Has history really repeated itself?
When in history has a large state school been "demoted" by a conference break up?
Oklahoma's BOR voted many years ago to allow the individual school presidents to make athletic conference decisions. So Oklahoma leaving from Oklahoma State doesn't count.
Regents voted Monday to give University of Oklahoma President David Boren the authority to negotiate future OU athletic alliances - including the possibility that the school will leave the Big
tulsaworld.com
Also, the Southwest Conference breakup doens't count either. All public schools had "landing spots." TCU, Rice, SMU, Houston...these were all small private universities back in 1991. And we all know the political backroom dealings that happened to ensure the state schools and a private school had a landing spot.