At some point, Texas A&M seems destined to end up in the Southeastern Conference, whether Baylor or any other member of the Big 12 likes it or not.
Then the focus will turn to Oklahoma. The Sooners leadership, clearly feeling a bit left out with the Aggies and their rivals at Texas hogging all realignment spotlight, have made it clear that they’re not about to be “wallflowers” in this high-stakes game of musical chairs.
After that, maybe West Virginia will be up for grabs. The SEC could use the Mountaineers to provide some eastern balance to Texas A&M. Or Missouri. Still hoping for the Big Ten to come calling, maybe the Tigers will “settle” for the SEC.
Last year, after the Big Ten added Nebraska and the Pac-10 grew by only two, adding Colorado and Utah, many in major college football let out a collective sigh of relief. The seismic shift many felt was on its way, and not good for the game, did not happen.
Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott’s plan for a 16-team league that stretched for the Pacific Northwest to southeast Texas did not come to fruition and spark other changes to major college football’s landscape.
But what Scott said at the time turns out to be right. The superconference wasn’t dead, he predicted. It was simply being put on hold.
Instead of a giant leap toward further consolidation of power and money, major college football is getting there through with a series of agonizing half-steps and missteps.
Change isn’t coming too fast. The process of conference realignment is actually happening too slowly.
The Big 12 is being whittled into extinction. The Big East and the Atlantic Coast Conferences are twisting in uncertainty, wondering whether their teams are the next targets for the SEC or even the Big Ten.
Baylor and the other ugly ducklings in the Big 12 such as Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State are facing the possible downgrading of their athletic programs. What if there are no spots left in BCS automatic-qualifying conferences for them?
Just go ask SMU, which currently resides in Conference USA and has been practically begging for an invite to the Big 12, how important it is to live in the right neighborhood.
“College athletics looks more like Wall Street than a group of institutions of higher learning,” former Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
“I don’t know what’s going through the minds of people already having success and wanting to get bigger. Bigger is not necessarily better.”
Tranghese’s analogy to Wall Street couldn’t have been more perfect to explain what motivates athletic conferences to grow.
But at this point we’d all be better off if they just got there already — because this trip is excruciating.
