The first dominoes have fallen now in the newest round of conference realignment, which many feel will go so far as to radically change the way college football is played.
Many Houston fans are still bitter about the way the last round of realignment went down in 1996, when the Southwest Conference broke up, and UH fell to lowly Conference-USA while its conference rivals ended up in places like the Big XII and SEC. And they're letting University President Renu Khator know that they don't want to get left out in the cold again this time around.
Khator tweeted on Thursday morning:
Non-stop requests/demands from fans to position UH for conference realignment.
The fans have taken to facebook to try and get their demands met, as well. After news broke that Baylor was trying to use its influence in the Texas legislature to force an invite to the Pac-10 if and when it expands to 16 teams, a group was formed encouraging Cougars to contact their representatives in Austin to have them make the same effort on UH's behalf.
Ironically, Houston's desire to get in the new Pac-16 conference may go hand-in-hand with Baylor's. The Pac-10 announced on Thursday that Colorado is joining the conference. With Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech almost certain to get invites, that would leave room for two more schools. Many feel Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will draw invitations as well, leaving Baylor out in the cold. But if the Pac-10 thinks that it may not get Texas without Baylor (and Texas is the real draw here), it may be inclined to leave out the Oklahoma schools, who may be leaning towards the SEC, anyway.
That would leave those last two spots open for Baylor, and maybe even UH.
I certainly understand why Khator is receiving as much pressure as she is. Nobody wants to wait another 14 years for another shot at a major conference. It may as well be now or never for UH.
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