ESPN

AUSTIN, Texas -- In the half hour that DeLoss Dodds and Texas president Bill Powers spent talking about the Longhorns athletic director’s achievements and impending departure, one substantial chunk of his legacy was hardly mentioned.

They talked about the championships, the student-athletes, the staffers, the ambitions and plenty about the future during today’s press conference.

What they did not talk much about was all the money.

Sure, it’s understandable. Dodds and Powers didn’t need to spend any time bragging, not when this day was meant to celebrate all that Dodds has meant to the Texas athletic department.

You can’t say, though, that a price can’t be put on his legacy. The man built a financial empire at Texas, one that will support athletics at Texas long after he’s gone.

Dodds has been on the job 32 years. When he took over in the fall of 1981, he said Texas’ athletics budget was $4 million. Today, he says, it’s closer to $170 million.

The 76-year-old will help advise Texas during the nationwide search for his successor. It’s a safe bet that he’ll be looking for someone with the kind of business savvy he’s brought to the position when eyeing the candidates to inherit his throne.

“There are a lot of people that can do the job,” Dodds said. “President Powers will find the right person to do the job. I'll be on that person's team.”

Dodds spurred more than $400 million in facility upgrades and has made Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium the nation’s sixth-largest at a capacity of more than 100,000. He took over at a time when each UT program fundraised itself and created The Longhorn Foundation, which has 13,000 donors and has raised more than $400 million for athletic programs.

The brand he’s helped build keeps growing. Dodds struck the $300 million deal to create the Longhorn Network. For eight straight years, Texas has been the nation’s No. 1 college merchandising brand according to the Collegiate Licensing Company.

That’s just scratching the surface of what he’s built in three decades. Dodds was honored to learn that his friend Donnie Duncan was in attendance on Tuesday. The ex-Oklahoma athletic director regaled reporters with stories of all the work and meetings he and Dodds put in to create the Big 12 Conference.

“There is not another DeLoss Dodds out there who will fit Texas the way DeLoss does, but he’s been here 32 years,” Duncan said. “You can’t expect that. But someone will bring certain strengths. Someone will hit the right chord and someone will come here and do a great job.”

Few will be able to match his wit when it comes to negotiations, Duncan said. Dodds would sit quietly and fill legal pads with notes at times, but when it came time for business he was an astute fighter for the University of Texas. He wasn’t afraid to speak unpleasant truths and get exactly what he desired.

“The amazing thing to me is I would sit there and listen to him negotiate some of these contracts,” said David McWilliams, Texas’ former football coach. “And I would think, ‘Oh, he’s smarter than they are. They’re going to get their britches took off by him.’ He always had his information.”

But this wasn’t about selfish victories. Dodds and those who worked with him say his end goal in all matters was putting money back into the Longhorns programs and benefitting his student-athletes.

“When he speaks, everybody listens,” former Texas women’s basketball coach and women’s AD Jody Conradt said. “I think that’s definitely true of DeLoss. It’s his calmness, his ability to think through issues and, when he speaks, you know you’re going to get wise counsel. He brought that same quality to intercollegiate athletics.”

There’s no replacing a power broker like Dodds, but the fact he’ll have a strong say in his successor suggests the next Texas athletic director will be someone who commands his respect.

And that’s a powerful thing. Powers lauded the fact that Dodds has built trust with so many commissioners, athletic directors and coaches. He dedicated more than 30 years to building that cachet.

Good luck finding an athletic director who can match it. That’s the task Texas now faces, and its leaders are confident that even though there’s no replacing Dodds, the next AD is stepping into a remarkably fortunate situation.

“What you do is build on the foundation that they've made. You extend things. You don't replace them,” Powers said. “The good news for the person coming in is they are inheriting a wonderful edifice that DeLoss has built over the last three decades. That actually will be a blessing for the new person coming in.

“I have no doubt that this will be a very highly sought-after job, and that we will get a great men's athletic director.”

If you haven't already seen the video of Dana Holgorsen sipping Red Bull on the sideline, enjoy.

