NCAA Conference Realignment: Teams The Big 12 Should Go After

If World Cup betting has had your head in the clouds over the last couple of weeks, you may have missed a little shift in the world of college sports, specifically on the gridiron.  The Big 12 has lost Nebraska to the Big Ten and Colorado to the Pac-10, and the conference was almost disintegrated until Texas announced it would stay, which was good enough for Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas A&M to stay as well.  So there’s a couple of spots left in the Big 12: who should the conference go after?

TCU

The defending Mountain West champions lost Utah to the Pac-10, but they now have to deal with Boise State, who beat the Horned Frogs 17-10 in the Fiesta Bowl in a battle of BCS busters (TCU beat Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl the previous year). Not to mention, BYU is still in the conference. The Horned Frogs have a good history, but they’ve definitely flown under the radar since the breakup of the old Southwest Conference. If TCU wants to be taken seriously with the big boys, though, they would do well to make a move to the Big 12, which would also raise their recruiting status in the state of Texas, even if it wouldn’t raise their college football betting odds.

Houston

The run-and-gun Cougars would actually fit in nicely in the Big 12, especially in the last few years where the spread offense has reigned supreme. The Cougars could run wild over the porous pass defenses in the country, but it’s not like Houston is a defensive team either.  The Cougars, who lost to East Carolina in the Conference-USA championship game, also know that they can compete in the Big 12 as they won 45-35 at Oklahoma State (who were then ranked fifth in the country), and then the next week against Texas Tech at home.  Much as Team USA could be a real dark horse in World Cup final betting , the Cougars could surprise in the Big 12.

SMU

The Mustangs are also in the C-USA, where they finished two games behind Houston in the West division. Like the Cougars, the Mustangs like to play at a high tempo and this would serve them well in the Big 12. They already have rivalries with TCU and Houston, and they’re on the ascendancy after reaching their first bowl game in 25 years last year, a 45-10 rout of Nevada. The Mustangs took a long time to recovery from their death penalty due to their “pay for play” scandal in the early 1980s, and an invitation to the Big 12 would be great for the program, if not for their online wagering odds.