Now call me a homer but the SEC is easily the best conference in college football. The SEC has had the National Championship winner for the last 5 years. Not to mention that before this streak the SEC still sported the most depth and competition of any conference. The PAC 10 had never been able to sport more than 2 high-quality teams, and that was rare, usually the PAC 10 only had USC. The Big 10 has been good in the past and this year. Michigan and Ohio State are the main teams but beyond that few teams can make a run at a national title. The Big 12 had one year that it was great. That year Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and Missouri were all unprecedentedly good. In addition to that Texas and Oklahoma were their usual good teams. However, even in this one year the Big 12 where the Big 12 sent Oklahoma to the national title game they could not win a title. The ACC is largely a basketball conference that only recently got TCU. The Mountain West has only put up undefeated teams in a really weak conference. The WAC is honestly a joke. When Boise State played Oklahoma they won on a fluky play. When they played Georgia they got crushed. When they played TCU it was a competition of the two teams from bad conferences.
Now, considering all the changes that have happened to conferences recently Texas A&M is left in an interesting position. The Big 12 has had teams siphoned off by other conferences without adding any notable ones (TCU would have been a good idea). Texas flirted with the SEC but there was one problem. Teams in the SEC share profits. Texas doesn’t want to share the money. That led them to establish this Longhorn Network. Now, I could rail on how that is going to drive a wedge between teams in the Big 12 but that is for another article. Needless to say, it is. The SEC still wants to add a team, and Texas A&M wants to get a larger share of money out of any sort of TV deal. Since Texas has all but destroyed a TV deal covering all of what would be the Big 12 (they would have to share profits if they did that) A&M is left with the obvious option: take the spot Texas was flirting with but agree to share profits.
This is a brilliant move for A&M. Why? Because they will make more money. Now, these are just some numbers that I heard on the radio (take their accuracy as you wish) but, last year Texas A&M made $20 million. If they switched to the SEC they would make $30 million. You don’t have to be a math major to see that there is a significant gain to be had ($10 million is not a small amount). Then you have to consider the rivalry. Even if A&M doesn’t play Texas year in and year out there is still hatred there. This move would make Texas reconsider many of its stances. Texas would probably have to go independent seeing as the Big 12 would fall apart unless they added a few teams, who would weaken the conference. If Texas goes independent there is still a problem there. With these larger conferences more and more of schedules are going to be taken up by conference games. This would leave very few weeks where Texas could play a quality opponent, significantly hurting their strength of schedule for the BCS.
However, the SEC has to add 2 teams to keep the SEC West and SEC East balanced. If this move does occur Auburn and Alabama would move to the East and the new teams would be in the West (from my sources). Assuming Texas A&M is one of these teams who else would the SEC target? Well the obvious picks are Georgia Tech and Florida State. However, that doesn’t expand the conference. They already have major footholds in those areas (Georgia and Florida). So who else goes to the SEC? Well the rumor is Missouri. Missouri allows the SEC to expand into new territory. However, outside of a few years they haven’t been a very good team. They have been solid but, honestly, not SEC caliber year in and year out. While still being a good option there is a team better than Missouri. Oklahoma. The odds of this happening are extremely low but if it were to happen the Big 12 would defiantly collapse. It would be looking at losing 2 of the major teams and both of Texas’s big rivals. Oklahoma is a contender year in and year out and a very good team. They have a solid recruiting base in Oklahoma and in Texas. This would be the optimal situation for the SEC. However, Oklahoma would probably suffer from the same inability to share money as Texas. Either way, the Big 10 and PAC 10 have taken their teams out of the Big 12, now it is the SEC’s turn, and expect it to be monumental.