• Texas AD DeLoss Dodds is expected to announce plans for his resignation today. A look at some potential candidates to replace him. The Longhorns also lost a legend Monday in former quarterback James Street.
• One year after giving up 807 yards in Morgantown, Baylor is ready to show how far its defense has come against West Virginia.
• Could Oklahoma find a way to use both Blake Bell and Trevor Knight to challenge opposing defenses?
• Even after one of the best games of his career, TCU safety Sam Carter remains his own toughest critic.
• Texas Tech is sticking with Baker Mayfield at quarterback this week. Is staring the season 7-0 a realistic possibility?
• Charlie Weis still remembers drafting Kliff Kingsbury while with the Patriots. What's going on with the receivers at Kansas? Ex-Jayhawk Marquel Combs has transferred to Southeastern Louisiana.
• Still no word on whether Oklahoma State CB Justin Gilbert will be punished for getting ejected from the WVU game. J.W. Walsh regrets audibling out of a goal-line run in that loss. OSU landed the fastest recruit in the country Monday.
• WVU is down to one healthy quarterback, creating one big question mark for Saturday.
• Paul Rhoads has found his guy at running back in Aaron Wimberly.
• Kansas State is preparing for a disappointed Oklahoma State team this week and trying to fix its own flaws.

1. George DeLeone hired Paul Pasqualoni as an assistant coach at Southern Connecticut State in 1976, and the two have coached together for most of the seasons since, from Division III to FBS to the NFL. When UConn fired Pasqualoni on Monday after two-plus seasons as head coach, the school fired DeLeone, the associate head coach and offensive line coach, too. The Huskies are 0-4, scoring 18 points and gaining 272.5 yards of total offense per game. Pasqualoni has a solid record (151-94-1, .616) in 22 years as a head coach. Something tells me he and DeLeone aren’t done coaching -- together -- just yet.

2. Oregon has won its last 15 road conference games, the longest such FBS winning streak. The Ducks have won their last game at every Pac-12 opponent save Utah (in 2003, when Utes were in MWC. Does that count?) Alabama has won nine straight road SEC games. Stanford and Texas A&M each have won their last five road conference games. The Cardinal lost to Washington in 2012 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. However, with the victory at that stadium Saturday over Washington State, Stanford has won its last game at every opposing venue in the Pac-12.


3. Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds will announce today that he is retiring next August after 32 years. All Dodds, a former track coach, has done is transform Texas into the premier sports program in the nation. It took him three coaching hires to find Mack Brown, but 150 wins and one BCS championship in 16 seasons indicate Dodds got that one right. It’s a measure of the resources and the expectations that Dodds has raised that fans wonder why the Longhorns don’t dominate every sport in which they compete.

DeLoss Dodds is stepping down as athletic director of Texas. The effects of that decision on the future of the Longhorns athletic department will be far-reaching.

Dodds will formally announce Tuesday his plan to leave the job he has held for 32 years and step down as AD at the end of August, 2014. The search for his replacement is already underway and could end as early as Dec. 1.

Whoever is tapped to replace the Texas legend inherits one of the most powerful thrones in college athletics, and could face one of the most important transition periods in school history. We’ll get into that in a moment, though it’s a topic we’ll be talking about throughout the next year.

Dodds is a powerful man with a legacy to match. He made the Longhorns the financial behemoth it has become today and oversaw one of the greatest periods of athletic success in school history. Whoever is deemed fit to take his place has Texas-sized shoes to fill.

By setting these plans in motion nearly a year in advance, he’s providing UT more than enough time to make a smooth transition. That Dodds will stick around as a consultant should help, too. This is a major move and one that must be handled carefully.

Just imagine the résumés that will wind up on UT President Bill Powers’ desk during the search process. He’ll eventually pick from an elite group of candidates, and there’s no doubt he’ll be seeking a leader with the kind of big-picture thinking, sharp judgment and business savvy that Dodds displayed during his long tenure.

In its report breaking Monday’s news, the Austin American-Statesman said West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck is one candidate to keep an eye on. Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick’s name has come up plenty in recent weeks, and more major players will in the next few weeks.

The successor could face a critical dilemma whenever he or she is finally chosen. What will be done about the coaches of three of Texas’ most important programs?

Mack Brown knows he has to win and win big this year, and a 2-2 start didn’t make life any easier. The Texas football coach has long said he has a tremendous relationship with Dodds and Powers, who have backed him throughout a trying month for Longhorn football.

“I’ve got the two best bosses in the world,” Brown said days after Texas’ loss to BYU. “They get it. They understand. I have great conversations with them. They put me in a position to run it, they want me to do it, and I’m responsible for it. That’s what I’ve got to do. DeLoss has been around a long time. I don’t have knee-jerk bosses. They get it.”

Well, one of those bosses is now leaving. Who knows how much success in 2013 will be enough to impress the next boss, or whether Brown’s sub-.600 record since 2009 will simply be too much to overcome.

