Conference Realignment: Big 12 and Big East Must Act Fast to Find New Teams

Conference realignment continues to be the talk of college football, but pretty soon some action needs to take place on the part of the Big 12 and Big East. 

The first order of business for the Big 12 has been taken care of, as The Kansas City Star is reporting that commissioner Dan Beebe is "working on an agreement to leave his position."

Oklahoma had stated that they would stay in the Big 12 if Beebe would leave, and now that appears to be what is happening.

This still doesn't change the fact that the Big 12 needs to find at least a 10th member and do so quickly.

The Big East is in an even worse position because the departure of Syracuse and Pittsburgh to the ACC has left them with only six football schools.

Some people are suggesting that the Big East just become a basketball conference, which may end up happening if they're unable to keep Connecticut and Rutgers, who continue to flirt with the ACC.

Big East commissioner John Marinatto told reporters that, "Our schools basically went around the table and pledged to each other that they are committed to move forward together." (Per USA Today)

However, that may not be the case as one Big East official stated only a few schools believe that, whereas others are waiting to see what the conference does.

The Big 12 wants to stay together, but it can't remain at nine teams. 

These are all reasons why both the Big 12 and the Big East need to take action if they want to avoid collapsing. 

According to The Boston Globe, Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis, a member of the league’s expansion committee, said the Big 12 is looking at TCU, Houston, SMU, BYU, Utah, and Air Force to find at least a 10th member and maybe even back to 12. 

All of this craziness could have been avoided a year ago if the Big 12 had picked up TCU and Houston, or any of the others, once Nebraska and Colorado left. TCU hasn't officially joined the Big East yet, and I'm sure they'd much rather be in the Big 12. 

Now they've lost Texas A&M, and the entire conference was almost dead but saved by Texas.

Yes, the Longhorns' greedy ways prevented the elite Big 12 teams of joining the Pac-12. However, they would agree to equally share revenue with the schools of the Big 12. 

With Beebe out, it's possible that it could be awhile before the Big 12 adds another school, but that doesn't mean all the other athletic directors and members of the expansion committee can't come together and make the right decision on adding a team.     

As for the Big East, there's talk of East Carolina joining for football, as well as possibly UCF and the armed forces academies.

The conference can try to salvage football, but at this point their best bet might as well be just focusing on basketball. 

Conference realignment will continue to happen throughout this 2011 college football season, and while it may be confusing and perhaps annoying to some, at least the games on Saturday are an escape from it all.