David Boren, Oklahoma President, Comments on Big 12 Expansion Plans

Oklahoma president David Boren recently called the Big 12 "disadvantaged," according to the OU Daily student newspaper, and the conference appears determined to rectify that problem by exploring expansion in the coming months. 

According to the Oklahoman's Berry Tramel (via SB Nation), presidents of Big 12 schools "have agreed that they need to make a decision, perhaps by this summer, on the reforms Boren has championed: expansion, a football championship game and implementation of a conference network."

For the time being, though, Boren said the conference is focusing on sifting through eligible candidates, possible financial ramifications and the like as research takes over before any sort of decision is made, per Tramel: 

"

We're in a fact-finding mode, we're in a data-gathering mode. In other words, what will it mean to the stability of the conference? What will it mean financially to the conference?

We've sort of said to ourselves, come this summer, we're going to have to finally make a decision about what we do. We cannot indefinitely postpone decisions. That's what I had gotten frustrated about. I thought we were spinning our wheels.

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Tramel also pinpointed several potential newcomers as the Big 12 seeks to expand from 10 teams to 12. Among them are the University of Cincinnati, Brigham Young University, the University of Connecticut and Boise State University. 

Cincinnati is particularly compelling because school president Santa Ono has reportedly been corresponding with Boren about the possibility of moving from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12. 

After the Cincinnati Enquirer obtained documents detailing correspondence between the school presidents from February 2015, Ono commented on his school's athletic programs and their future. 

"I am indeed optimistic that through these efforts the University of Cincinnati is positioned exceptionally well to continue to compete at the highest level," Ono said, per the Enquirer's Jason Williams. 

Beyond the financial incentives expansion would offer, the prospect of the Big 12 holding a conference title game that could boost the conference's College Football Playoff profile is certainly interesting.

Baylor and TCU both had legitimate reasons to be miffed after getting left out of the inaugural College Football Playoff, and adding a conference title game moving forward would seemingly solve the issue that plagued the conference before Oklahoma tore through conference play and qualified for the 2015 CFP. 

That said, a recent rule change enacted by the NCAA's The Division I council will allow conferences with fewer than 12 teams to hold conference title games so long as they participate in round robin regular season play within the conference, according to ESPN.com's Max Olson. 

Since the exploratory phase is still ongoing, chatter regarding expansion should only pick up as spring approaches and the 2016 college football season creeps up on the horizon.