Will the next AD be prepared to clean house? He or she could face similar big-picture decisions with Longhorns men’s basketball and baseball.

The legendary Augie Garrido hasn’t taken UT to a College World Series in two years and didn’t make the Big 12 tournament in 2013. Rick Barnes hasn’t advanced past the second round of the NCAA tournament since 2008 and didn’t make the field last season.

These are worst-case scenarios, to be sure, but not unrealistic ones. The candidates for Texas’ athletic director job will be well aware of these potential first-year decisions.

There are many other reasons why Texas must find the right person for the job. The truth is, there’s really no replacing Dodds. This day had to come eventually, though, and evidently the countdown to that day begins Tuesday.

Show me don't tweet me:

• Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds tells the Dallas Morning News' Chuck Carlton he'll make the tough decision if he has to. But Dodds also says that Mack Brown is energized and everything is in place for the Longhorns to turn the corner.
• TCU hopes its running back duo can help spark a stagnant offense, writes the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Stefan Stevenson.
• Kansas is still tinkering with a faster tempo, according to the Lawrence Journal-World's Matt Tait.
• The Cyclones are preparing to make the season's first road trip a boom, writes Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register.
• Texas Tech picked up a commitment from a junior-college defensive tackle.
• Oklahoma center Gabe Ikard will have his hands full on Saturday, says The Oklahoman's Ryan Aber.
• The Mountaineers are hoping a looser attitude will help, according to the Charleston Gazette's Dave Hickman.
• The Tulsa World's Kelly Hines goes up close with Oklahoma State linebacker Caleb Lavey.
• The Bears are cruising, but they can't relax, writes Brice Cherry of the Waco Tribune-Herald.
• K-State is regrouping after its loss at Texas, report the Topeka Capital-Journal's Ken Corbitt.

Ever since Texas A&M and Texas concluded (paused?) their rivalry on the field when the Aggies left for the SEC, the two sides have traded barbs with public comments to play the part of rabble-rouser to their rival.

Texas AD DeLoss Dodds has done as much as anyone, stating the SEC had a "sliver of the East side" of a presence in Texas, and back in March, reiterating that Texas will "get to decide" when the two teams play again.

Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin responded to the "sliver" comment by speaking for the state. "We think Texas in now SEC territory. It's a little bit of an extreme to say we're a sliver in the East there," he said.

At last week's SEC meetings, a reporter asked the Aggies' prominent bowtied leader if he had any one liners to lob the Longhorns' way.

Yes, and no, was apparently the answer.

From the Dallas Morning News:

"I don't have to make it anymore," Loftin said of A&M's former Big 12 rival, as he walked away. "It's not relevant to us anymore, that's the whole point. It's not an important issue."

I'm immensely entertained by the form this rivalry has taken since it moved off the field. The two sides are heating up on the recruiting trail, too, but neither side has come close to crossing any lines while taking swipes at the other, and both sides seem successful in riling up rival fans with incendiary comments.

It's harmless. It's fun. Dodds sat down with reporters at the Big 12 meetings this week, but the Aggies hardly came up and Dodds didn't seem real talkative about the maroon-clad folks about 100 miles east of Austin.

Ultimately, though, it just makes me sad that we can't see these two play on the field and have these comments be a run-up to annual November games. Those would mean perhaps more than ever with the two sides tacking on a little conference pride to one of college football's best in-state rivalries.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: College football is worse off when Texas and Texas A&M don't play. Even if the off-field shenanigans when they don't are entertaining, too.

IRVING, Texas -- Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds made headlines when he championed an eight-team college football playoff Thursday at the Big 12's spring meetings, despite the four-team version still being more than a year away.

"It's a baby step. It's a good step," Dodds said. "I'm kind of an eight-team person."

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby wasn't biting on the possibility of Dodds' preference becoming reality.

"I don’t see us expanding to eight any time soon," he said.

West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck was also asked about Dodds' comments, but he's not looking for any bracket expansion, either.

"Let’s give four a shot and see," Luck said.

Luck agreed with Dodds' assertion that the debate about the No. 5 team -- aka the first team not invited to the playoff -- would carry more weight and be more heated than a debate about a No. 9 team, but stopped short of saying that would be enough to expand the playoff.

