Texas Football: 5 Updated Scenarios for UT in the Big 12

Although the meatiest portion of the realignment family style dinner has be gobbled up by Texas A&M's move to the SEC, leaving the Big 12 desperately short on members, there is still much to be discussed in terms of realignment.

With the Aggies officially gone on July 1, 2012, the Big 12 will have just nine universities to its name: Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State.

Many university and conference officials have claimed that the conference can survive for a period of time with just nine constituents, but expansion is an obvious decision for the Big 12 moving forward.

Some things have progressed since the last reports, but most things, including the official members, remain the same.

Here are five updated scenarios for Texas in the Big 12.

Keeping the Big 12 Alive

Keeping the Big 12 afloat has long been the ultimate goal for Texas.

Despite mixed reports of the Longhorns going west to the Pac-12, east to the ACC or north to the Big Ten, Texas remaining in the Big 12 is what is best for Texas, a mindset that has hardly wavered.

The conference was hopeful to maintain its existence after Colorado and Nebraska left for the Pac-12 and the Big Ten, respectively. The departure of Texas A&M likely changes nothing.

All things considered, Texas is top dog in the Big 12, along with Oklahoma, and to change houses would jeopardize its position at the vanguard. Maintaining the presence of the Big 12 starts with commitments from Texas and Oklahoma, and the underlings will have no choice but to follow suit.

Pledge from Missouri, Add Another

The Big 12 was committed to its 10-member conference before the Aggies jumped ship.

And with Missouri seemingly teetering between staying in the Big 12 or leaving for the SEC, an eight-member conference has little breathing room to survive.

What Texas, Oklahoma and the Big 12 need is a pledge from the Tigers to stay. With their commitment, an active search for a 10th university to regain a few ounces of stability will go quite a ways towards a long-term plan to claim institutions No. 11 and 12.

But the first step would be courting a 10th school to replace Texas A&M, one that would bring that "umpf" to bring some balance back to the conference.

The heaviest hand in that fight would be BYU.

Securing BYU

BYU as an independent makes it the most obvious choice for the Big 12.

The Cougars bring a big television market and a loyal fan base, not to mention some great athletic traditions and academic prowess.

Mixed reports have come out in the past week discussing BYU's flirtation with joining the Big 12, but no official releases by the conference or the university were unveiled.

Securing BYU as the 10th member could snowball into adding the No. 11 and 12 to a conference that had established itself as one of the better, more stable conferences in recent history.

BYU is the first step in the direction of whether the Big 12 decides to kick it up to 10 or 12 .

A Big East Raid

We have already established that Texas needs Oklahoma as much as Oklahoma needs Texas. Together, these two regional powerhouses arguably present one of the deadliest one-two punches in the country.

As far as individual accomplishment, Texas could survive easily on its own by going independent, especially in football with its nationally recognized brand. But using the support of a conference that could return to prominence in less than half-a-decade's time, the Longhorns would be foolish not to piggyback on top of it.

A raid of the Big East, in addition to the commitment from BYU, could bring the Big 12 back to prominence.

Some institutions that have made headlines as possible contenders for a conference bid are Louisville, West Virginia and Cincinnati.

While none bring that strong academic punch that would match the departure of Texas A&M, all of them bring some athletic tradition in their own right.

Eyes on Texas

Obvious and regional choices for expansion in the Big 12 only go as far as TCU and Houston, two institutions that don't bring much to the fight in terms of television markets, but do have good athletic traditions that extend reasonably to compete in the conference on multiple levels.

Both are natural fits for the conference, but on a grand scheme, would being their Big 12 presence between the ground level and the cellar.

TCU has no contractual ties with the Big East, yet, so if any move with the Frogs is to be made, now would be the time for the Big 12 to move in.

As for Houston, receiving an invitation to move from Conference USA to the Big 12 would be like moving from the children's to the adult's table at Thanksgiving.

Surely, the Cougars would be thrilled to be the recipient of much larger revenues in exchange for annual beatdowns in sports not called football.