Conference Realignment: Big 12 Has Its Eye on TCU and BYU to Fill Void

The Big 12 is bleeding off programs left and right. According to reports, the conference has just the solution in several schools that would be perfect fits.

A report from ESPN asserts that Missouri would very much like to join the Southeastern Conference. Their first choice would be the Big Ten, followed by the SEC, leaving the Big 12 as a distant third. Their current conference is just not cutting it for them, and it's not cutting it for a lot of programs. Colorado and Nebraska are gone. Texas A&M will depart next year.

It seems that one of the most powerful conferences is dying a slow death. It's time to get it creative. Chip Brown, a writer for Orangebloods.com, tweets the possibilities that are on the table.

If the Big 12 is hoping to maintain the same level of competition while bringing in hungry programs that will infuse the program, they couldn't have asked for better candidates.

This news is, of course, not all warm and fuzzy for those across the nation. If Louisville makes the jump, the Big East would cease to be as big as it is. A small conference struggling to stay viable would be hit hard.

The interesting part is that the Big 12 includes TCU—a school that already falls withing their geographic parameters. That's counter what they initially had hoped to do.

It seems beggars can't be choosers, as the Horned Frogs are as good as any budding program. While TCU looked to be the least plausible program to jump, there may be no other choice as Missouri looks more likely to bolt to the SEC.

The conference has done well to target schools that are looking to elevate their stature on a bigger stage. These are exactly the programs that would ignore the elephant in the room that is the Texas Longhorn Network.

For now, the death of the Big 12 is a long ways off. It seems there are plenty of schools that are willing to keep this conference alive and one day make it as viable as it once was.