What if ... Arkansas to Big Eight? It nearly happened

Back in the old days of college football, which for me was the late 1970s and early 1980s, Arkansas competed in the now-defunct Southwest Conference. The Razorbacks were a league powerhouse and probably second to Texas in terms of national prestige among Southwest rivals.

I often wondered why Arkansas competed in the Southwest when it was A), the only non-Texas squad in the league and B), the campus is located in northwest Arkansas, which is much closer to Big Eight country than to its Southwest competitors.

So I asked former Big Eight Commissioner (1971-80) and current interim Big 12 Commissioner Chuck Neinas if there ever was contact between the Big Eight and Arkansas when he was in charge. The answer was somewhat surprising.

"Interestingly enough, during my time at the Big Eight we did receive an inquiry from Arkansas about joining the Big Eight Conference," Neinas said. "Because at that time, Arkansas was closer to Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Missouri than its nearest Southwest Conference rival, which was SMU at the time. We did receive that inquiry from Arkansas.

"I told (longtime Arkansas coach and athletics director) Frank Broyles that we'd certainly be willing to discuss it with him, but I told that to Cliff Speegle, the commissioner of the Southwest Conference so at least he knew up front that Arkansas was interested in the Big Eight. But it never came about.

"Arkansas would have been a good fit in the Big Eight."

According to Mapquest, Fayetteville, Ark., is located185 miles from Stillwater, Okla, 240 miles from Norman, Okla., 260 miles from Lawrence, Kan, 300 miles from Columbia, Mo., and 350 miles from Manhattan, Kan. Fayetteville is 360 miles from Dallas, home of SMU. Arkansas' closest rival among its current Southeastern Conference rivals is Mississippi at 360 miles (until Missouri joins the SEC next season).

There's no question culturally, athletically and geographically Arkansas would have made a terrific fit in the Big Eight. And spinning it backward and propelling it forward, let's say Arkansas joined the Big Eight in the late 1970s. Would the league have eventually added Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech? Would it still have split North-South? Would Arkansas have enough cache to help keep Texas in check? Would Nebraska or Colorado have stayed happy in the Big 12? Would Texas A&M and Missouri have stayed happy? Would it have reduced the turmoil over the last two years?

Of course this is all speculation. Let's start with the Big Eight/Nine going to the Big 12. Maybe the Southwest Conference breakup begins earlier, say in the early 1980s, and Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech join the umbrella of the Big Eight/Nine instead of participating in a semi-merger of the two conferences resulting into one new league. Under that scenario, Arkansas would have as much clout as Oklahoma or Nebraska and held its own in any vital conference discussion over revenue split, etc.

A North-South split would make no sense competitively with Arkansas in the South. But, say, it was a diagonal league with Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Missouri and Iowa State in one division and Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado and Nebraska in the other. A few rivalries would need annual protection like Kansas-Missouri, Texas-Oklahoma and probably Iowa State-Nebraska but it would work competitively.

I think Arkansas would have kept the league strong financially. In 2010 it ranked 20th in athletics revenue and would have placed third among current Big 12 schools (behind Texas and Oklahoma).

So would the constant Big 12 upheaval of the last two college seasons have happened had Arkansas joined the Big Eight 25 or 30 years ago? I think Arkansas would have helped solidify and unify the league competitively and financially and perhaps outlast the constant posturing that has nagged the Big 12. I also think Colorado eventually would have left the league for the Pac 12 at some point, but it would have been the only subtraction.

While it's fun to speculate about Arkansas joining the Big Eight, it didn't happen so it's a moot point. But Big 12 games involving Arkansas against Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas would have been something special.

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One other note regarding the old Big Eight: Iowa State will lose its two most-played football rivalries in consecutive years. The Cyclones played Nebraska 105 times before the Cornhuskers joined the Big Ten this year. Iowa State had played Missouri 104 times, but the Tigers are headed to the Southeastern Conference next year.

I spoke with Iowa State Athletics Director Jamie Pollard a few weeks ago about losing those schools from his conference lineup. Pollard just said "life is full of change."

"You have to adjust and Texas A&M and Missouri chose to adjust, the same thing with Colorado and Nebraska last year," Pollard said. "Penn State, when they chose to join the Big Ten, stopped their rivalry with Pittsburgh. So life goes on. I don't dwell on that part of it.

"Would I liked to have continued to play Nebraska? Yeah, but for the reason that it's a great financial deal. Missouri didn't bring anything to the table financially for us, so I wouldn't say that was a rivalry other than the fact we've been in the same conference for X-number of years.

"Nebraska, their fans traveled extremely well so as someone who's responsible to help pay the bills, I would like to have them come in here, but that's not going to happen. So we move on."

Iowa State's most-played scheduled rivalries now include Kansas State (95 meetings) and Kansas (91 meetings).