing back those memories.
Thanks, and Gig 'Em, Hook 'Em, or whatever your preference. I have relatives who are alumni of Jerusalem on the Brazos, Rice, Abilene Christian, TCU . . . as long as it's south of the Red River, I'm okay with it.
So now the “Bear Bryant Bowl” Bama vs A&M (or I guess you could also call it the ‘Dennis Franchione Bowl’), will be an annual event.
Ain't that the truth.
Now don't go saying that. Boise State will play them and hold it out as a 'quality win.'
A&M-LSU will become one of the biggest rivalries in the SEC.
Wow. I hadn't thought of that, but I think you're absolutely right.
I agree. I hadn't really thought about it, but it will.
What are your thoughts on a 14th team? Who, when? Do you think the SEC will pursue Missouri? I’ve read where if that were to happen, Auburn would move to the East. If they keep the football schedule similar to now and each East team plays one West team annually and rotate the rest, I would imagine that Auburn’s annual West foe would be Alabama. That would mean an end to the annual UT-Bama game. I’m not keen on that idea.
I think it will be either West Virginia or Virginia Tech.
Slides right into the East, adds a State and new market, Southern culture (if not truly southeast), hasn't been in the ACC long enough for the move to tear any ties (they were in a differnt conference than Virginia forever), traditionally good football team.
Now, we would have to do something about those horrid uniforms they've been sporting this year. Maybe send them and Georgia to the same reeducation seminar.
They use to play...and hated each other.
Another interesting option would be NC State, which would allow them to get out of the shadow of their neighbors Duke and North Carolina, and get the SEC into the state of North Carolina.
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