"It’d be interesting to go back and look the last 10 years at who would have qualified and how big of a gap there was between 4 and 5, and then 5, 6, 7, 8. Is there a discussion about 8 and 9?" he said. "A lot of years, it seems like there’s three or four really good teams, and then there’s a little bit of a dropoff, but I’m not sure I’d advocate eight at this point."

Bowlsby, meanwhile, argued that now -- just as the game's power brokers have become comfortable with altering the postseason again -- wasn't the time for further tinkering that might have far-reaching implications.

"One of the reasons why the playoff was eventually voted in was because people who had been opposed to the playoff got comfortable around the fact that it could be accomplished without decimating the bowl environment that has been so good to us over the years," Bowlsby said. "And if you add another four games to this, then you’re going to be playing into the middle of December and over the holidays and irreversibly change the bowl environment and therefore, the postseason."

IRVING, Texas -- The inaugural game of the College Football Playoff's four-team tournament is still more than 19 months away, but Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds says it's merely a step in the right direction.

"It's a baby step. It's a good step," Dodds said on Thursday at the Big 12's annual spring meetings. "I'm kind of an eight-team person."

Texas has grown into one of the highest-earning and most profitable athletic departments in college sports under Dodds, who has championed a playoff for decades. He argued that an eight-team playoff would lessen the controversy over teams not included in a four-team field.

"I think there'll be a lot of conversation about the fifth team and who didn't get in and an 11-1 team that didn't get in because somebody's 12-0 that maybe wasn't quite as good as 11-1. If you take eight, you're not going to have that. The ninth team is going to have a concern, but it's not like the fifth team."

For the full story, go here.

Dodds also said he was "not interested" in serving on the College Football Playoff selection committee.

Lost in Texas A&M's mighty move to the SEC last year literally was its heated rivalry with Texas.

For the first time in what feels like forever, the Aggies and Longhorns didn't meet last season, and as Big 12 blogger David Ubben puts it: "Thanksgiving weekend just didn't seem the same without the two Lone Star rivals going head to head."

I've only experienced this rivalry from the outside, but I've seen my fair share of games between these two schools, and not seeing them play last year really was a shame.

So, could that be changing soon? Well, according to Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds, it could be, but only on Texas' terms.

Here's Dodds' feelings on the two schools playing again from The Daily Texan:

“They left. They're the ones that decided not to play us. We get to decide when we play again. I think that's fair. If you did a survey of our fans about playing A&M, they don't want to. It's overwhelming. I know. I hear it. Our fans are important to us. I think there's got to be a period where things get different. I think there's too many hard feelings.”

Now, that's a Texas-sized ego right there.

Basically, because Texas A&M decided its future was brighter in the SEC, Texas now has all the power when it comes to these two schools getting together. Pride is getting in the way of a great rivalry. Texas is mad at Texas A&M for leaving the Big 12, while Texas A&M has made it perfectly clear that it's content with playing the Longhorns.

Dodds added that he doesn't know when the two schools will play again but that he expects "we'll play sometime."

But only if the Longhorns want to, I guess.

It's petty, but now that Texas would have to directly compete with an SEC team every time it faced the Aggies, I can see why Dodds would be hesitant about reviving this rivalry. Think of the recruiting victories for the winning team. Does Texas want to take a chance on losing the type of prospects it's used to getting to the Aggies if it loses to them? And with A&M gaining even more steam after last year, Texas would just hate to have a potential BCS run thwarted by the Aggies.

But, hey, the same could be said for the Aggies, too.

The Horns might be thinking that the negatives outweigh the positives, but you're also taking this away from the players. (Remember, it's all about the kids!) Erasing this rivalry means kids who grow up in Texas and decide to play for either program won't get to play in this storied rivalry. It just doesn't seem right.

What do you guys think? Should Texas swallow its pride and get this rivalry going again? I think so, but let us know how you feel about this Texas-sized mess.

Last season was the first in almost a century that Texas and Texas A&M didn't play, and speaking personally, Thanksgiving weekend just didn't seem the same without the two Lone Star rivals going head to head.

Texas A&M has been outspoken about a sort of anywhere, anytime, anyplace attitude toward resuming the rivalry, but Texas, who won the final game in 2011 on a last-second field goal, is taking a rather arrogant approach to when the next game will happen.

Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds, From the Daily Texan (my emphasis added):

“They left,” Dodds said. “They're the ones that decided not to play us. We get to decide when we play again. I think that's fair. If you did a survey of our fans about playing A&M, they don't want to. It's overwhelming. I know. I hear it. Our fans are important to us. I think there's got to be a period where things get different. I think there's too many hard feelings.”

