I will give UT full credit for how they have played the Big12 thus far.
Let's be clear....UT wants the status quo to continue in the Big12. That means UT is the big dog in the Big12 making more $ than anyone else with their own network. That means UT's voice carries the day and the rest of the conference is second class citizens to UT. Expansion threatened all that...the other Big12 schools potentially making more money means they are less beholden to UT. Couple that with a larger voting pool and more potential school which don't fall in UT's shadow and it is recipe for change which UT doesn't want.
So what does UT do? First it argues it will expand with schools like FSU and Clemson knowing full well the Big12 won't get them. Then when it become clear due to the ACCN that the ACC will never become available, UT adopts a new strategy of agreeing to expansion but only with schools less attractive to the rest of the Big12 and schools which would only increase UT's power base. Hello Houston, SMU and Rice...
Finally, when the little 8 starts realizing what is going on, UT and OU spin a new fairy tale to calm everyone down. The idea of the "controlled implosion" is a joke. Once the top tier schools leave (OU) the remainder of the Big12 will not be paid like a P5 nor will they have the status of the P5. That said, I do not think UT has any intention of leaving ...why would they? More likely UT will stay and will increase its status from its current rank of "King of the Big12" to "Emperor of the Big12." The networks aren't in the business of benevolence and the "I promise to respect you in the morning" arguments never ends well. As long as UT has the LHN they don't have to worry about the remainder of the Big12.
But the greatest distractor of them all is the "schools who left are coming back" argument. It is similar to the FSU/Clemson argument but even better because it has a nostalgic appeal to the little 8. Focusing on Nebraska keeps the little 8 from realizing their expansion options are limited to the G5 and the longer they wait to expand, the more likely they will not retain their current status. Nebraska ain't coming back to the Big12. If Nebraska reunites with Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas it will part of a new conference or an existing conference other than the Big12.
UT is the Kaizer Soze of the Big12....the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist...