NCAA Football: How a Texas A&M Move to the SEC Hurts College Football

With the rumors abound about Texas A&M looking to move from the Big 12 conference to the Southeastern Conference, the landscape of college sports is on a fast downward spiral towards a handful of power conferences. 

Last offseason saw a former power conference in the Big 12 almost be destroyed before its own eyes with the proposed power Pacific-16 conference. This was to be a conference that stretched from the Pacific Northwest to mid-Texas. The University of Texas, which was the center-piece of the proposed Pac-16 conference, saved the remaining Big 12. 

Now, I have no gripe with conference re-alignments that make sense. I loved what the Atlantic Coast Conference did in bringing Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College into the conference.  These teams fit what the ACC is about. And while Virginia Tech was mostly seen as an after thought, they have been the better addition for the conference.

But with this move only a few traditional rivalries were put aside for the creation of new ones.  Virginia Tech lost big rivalries with Pittsburgh and West Virginia by leaving the Big East. But with its location, Virginia Tech has built rivalries with Maryland, Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest, not just on the field, but recruiting as well. 

However, contrary to the above, I do not like the moves of Nebraska, Texas Christian, and all the members of the Western Athletic Conference leaving for the Mountain West.  

While the moves from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West Conference are sound in theory, the inherent problem as to why the Mountain West was created in 1999 from former WAC members was based on the size of the WAC at the time. 

After absorbing six teams from now defunct division 1-A conferences in 1996, the original Mountain West conference teams split off in 1999. Now the top group of WAC teams are moving to the MWC by 2012.

Now, wasn't the original concept behind the Mountain West to be a smaller grouping of teams and not one massive conference?

Really, the gripe is mostly based on Texas Christian's move to the Big East and Nebraska's move to the Big 10, I mean Big 12—no Big 10 with 12 teams.

I see TCU's reasoning for making the move to the Big East, as the Big East is an automatic qualifier for the BCS. But they now lose rivalries they have built in the Mountain West for being geographically out of place in the Big East. I would have understood a move to the Big 12 better. 

Nebraska is in the same boat as TCU. What traditional rival do they have in the Big 10? None that I see. With the move they switch from Texas and Oklahoma for Ohio St. and Michigan. I'd rather have UT and OU.  

Now I will pose the same question to Texas A&M. Other than former Southwest conference mate Arkansas, who is in the SEC that is a worthy replacement for Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma in the eyes of the fanbase?

With these conference re-alignments, they kill what the original meaning of what these conferences were—geographical entities. And in the end, they kill off some of the competition. 

Look at the Big East in college basketball. The conference will stretch from Providence, Rhode Island to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Fort Worth, Texas to Tampa, Florida.

For Texas A&M, it makes more sense to stay with the Big 12. Your primary rival is the University of Texas. Would you rather give that up for being a mid-tier team in the SEC or become a major player in the Big 12?

No, I would rather see Texas A&M take the stance that Texas did last year and help rebuild a fallen power.