Hey-oh! Dodds is in a power position here and doesn't sound like he has many plans to let anyone forget that. As for why this game isn't being played, it depends on who you listen to. There's merit to both sides, and it's a perfect situation in which either side feels completely comfortable blaming the other.

Texas warned A&M when it was considering a move to the SEC: "Leave and this rivalry is over."

Texas A&M has been consistent throughout the saga: "We'll play you anytime, you're the ones providing the rivalry's death blow and refusing to play."

The truth is where it usually is: Right in the middle. Texas A&M decided SEC membership was more important than its rivalry with Texas. Texas decided keeping its word (and its pride) was more important than showing that its warning to the Aggies was an empty threat.

The Longhorns have the bragging rights, and that certainly will extend the period in which these two teams won't play. Dodds says the two teams will play "sometime," but anyone who thinks that time will come under Dodds' watch is out of their mind.

David Ubben talks about the shaky times at the Big 12's two power programs, Oklahoma and Texas, in this week's Friday Four Downs.

Texas has been caught in a bit of a funk since reaching the 2009 title game with an undefeated regular season and a Heisman finalist in Colt McCoy.

Texas has averaged just over seven wins in the three seasons since, but don't let DeLoss Dodds catch you comparing these recent down years to some of college football's lesser powers.

“We’re going to have good years again,” Dodds told the Austin American-Statesman. “Our bad years are not that bad. Take a school like Missouri. Our bad years are better than their good years. But we’ve created a standard.”

Not even the news that 99 percent of this sport's fan base has been waiting for eternity to hear -- that yes, a playoff is coming to college football -- could keep the conference expansion chatter from running wild Wednesday. And while the Notre Dame football program's independence does not appear to be threatened, the Irish are again the subject of much of this chatter.

To recap: Orangebloods.com's Chip Brown wrote a story Wednesday with the headline "Sources: Irish Olympic sports likely headed to to B12."

Later Wednesday in Chicago, after the playoff announcement, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick shot down the report. The Chicago Tribune's Brian Hamilton was on the scene at the InterContinental Chicago Hotel.

"I saw that and I thought (Bob) Bowlsby and I should hold hands up there," Swarbrick joked, alluding to the incoming Big 12 commissioner. "I have no idea what prompted that. It is not based on any discussion, any meeting we have done."

...

"I've said all along that there were three important factors for us," Swarbrick said. "One was the resolution of postseason football, which we are closer to. One is a resolution of our media relationship, which we are in the homestretch of. The third is related to the stability of the Big East, which we get more information on every day. In that sense, pieces of that are starting to fall into place, and that will put us in a time and place where we probably take a look at it and decide what we're doing."

The chatter is similar to what was making waves a month ago, when Texas AD DeLoss Dodds told CBSSports.com that he had talked to Notre Dame about a similar scenario. That prompted Swarbrick a day later to say that the Irish were committed to the Big East in their Olympic sports and that he and Dodds are two people who often talk about the business.

All of which brings us to today: A four-team playoff on the table, seemingly with access for conference champions and non-champions alike, leaving Notre Dame, as Swarbrick said Wednesday, with "no obstacle to that for us. If we earn it, we can play in it."

The Big East of today clearly isn't the Big East that Notre Dame signed up for in 1995. But it has been a viable home for the athletic department's other sports. There is a cultural fit there, and the travel is not as difficult as a Big 12 schedule would be.

The men's and women's basketball programs have been conference contenders (and, in the case of Muffet McGraw's squad, then some) in recent years, and men's hoops coach Mike Brey inked a 10-year extension this week. Brey has said that he hopes, if push comes to shove, that the program can end up somewhere east. And we can't forget about other programs, such as men's lacrosse, which is coming off its second final four appearance in the past three seasons. That's one other element, albeit a small one, that would come with such a move, as there is no Big 12 lacrosse conference. (No Big 12 school, in fact, fields a Div. I lacrosse team.)

Of course, this isn't about lacrosse. Or hoops, for that matter. It's about football, and despite recent history, Notre Dame football remains a giant. No conference would turn down the chance to land that program, and the Big 12 would seemingly have little to lose in providing a safe haven for the Irish's Olympic sports as the expansion carousel continues to spin.

The Big 12's second day of spring meetings came and went on Thursday in Kansas City, Mo., with no real news after the conference reaffirmed its commitment to 10 members on Wednesday.

