Oklahoma among five Big 12 teams that sought inclusion in Big Ten in 2010

In 2010, five Big 12 schools flirted with the notion of leaving the conference and joining the Big Ten.

Much has changed in college football over the last five years with conference realignment giving new homes to some of the sports’ most storied programs and classic rivalries like Oklahoma-Nebraska and Texas-Texas A&M coming to an end.

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The Big 12 has been the biggest loser in the musical chairs of conference realignment after they lost Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri and Texas A&M while adding TCU and West Virginia. The conference has been on shaky footing since Texas flirted to leave for the Pac-12 in 2010 and Oklahoma president David Boren hasn’t been shy about bringing up the topic of expansion.

Expansion is on the back burner for now, but an interesting tidbit from Omaha World-Herald writer Lee Barfknecht, the conference almost saw a mass exodus of teams leave for the Big Ten.

"“A Big 12 athletic director, who spoke to The World-Herald on condition of anonymity, said he contacted Big Ten athletic directors and presidents with whom he was familiar in June 2010.The topic: Was the Big Ten, which had 11 members at the time, interested in adding five Big 12 schools?The feedback from Big Ten school officials was positive, both sources said. The sticking point was devising a revenue-sharing plan to satisfy all. It would have taken at least three to four years for that many incoming schools to hit the financial payoffs sought for moving.”"

The five teams looking to make the move were Texas A&M, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma with Barfknecht reiterating the Big Ten “did their homework” on Kansas and Oklahoma.

With the Big Ten adding Rutgers and Maryland last year it would appear unlikely the conference is looking to expand to 16 teams like this proposal would have done and the more likely scenario is a new cable network and the addition of a conference championship game is the most radical move the conference makes.

But it does make it interesting to think about what could have been.

Next: 10 Teams Who Need To Join A New Conference

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