2012 Valero Alamo Bowl Preview

Date: December 29, 2012 6:45 PM ET
Stadium: Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas
Payout: $3,175,000 per team
Played: 1993-present
Former Names: N/A
Broadcasters: Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman
Sideline Reporter: Quint Kessenich

Texas: The Longhorns ended a two-year slide in the win column, but will still fall short of a 10-win campaign, a feat Texas accomplished for nine consecutive years from 2001 to 2009. Running back Joe Bergeron demonstrated a nose for the end zone, leading the ground game with 16 scores on just 122 carries. Texas has beaten Oregon State in both previous meetings between the two teams, the last being a 61-16 rout in 1987.   

Oregon State: Mike Riley led the Beavers to 6 bowl games in his first 7 seasons, including 5 bowl wins, before failing to become bowl-eligible the past two seasons. That streak ended in 2012 as Oregon State climbed to as high as No. 7 in the AP poll on its way to a nine-win season. Oregon State has 2 capable quarterbacks who combined for over 316 passing yards per game in 2012. Cody Vaz will get the start, but Sean Mannion could see action as well.

	Texas			Oregon State
Overall Record	8-4		Overall Record	9-3
Conference Record	5-4		Conference Record	6-3
Bowl Record	26-22-2		Bowl Record	8-5
Last Bowl Win	2011 Holiday		Last Bowl Win	2008 Sun

All Time Series: 2-0 Texas
Line: Oregon State by 3

Penn State Players Transferring

Seniors
Justin Brown (Starting Wide Receiver) to Oklahoma
Devon Smith (Starting Wide Receiver) to Marshall

Juniors
Robert Bolden (Backup Quarterback) to LSU
Khairi Fortt (Backup Linebacker) to California
Kevin Haplea (Backup Tight End) To Florida State
Silas Redd (Starting Running Back) to USC

RS Juniors
Anthony Fera (Starting Kicker and Punter) to Texas
Derrick Thomas (Backup Cornerback) to Marshall

RS Freshmen
Tim Buckley (Backup Safety) to North Carolina State
Ryan Nowicki (Backup Offensive Tackle) to Illinois

Freshmen
Jamil Pollard (Defensive Tackle) to Rutgers

2011 Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl Preview

Date: December 28, 2011 8:00 PM ET

Stadium: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California

Payout: $2,150,000

Played: 1978-present

Former Names: N/A

Broadcasters: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer

Sideline Reporter: Jenn Brown

All Time Series: 4-0 Texas

Line: Texas by 3.5

	California			Texas
Overall Record	7-5		Overall Record	7-5
Conference Record	4-5		Conference Record	4-5
Bowl Record	10-9-1		Bowl Record	25-22-2
Last Bowl Win	2008 Emerald		Last Bowl Win	2009 Fiesta

Texas A&M Officially Joins The SEC

Texas A&M officially joined the Southeastern Conference yesterday. The Aggies will begin playing in the SEC in the fall of 2012. It is unclear whether Baylor or other Big 12 schools will file litigation against Texas A&M as reported over the past few weeks. Starting next season, the Aggie will be in a different conference from their rivals Texas and Baylor for the first time in the football programs long, storied history. It is likely the Thanksgiving night rivalry game between the Aggies and the Longhorns will become a thing of the past.

Now the SEC will be unbalanced at 13 teams. I would assume they will be out to poach a 14th team to balance the divisions. Missouri  would seem to be the best match for the SEC, but it seems like the nine remaining members of the Big 12 are adamant on staying together. A six-year television rights agreement has been set with the remaining nine schools. If one of the Big 12 schools leave the conference within the next six years, all of their primetime television revenue would still go to the Big 12. It looks like the Big 12 will add anywhere from one to three teams to make itself more relevant nationally again.

The SEC Saved College Football, For Now

The Southeastern Conference came to the decision to not offer membership to Texas A&M. The conference is happy with the 12 teams it currently has, but will not rule out expansion in the future. By the SEC showing restraint and avoiding the temptation to become a superconference, college football is spared, at least for now, a big shake-up like we saw last summer and fall.

It looks like Texas A&M is going to be stuck in the Big 12 for the forseeable future. The university kind of looks bad now, making a big deal to leave the Big 12 for the SEC, and the SEC won't even offer them a spot. They will have to sit around and be relegated to Texas's bitch for the short term. Texas and its Longhorn Network look to be in command of the marketing and finances for the entire Big 12, at least for now.

