Missouri and SEC Expansion: Should the Big Ten Grab UConn and Rutgers?

In one of the worst kept secrets there has ever been, Missouri is joining the SEC. The league made it official on Sunday, welcoming the Tigers to the nation's strongest football conference beginning in July 2012.

With Missouri's addition to the SEC, two conferences (SEC and ACC) have now expanded to 14 teams. The Big 12 appears content at 10 teams, and the Pac-12, well, you never know what commissioner Larry Scott might be working on.

The Big Ten has seen two of its competitors expand to new markets in recent months. The SEC is gaining footprints in Dallas, Houston, St. Louis and Kansas City by adding Texas A&M and Missouri. The ACC has grabbed New York City and Pittsburgh by adding Syracuse and Pitt, and is now the dominant conference along the entire east coast from Boston to Miami. While many of its schools have national followings, including newest member, Nebraska, is it time for the Big Ten to reassess its stance on remaining at 12 teams?

Options for new members are dwindling, but Connecticut and Rutgers remain stuck in the fledgling Big East. Louisville's academic reputation would likely not meet Big Ten standards. Adding the Huskies and Scarlet Knights would give the league a presence in New York and New England. These additions would bring millions of new eyeballs and give the league presence in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, three of the five largest cities in the country. No other conference has presence in more than one of the top five, which also includes Los Angeles and Houston.

The Big Ten is steeped in tradition, maybe more so than any other conference. Just two years ago the league began playing conference games after Thanksgiving, and the league still does not play night games after November 1st. Nebraska fit the Big Ten mold, with its numerous national championships and incredibly passionate fanbase. UConn and Rutgers? Well, they have no football tradition.

The Big Ten has earned the right to be extremely picky about adding new members. Other than a school with its own ESPN-run network and a school which owns NBC seven Saturdays each fall, Jim Delaney does not need to answer his phone. There's little value in expanding unless it involves Texas or Notre Dame, and they're not coming on board any time soon. For the Big Ten, 12 is the magic number.