West Virginia to the Big 12: Three Reasons the Mountaineers Will Regret the Move

The Big 12 and the Big East have been the most active conferences during this whole conference realignment mess, and it appears they aren't done sorting things out. West Virginia is now the team of the day to join the Big 12 once Missouri decides to leave for the SEC.

This, of course, would give the Big 12 its much needed 10 teams in the conference and hurt the Big East even more as they look more and more likely to fold. 

Things could change tomorrow, as they usually do, but let's see how this would hurt West Virginia if they do, in fact, decide to make the move.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]

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It Would Take a While to Become Competitive

Sure, West Virgina is a competitive team now and is ranked in the Top 25 almost every year. But, it's a lot easier to put up great numbers and respectable records in the Big East.

Moving to the Big 12 is a whole different story. You're no longer playing basketball schools that just happen to have a football program.

No more Louisville, Connecticut or Syracuse; you have to deal with the big boys and some of the top schools in the country as far as football is concerned. 

We all saw how the Mountaineers played against LSU earlier in the year, and that would be their type of competition every week.

Oklahoma, Texas, Baylor, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Missouri.

You sure you want to put your big boy pads on?

Traveling

In case you didn't know, West Virginia is nowhere near the teams in the Big 12. Traveling to Iowa State is over 800 miles, and going to Texas is over 1,300 miles.

This would really have an impact on the team and will hurt the Mountaineers' competitiveness.

If you don't believe me, just look at the record for NFL teams traveling such long distances. The away team doesn't fare too well.

You could say it's not a big deal until it starts to have an effect on your team. By then, it's too late.

Stability

Everybody is so focused on the Big East and the problems it's going through. But, did we forget that just a month ago Oklahoma was trying to leave for the Pac-12, and Texas was trying to join them or become independent?

Oklahoma State and Texas Tech were looking to jump ship as well.

Since then, those talks have died, but who's to say that neither team will jump at the opportunity if it presents itself?

Joining the Big 12 may sound like a nice new home for the Mountaineers because there are at least competitive teams in the conference, but they'll be in the same boat if those teams decide to jump ship.