Exactly, Texas is so used to being the big fish in the shallow pond, that I don't think their institutional culture could deal with schools that don't tug the forelock for them. The California schools and Washington are going to be neither impressed nor intimidated by UT, athletically or academically. The same thing would happen in the B!G. I think UT, deep down, does realize that, which is why their schemes always seem to involve bringing along a group of schools dependent upon UT and willing to act as a subservient voting block.
Absolutely could happen. The only thing I don't see happening is UT going to the SEC for a myriad of reasons, including not wanting to tuck their tail between their legs and follow A&M.
The PAC has many advantages in this game, great universities that are insulated by geography and the most populous state being the formost. Their big issue is that the population is watching them less and less. Whether it's East Coast bias or diverse interest among their population, they are the least viewed. According to
Sports Media Watch, The PAC had no games in the top 10 most viewed games of the year and their conference championship game only had 280,000 more viewers than your own AAC. They had around 2,000,000 less than the ACC and Big12 and 9,000,000 less than the Big10 and SEC. 2016 was better (they were 3rd in CCG ratings). 2015 was right back down by the AAC.
Even worse is the regular season viewership. In 2017, they had a total of 5 games rated in the weekly top 5, and three of those games were non conference games. 2016 had a total of six, with three again being non conference games. 2015 was even worse with three in the weekly top five with two of those games being in non conference. Many of those weeks they didn't even come close. In fact, they were the only P5 school that wasn't in the weekly top five. The other schools, gave or a take a couple of weeks, had a game in the top five. That's 13 games in 39 weeks they had a top five most viewed game. To top if off, the highest weekly rated was third!
There are big benefits for Texas moving to the PAC, but there are some big negatives too. All I'm saying is that Texas to the PAC isn't a slam dunk like some are saying.