The buzz that Texas A&M is bolting the Big 12 for the best college football conference in the country has reached a zenith tonight with ESPN confirming it will happen and we'll hear the details Monday.
Needless to say, it's a story I'm keeping my eye on for a couple of reasons.
The first is it's an SEC expansion and if it happens I could see the SEC going super conference and, once again, leading the way for college athletics, especially college football. We started the the conference title game and all others followed. Now it looks like we could start the super conference movement and all others will follow.
Of course, my first big question is if we expand, who are the other teams coming in? And what would this mean for realignment? And how would that impact the rivalries that have built up over the years and that are traditionally played each fall. I can't imagine an SEC football season without Tennessee vs Alabama, but I have a strange feeling this could be a casualty of realignment.
Finally, I have to think that Texas A&M's desire to leave shows the failure of the Big 12 as a conference. This is twice in the past year or so we've heard of them making a move to leave...and the blame falls squarely at the feet of Texas. They're the bully on the block, bending the will of the Big 12 to their whims and pleasures. They want to be in a conference and independent...to have the best of both worlds and they don't care who or what they step on or over to do it. And the fact that the Big 12 is allowing them to bully it and the other teams in that conference just shows what happens when you don't have solid leadership like you do in the SEC.
This could be an interesting week....and we don't even kick-off the games for three more weeks. Bring on the circus!
Labels: football, tennessee football
posted by Michael Hickerson at 8/13/2011 10:36:00 PM |
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