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so, the Big 12 is looking forward to the next TV contract and it doesn't look good because of lack of content?

why not simply schedule more attractive non-con schedules?

Ed Zachery why 3 programs jumped from the Big 12 when they had the chance

As has been discussed in the before time, a 16-team conference can be split into 4 pods and can be scheduled so that every team plays all the others every other year. 
9 game conf schedule of:
the other 3 teams in your pod (every year)
2 from each of the other 3 pods one year, the other 2 from each pod the next
3 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 9
You see everyone else every 2 seasons
You play at your place and their place every 4 seasons
.
I doubt the SEC would do this, as it makes too much sense.  Plus, the pods would be all wacky if the original 4 schools held the rest of the conference hostage again (although Tennessee might not want to play Alabama every year anymore).
If those 4 did insist on being in a pod together (AL, AU, UT, UGA), it would leave Florida with Carolina, Vandy, and Kentucky.
Texas, OU, A&M, and Arky would be a pod.
That would leave LSU with OM, MSU, and Missou, which would be a casserole, basically.
.
Or people might insist LSU and Florida are in a pod, and you'd be left with some kind of toilet bowl pod remaining.

What makes more sense to me is to overlay pods and groups.  To try to make this work for this hypothetical SEC Expansion I think that each Pod has to be headlined by a Helmet.  This expanded version of the SEC would have a lot of candidates so I separated them into four "Helmets" and four "near helmets".  

The four helmets are:

• Bama
• Florida
• Texas
• Oklahoma

The four "near helmets" are:

• Auburn
• Georgia
• LSU
• Tennessee

So I'm thinking that each pod needs a helmet and a near helmet so here is my set-up:

Your schedule each year is:

• Three games against the other three teams in your column (pod), so for Florida that is UGA, USCe, and Mizzou
• Three games against the other three teams in your row, so for Florida that is Bama, Texas, Oklahoma
• Three games against the other three teams in one of the other three pods (temporarily attached to form a temporary division).  

So for Florida their schedule could be:
Year One, UF/Bama pods combined to form a Division:

• Bama
• Texas
• Oklahoma
• Georgia
• USCe
• Mizzou
• Auburn
• Mississippi
• MississippiSt

Year Two, UF/TX pods combined to form a Division:

• Bama
• Texas
• Oklahoma
• Georgia
• USCe
• Mizzou
• LSU
• aTm
• Arkansas

Year Three, UF/OU pods combined to form a Division:

• Bama
• Texas
• Oklahoma
• Georgia
• USCe
• Mizzou
• Tennessee
• Kentucky
• Vandy

Advantages of this:

• I think it maintains a "feeling" of being in a conference with the six teams that you play each year.  
• It maintains most important annual rivalries (UF-UGA, Bama-Auburn, etc).  
• It allows each team in the league to play each other team in the league at least once every three years so you aren't complete strangers.  
• From a revenue perspective you get each of the Helmets playing each of the others every year.  That is six HUMONGOUS games in this expanded SEC (Bama-UF, Bama-TX, Bama-OU, UF-TX, UF-OU, TX-OU).  
• For the smaller schools they get to host a helmet every year which helps their revenue.  

they could, but "they" OU and UT are looking to shed the programs that don't help with the TV ratings of football

Iowa state may have the programs best season ever, but will their games have high ratings?

K-state, KU, Baylor, T Tech, Okie St., TCU, WV???

They could always be completely unscrupulous, and just kick out the sub-mediocre teams.

if the SEC wanted to stay at 14 teams and be unscrupulous....... what 2 sub-mediocre teams should be worried?

They could keep Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, aTm and Arkansas

Then they could even back fill with Clemson, Florida St, Miami...