Texas A&M Is Moving To The SEC

It looks almost official that Texas A&M will be moving to the SEC. We will know for sure Monday. A ten-team Big 12 looked pretty stable until Texas decided to launch the Longhorn Sports Network this fall. A year ago, Texas saved the Big 12 by deciding to stay in the Big 12. Now, it has destroyed the Big 12 with its elevated status in the conference, as seen by its need to have its own television network rather than to be a part of the rest of the conference's television dealings. Can you blame the Aggies for not wanting to stick around and let its rival run the conference? The Aggies have a strong athletic program and can easily go where they want. The same can not be said for a number of other schools left in the Big 12. These other programs have no choice but to stick by the University of Texas. The Longhorn-Aggies rivalry has become even more bitter at the moment, but if the two powers are in separate conferences, the rivalry may cease to exist as a football game every Thanksgiving.

Big questions will need to be answered in the coming days:
-Will the SEC look for a fourteenth team if the Aggies do join the SEC?
-What will become of the nine-team Big 12 if the Aggies do leave the conference?
-Will other dominoes fall as other conferences fight to remain relevant and competitive?

Big 12 Home Attendance Figures

	Baylor			Colorado
Floyd Casey Stadium			Folsom Field
S4 Sam Houston State	42,821		S18 Hawaii	47,840
S11 Buffalo	40,853		O2 Georgia	52,855
O2 Kansas	35,405		O16 Baylor	48,953
O23 Kansas State	40,057		O23 Texas Tech	47,665
N13 Texas A&M	45,089		N13 Iowa State	42,722
N20 Oklahoma	36,034		N20 Kansas State	41,147
AVERAGE	40,043		AVERAGE	46,864
	Iowa State			Kansas
Jack Trice Stadium			Memorial Stadium
S2 Northern Illinois	43,116		S4 North Dakota State	48,417
S25 Northern Iowa	48,874		S11 Georgia Tech	46,907
O2 Texas Tech	43,162		S25 New Mexico State	46,719
O9 Utah	43,195		O14 Kansas State	47,561
O30 Kansas	46,485		O23 Texas A&M	44,239
N6 Nebraska	51,159		N6 Colorado	40,851
N20 Missouri	41,776		N20 Oklahoma State	39,261
AVERAGE	45,395		AVERAGE	44,851
	Kansas State			Missouri
Bill Snyder Stadium			Faurot Field
S4 UCLA	51,059		S11 McNeese State	55,582
S11 Missouri State	48,672		S18 San Diego State	56,050
S25 UCF	50,586		S25 Miami (OH)	60,329
O7 Nebraska	51,015		O9 Colorado	62,965
O30 Oklahoma State	50,831		O23 Oklahoma	71,004
N6 Texas	46,734		N13 Kansas State	63,310
AVERAGE	49,816		AVERAGE	61,540
	Nebraska			Oklahoma
Memorial Stadium			Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
S4 Western Kentucky	85,555		S4 Utah State	85,151
S11 Idaho	85,732		S11 Florida State	85,630
S25 South Dakota State	85,573		S18 Air Force	84,332
O16 Texas	85,648		O16 Iowa State	84,024
O30 Missouri	85,907		O30 Colorado	84,173
N13 Kansas	85,587		N13 Texas Tech	85,116
N26 Colorado	85,646
AVERAGE	85,664		AVERAGE	84,738
	Oklahoma State			Texas
Boone Pickens Stadium			Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
S4 Washington State	48,692		S11 Wyoming	101,339
S11 Troy	48,820		S25 UCLA	101,437
S18 Tulsa	51,778		O23 Iowa State	100,142
S30 Texas A&M	48,284		O30 Baylor	100,452
O23 Nebraska	55,935		N13 Oklahoma State	100,659
N6 Baylor	50,741		N20 Florida Atlantic	99,799
N27 Oklahoma	51,164		N25 Texas A&M	100,752
AVERAGE	50,773		AVERAGE	100,654
	Texas A&M			Texas Tech
Kyle Field			Jones AT&T Stadium
S4 Stephen F. Austin	81,287		S5 SMU	57,528
S11 Louisiana Tech	77,579		S18 Texas	60,454
S18 FIU	79,069		O16 Oklahoma State	60,454
O16 Missouri	83,453		N6 Missouri	55,667
O30 Texas Tech	84,479		N20 Weber State	55,083
N6 Oklahoma	81,392		N27 Houston	53,461
N20 Nebraska	90,079
AVERAGE	82,477		AVERAGE	57,108

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY SCHOOL

Texas	100,654
Nebraska	85,664
Oklahoma	84,738
Texas A&M	82,477
Missouri	61,540
Texas Tech	57,108
Oklahoma State	50,773
Kansas State	49,816
Colorado	46,864
Iowa State	45,395
Kansas	44,851
Baylor	40,043