After a series of articles, over the past few weeks, questioning the future of the Big 12, today's Houston Chronicle has an article discussing the potential move of 6 Big 12 teams to the Pac 10.

Under the plan, CU, OU, OSU, Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech would join our Arizona teams to form an 8 team "southern division". 

Other stories have had Nebraska and Missouri going to the Big 10.

There have also been rumors, over the past months, that Texas A&M was considering a move to the SEC.

The discussions seem to be serious and have been acknowledged by the AD's involved.

In either event, I cannot see Texas and Texas A&M not being in the same conference. Their rivalry is fierce (on a par with our hatred of the trogans -- but state wide). Yes, you can have a rivalry outside a conference but it means so much more when conference championships and standings are on the line.

I've never liked the concept of mega-conferences. I think they are driven by TV economics and not what's best for the college experience. I like playing every team every year. It takes the "luck of scheduling" out of the standings competition. And, a smaller conference creates mini-rivalries and multi-year story lines.

Nestor and I shared a point in a recent, but unrelated thread, that I think is worth repeating.

Right now, UCLA, Cal and Stanford are competing in a conference in which not all of the teams share the same academic or admission standards -- and paying some price for doing so. Not one of the schools being considered for membership shares our high standards and some fall far below. I do not want to further dilute the Pac 10's concept of the "student athlete". 

That said, I am not totally against a realignment of the conference. My preference? I'd give sc a Pac 10 death penalty and get rid of them. Then, I'd add one more team, that shares our standards, to the conference. 

What do I think will happen? I think money will drive the expansion. And, we will suffer for it.