Texas A&M SEC Expansion: What Aggies' Exodus Means for Rest of Big 12

Saturday was not a good day for Texas A&M, as the Aggies blew a big halftime lead and lost to Oklahoma State 30-29.

Sunday, however, has brought some good news. Per a release from the Associated Press, we know that Texas A&M's pending departure for the SEC is official, as the conference is saying Texas A&M will join its ranks next July, just in time for all sports to compete in the 2012-2013 academic year.

This has been a foregone conclusion for a couple weeks, but the threat of legal action from a handful of disgruntled Big 12 schools had been holding up Texas A&M's move. Because this announcement has been made, can we take that to mean that the disgruntled schools have backed off?

Well, the AP report does mention that the situation was not mentioned in the SEC's announcement, and a call for comments went unanswered, which is interesting. However, Thomas O'Toole of USA Today noted that the acceptance of Texas A&M into the SEC was contingent on the approval of all Big 12 members.

So presumably, Texas A&M is leaving the Big 12 with no strings attached. Assuming something like that may sound like foolishness, but it actually makes sense given what's going on in the Big 12 at present.

Just as it has been for several months, the Big 12 is still in survival mode. But ever since the Pac-12 decided not to expand, the survival of the Big 12 has become a reality.

Chief among the strides the conference has made towards surviving was the removal of Commissioner Dan Beebe, who has been replaced by interim Commissioner Chuck Neinas. The whole idea in ousting Beebe was so the conference could have a consensus-making leader. If the Big 12 has indeed come to a common decision to let Texas A&M leave, it seems Neinas is doing his job.

To boot, the timing of this decision is advantageous. The Big 12 needs to find another team to take Texas A&M's place, and the conference now has more time to do so. Instead of fighting to keep Texas A&M, the Big 12 can now look for the university's replacement.

There are a number of candidates in that regard, the most intriguing of which is BYU. But before the Big 12 can round out its ranks with a new school, it will likely have to resolve some outstanding issues within the conference. The most notable of these is a potential revenue sharing arrangement for Texas' Longhorn Network.

Right now, though, the revitalization of the Big 12 is still in its infancy. The conference has apparently let go of Texas A&M, but there is still a lot of work to be done.