Texas A&M and SEC Expansion: Why Looming Lawsuit Is Only Delaying Big 12 Demise

The move of Texas A&M to the SEC is all but a formality, as the SEC will add its first new team since it snatched Arkansas from the Southwest Conference over 20 years ago.

But some schools in the dying Big 12 Conference, namely Baylor, who was once a part of the SWC with A&M, want to put up a roadblock to the Aggies' departure from the conference.

All that is doing is simply avoiding the inevitable.

The Longhorn Network, much like the Big Ten Network, has sparked another wave of conference realignment, but this time in the negative direction.

The Big Ten Network among other things was appealing to Nebraska and prompted the Huskers to leave the Big 12 for the Big Ten.

Texas and Texas Tech have both waived their rights to take legal action against A&M and the SEC.

Most of that might be because they don't have much to lose if A&M ends up leaving. Although Texas is much more sustainable as a football power than Texas Tech, the Red Raiders know they can hitch their wagon to Texas because it could help protect their future.

They have much less to lose with the Aggies leaving the Big 12 than schools like Baylor and Iowa State.

Schools like Kansas, Missouri and Kansas State have less to worry about when it comes to staying in an AQ conference due to their high-profile basketball programs.

While that seems to have little effect on the realignment of college football, it certainly doesn't hurt their chances should the Big 12 dissolve.

And let's remember that the Big 12 only came about as a result of the SMU death penalty from 1987. When Arkansas left the SWC, the four big Texas schools (Texas, A&M, Tech and Baylor) all left to join the old Big 8 and ended the SWC.

Something similar could happen to the Big 12 and seems all but an inevitability.

Reports ranging from Oklahoma potentially joining the Pac-12 to Texas and Notre Dame talking to the Big Ten about expansion within a few seasons have been floating throughout the internet.

But what seems certain is that the move of A&M to the SEC could be the last straw that breaks the back of the Big 12.

And there is nothing that schools like Baylor and Iowa State can do about it.

For more college football updates, follow me on Twitter @bielik_tim.