Texas A&M to SEC: Is Arkansas to the Big 12 a Conversation Even Worth Having?

Texas’ Rivals website orangebloods.com printed this story over the weekend and it got a lot of weird looks.

ESPN even got in on the fun and essentially called the report nothing but ridiculous

It said Big 12 is targeting Notre Dame—seriously, who isn’t reportedly going after Notre Dame?—and that, in order for the league to add three teams instead of just one, the Irish would have to be one of the teams added.

It also said that Pittsburgh could be added, but only if Notre Dame also came on board.

But perhaps the most outlandish claim made is that Arkansas got a “third party to extend feelers to see if the Big 12 would be interested in adding Arkansas” in 2010.

That’s truly laughable.

Unless a school is forced out of the SEC, there is absolutely no way any school leaves the conference in the next decade, possibly the next century.

Reports like these do nothing but bring down the reputation of the league, because whoever they get will not nearly be as good as either of those two teams and make Big 12 look like it’s just settling.

Let’s get one thing clear: no rational fan has an allegiance to the Big 12 conference; the fans of the best schools are in this for their school’s well-being, and the ones from the not-as-good schools just want to be in a BCS conference when this is all said and done.

There are also a lot of rumblings about BYU being a tenth team—a rumor with considerably more credibility, but the university is making a lot of money with its television contract with ESPN and has a strong Mormon tradition they want to expand.

The most likely addition is Houston, a far cry from Arkansas or any independent school. Louisville and Air Force are two other schools to consider in the process, but neither bring nothing too new to the Big 12.

But there is old adage “beggars cannot be choosers.” Considering the position the Big 12 is currently in, the conference is a beggar and any reports that claim with “sources telling them awesome school X could join the Big 12” should be taken with a tablespoon of salt.

There isn’t a single conference in the country that is in as much risk of collapsing as the Big 12, including the Big East and ACC. Why anyone who is already in a good position with their conference or independence would want to join is beyond me.

Could a team like Arkansas make a move to the Big 12? I guess but it would go down in history as one of the dumbest decisions the school would ever make.