Doing the NCAA Conference Shakeup

Texas vs. Texas A&M could be another rivalry lost

Have you ever played the game of Dominoes? Line them up, push one over and watch them all fall down. None of them will be left standing. With Texas A&M's recent announcement, it seems the Big 12 conference has become a game of Dominoes. Colorado was the first, then Nebraska and now the Aggies are determined to get out. They have set July 2012 as their deadline to leave and the preferred destination would be the football juggernaut, SEC. With only nine teams left, the most pertinent question is not where will A&M end up, but what will happen to the Big 12 conference? It is one of the most storied conferences in America and is rich with rivalries and great teams, both in basketball and football. One rivalry (Oklahoma-Nebraska) has already been lost and, with A&M's departure, it seems that the century-old Texas-Texas A&M in-state battle will be lost. The Big 12 isn't the only conference that has seen change, but it has taken the hardest hit from all the shuffling. The madness has to stop somewhere but the end doesn't seem to be near.

Money is the driving factor in all these conference moves. It's sad that rivalries and tradition seem to be lost and conferences really mean nothing anymore. Nebraska-Indiana will be such a good rivalry and everyone will want to watch that game. Yeah right. Take a look at the Huskers football schedule this year and you won't see Oklahoma. The two teams first played each other in 1912 and it developed into one of the biggest rivalries in the Midwest. Last year was the last meeting between the two and now Nebraska will begin their inaugural season in the Big Ten conference (which has 12 teams). Sure, the Huskers matchups against Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan are appealing but it's not the same as games against Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

Go ahead and quiz your parents and see if they can name all the schools in the six major conferences. Things have changed so much I doubt anybody could do it. The Big Ten has twelve teams while the Big 12 currently has ten teams. The Pac-10 is all of a sudden the Pac-12 and the ACC went from nine to twelve teams a few years back. The Big East now has 17 teams that somehow all fit into one division. Talk about a scheduling nightmare for some poor guy. And then there are the geographical head scratchers that these moves have done. Here are a few for you to ponder:

• TCU recently joined the Big East despite being located in Fort Worth, Texas. They will now have to travel 1,700+ miles to Providence, Rhode Island to play the Friars.
• The Pac-12 used to be made up of teams that were located on, where else, the Pacific Coast. Now it stretches all the way to Boulder, Colorado
• The Atlantic-10 actually consists of 14 teams and stretches all the way to Saint Louis, Missouri
• Louisiana Tech is in the same conference as Hawai'i which makes for one of the farthest travels in college sports

Some of these things just make no sense at all. Why the changes? If it ain't broke don't fix it. Yet these schools feel the constant need for change and it hurts the game. Notre Dame has rejected offers from the Big Ten multiple times to join the conference as the 12th member and I, personally, applaud them for that. They can stay independent for football and maintain all their rivalries they have today. It's better for them and it's better for their opponents. It's too bad schools like Nebraska and A&M don't see that way.

I can't say I'm excited about any of these moves but this is the way it is so here is what I propose. The Big 12 needs to dissolve because there aren't three teams out there in a smaller conference worthy of the Big 12. Utah, TCU and Boise State would be the only ones but they have all recently moved and are under other contracts. Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma will move to the Pac-12 giving it 16 teams and Missouri, Iowa State, Kansas State and Kansas will go to the Big Ten, giving it 16 teams as well. That leaves Baylor to find another conference and who knows what that will be. It's all a jumbled mess and it's taken some of the magic from college football and basketball. Good thing I can flip on ESPN Classic to see the past that I loved.