Until the new configuration of the BCS is settled (i.e., what form will a four-team playoff take?), the Big 12 won't be taking much action, if any. Outgoing commissioner Chuck Neinas confirmed at least that much. Neinas also said he might stay on through July to relieve new commissioner Bob Bowlsby, who has other obligations on the United States Olympics Committee's board of directors. Bowlsby would still come aboard June 15, but there would be a period of overlapping commissioners.

"It was great to see Bob and Chuck together today at the head table, talking about things," Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis told reporters Thursday. "I think the transition will be smooth."

The league's presidents were in attendance Thursday and reaffirmed the athletic directors' stance on expansion.

"We're all very satisfied with 10 teams," Hargis said. "We're not shutting the door to any opportunity that might arrive. We're not in the market, we're not receiving applications. Our expansion committee is inactive."

To my knowledge, that's the first public confirmation that the expansion committee is indeed inactive. Interesting stuff. If Notre Dame becomes a possibility, it's clear the Big 12 would listen, and I'd assume that Florida State would engender a similar reaction, to a lesser extent. For now, though, the Big 12 maintains it's sitting at 10, even if no one (yours truly included) really believes it.

With Florida State officials expressing conflicting messages about the school's future conference affiliation, and the future of the Big East very much in flux, how could you?

A few other quick notes:

• Texas AD DeLoss Dodds came out firing on Thursday, tossing barbs just about everyone's way. The SEC has Texas in its footprint? "They have a sliver of the east side," he told reporters. On the Big East? "I don't know if they qualify as a BCS [conference]. They've lost a lot of strength."
• Neinas, on the league extending its six-year grant of media rights agreement, which is in progress, but not a done deal? "I don’t believe the membership feels it’s a gun-at-the-head arrangement. It’s just a step forward moving together."
• The league membership also didn't sound very fired up about re-instituting a championship game in the new iteration of the BCS. Reports John Hoover of the Tulsa World: “We have come to really appreciate the position we’re in right now by not having a championship game,” said Iowa State’s Jamie Pollard, chairman of the Big 12 athletic directors. Said Dodds: "If this all happens the way we’re visualizing today, I think there are some football coaches out there that will say, ‘Well, what are we doing? We’re 12-0, we’ve got to go into play a team that’s 9-3, we’ve got a shot at getting beat.' Or, 'We win the game, it’s a struggle, we get two kids hurt’ -- I mean, those kinds of things are gonna be the reality of it."

Dodds might not have been making many friends Thursday, but he did make some among the league's coaches with that comment for sure.

Friday is the final day of meetings, but it's been a quiet week compared to the past two years at Big 12 spring meetings. For now, it's mostly just been the league's members drawing battle lines on where they stand in relation to the playoff and expansion.

The Big 12's spring meetings kicked off with the league's athletic directors meeting in Kansas City on Wednesday, and made it clear beforehand that expansion would be only informally discussed.

Still, the questions had to be asked, and they were answered. For now, the league is happy with 10 members, echoing its stance for the past few weeks.

Will anyone believe them? (Does it matter?)

"We could expand to some number. You name the number -- 12, 14, 16," Texas AD DeLoss Dodds told CBSSports.com. "We could expand, but the question is, do we need to expand?"

Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas, in fact, made it simple.

"The Big 12, athletic directors reaffirmed their commitment to 10 members," he said.

For now, anyway. Florida State is still only flirting, but if the Seminoles make up their mind, the safe bet is that stance will change very quickly.

Until then ... here we are.

Playoffs were a hot topic, but the league's athletic directors reiterated what we essentially already knew: The Big 12 is in favor of a four-team playoff.

"We're in favor of taking the four highest-ranked teams," said Neinas, who has begun to transfer power to new Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby. "We think it should be some type of selection committee operation, and how you rate a conference champion, strength of schedule must be included."

I love the selection committee idea personally, an idea reiterated by chairman of the league's athletic directors, Iowa State's Jamie Pollard.

The BCS has its flaws. That's obvious. The biggest flaw in piecing together a selection committee? How do you do it? How do you find panel members without bias? Is that possible? Do you copycat the NCAA's formula for the basketball tournament?

All difficult questions with answers to come.

"There needs to be a human element to kind of handle the unknowns. You can't always say computers get it right or opinion polls will get it perfect," Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said. "You still need someone with good, rational thinking to deal with unforeseen circumstances that may come up.

"Who knows what form that takes, but some form of human element that gets college football to the point of determining the best teams."

Chalk me up on board with that.