The University of Oklahoma's board of regents and its counterpart at Texas granted their school presidents Monday the authority to take action regarding conference realignment.

The moves clear the way for the Sooners and Longhorns to apply formally to the Pac-12, with whom they have been undergoing discussions in recent days on how to make the schools' addition to the conference work.

After the regents meeting had adjourned, Oklahoma president David Boren admitted he's had "very warm and constructive discussions" with Pac-12 officials, but wouldn't say when the Sooners might apply for conference membership.

But Boren made it clear that OU had not notified the Big 12 it was leaving and that remaining in the Big 12 was "still on the table."

He added, however, that the threat of litigation by other Big 12 members had not affected OU's position of exploring realignment.

"Obviously, we do not want to continue to have these kinds of situations where our membership in a conference has to be revisited every year," Boren said.

A source close to the OU athletic department, however, said Tuesday that the Sooners remain "focused on the Pac-12, period."

One of the topics addressed in Boren's discussions with the Pac-12 has been the possible use of a "pod" system in scheduling, which alleviated one of OU's major concerns with joining the conference, according to the source.

The concept of a so-called pod system, if a Pac-16 were created, could portion the conference into four four-team pods, which would help continue cherished rivalries.

The Big 12 has moved to the brink of extinction again, just one summer after Colorado and Nebraska left and the remaining 10 members pledged to stick together, then

hammered out a $1.2 billion television contract. They decided not

to create a conference network similar to the ones in place by the

Big Ten and Pac-12, not to split revenue equally and not to create

any barriers to Texas' creation of the Longhorn Network through a

20-year, $300 million agreement with ESPN that since has proved to be

divisive.