Conference Expansion: How the SEC Could End the Big XII As We Know It

Instead of Pirates of the Caribbean , there could be a new movie out called Pirates of Conference Expansion starring the ships of the SEC, Big XII, and Big Ten, with a supporting role going to the ACC.

The biggest pillagers and plunderers would be the SEC and Big Ten as they try to jockey for position as to who is going to expand first, and the question now seems to be who are they going to take with them?

There is one team that both conferences apparently have in common on their wish lists, and whoever lands this particular team should, and probably will, be the biggest conference in college football.

Regardless of the SEC's sense of entitlement and besides the fact that they continue to believe they're the best conference in football, if they land the big school they're eyeing it would literally stack the deck so far in their favor that you may as well rename the BCS Championship Game the "SEC National Championship."

According to a certain report , SEC commissioner Mike Slive has already begun discussions about expanding to a 16-team conference.

Now, it's not so much the idea that the SEC is thinking about expanding but more the fact that the list of schools they're after surprises me more than I thought it would.

Commissioner Slive did admit in a meeting with CBS executives that they're expansion hinges on the Big Ten moving first. In other words, it's going to be a chess match between the two conferences.

The SEC isn't going to move first, they know better. They are going to sit back and watch things unfold before they make their move. Make no mistake, they're not going to let one conference get away from them by adding the top schools from a few of the top conferences, but they will be keeping a close eye on how things develop.

There have been rumors for months that the Big Ten could be after such schools as Notre Dame as well as Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas just to name a few. Knowing that, reports have surfaced that the SEC could also try their hand at wooing Texas as well as Texas A&M.

If that does in fact happen, the SEC could end the Big XII as we know it today. Taking Texas away from the Big XII would, in my own humble opinion, ruin the rivalry the Longhorns have with both Oklahoma as well as with Texas Tech.

If Texas leaves, what will be stopping Oklahoma from jumping ship to the Big Ten? That being said, you have to believe that Texas and Oklahoma would continue their rivalry but it would become an out of conference game in the first four weeks of the season.

Would the "Red River Shootout" carry the same luster, the same hype, with both teams possibly playing outside of the Big XII as it does today?

That's a question a lot of people have started to ask since these rumors surfaced. The other question I would ask is, if the rivalry does lose it's luster, would college football be worse off if both of these teams stopped playing each other at the Cotton Bowl, and what would that do to the Texas economy which counts on this game every year?

Especially because it gets the revenue from fans leaving the game and walking right in to the Texas State Fair.

That's not the SEC's problem. Their only concern is that they continue to be the best conference in football regardless if that means tearing apart another conference for their own gain. I would liken it to the New York Yankees buying the best players in baseball because, well, they can.

The SEC isn't only considering Texas and Texas A&M from the Big XII, they're also considering Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech, and Clemson from the ACC.

Let's consider for a moment a scenario that lands the SEC four of the six teams they're considering including Texas and, say, Florida State; would college football become predictable at that point? Would that conference be so good that the BCS would have no choice but to allow two SEC teams into the national championship game?

That's a question a lot of fans might start wondering and it could turn a lot of fans off (not that the BCS isn't doing a good job of that already).

College football fans watch the game and watch the sport because of the competitiveness of the games. I hear the argument of "there's so much parity in college football today," which is so far from the truth I don't know how that argument can be made.

Yes there are upsets from lower conferences to the bigger conferences, but they aren't regular occurrences, unless you're talking about March Madness, then it becomes a different argument. A team like San Jose State from the WAC isn't going to upset a team like Alabama from the SEC, it's just not going to happen. Parity? Not there.

Though the Big Ten and the SEC may not look at expansion for the next few years, when the dominoes do begin to fall, it could change the entire face of college football as we know it.

Have we seen the end of an entire conference, or will other conferences just have to rebuild with teams from another? Expansion changes everything.

How little or how much is still yet to be seen but when it does happen, things could become very interesting. Could a change in major conferences mean a change in the BCS (insert audible gasp here)?

Maybe this might be a good thing after all.