What Will Happen With The Other Big 12 Teams?

Texas Gov. Rick Perry says his alma mater, Texas A&M, and the SEC are discussing the Aggies possible future membership in the league, according to a report in the Dallas Morning News.

Perry was asked by reporters from the paper on Wednesday about recent swirling speculation surrounding the move.

"I'll be real honest with you. I just read about it the same time as y'all did. ... As far as I know, conversations are being had. That's frankly all I know. I just refer you to the university and the decision makers over there."- ESPN

I told anyone that I knew that as soon as Texas spurned the Pac-10 last year and created their own network two things would happen. Texas would eventually become an Independent in football in two years, or the rest of the teams in the Big 12 would move to other conferences. Between Texas governor basically saying Texas A&M is gone after this season and the release of the Longhorn Network contract documents, the Big 12 is some serious trouble. 

Since I think it's pretty clear the Big 12 will dissolve after this season where will the rest of the teams of the Big 12 head to after Texas A&M bolts for the SEC? My best guesses.

Kansas & Missouri: Both schools bolt to the Big Not Ten. I doubt Kansas would go to the Big East because they like to dominate conference games in basketball. The Big Not Ten gives Kansas the chance to dominate conference games while Missouri is just happy to stay in a big conference. The Big Ten will continue to call itself the Big Ten even though there are four teams over the limit of ten.

Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, & Kansas State: All four of these school join the Mountain West with that conference becoming a BCS conference with the other additions of Boise State and Hawaii. The four holdovers from the Big XII would give the Mountain West 12 teams, two divisions, and a conference championship game.

Baylor & Iowa State: These two teams will be happy at whatever conference will take them. The WAC is so desperate for teams they've asked Chico State to join their conference even though Chico State hasn't had a football team in decades. Match made in heaven for these teams and that conference.

The Mourning After: Final Weekend of College Football

Barring any sort of computer breakdown, Oklahoma and Florida will meet in the national championship game.

Everyone and their mother will pick Florida over Oklahoma and with good reason. Their win was more impressive.

The Legend Grows: With Alabama taking a four point lead over Florida and controlling most of the clock in the 3Rd quarter. You would think Florida would counter that with quick touchdowns wouldn't you. Wrong. Florida controlled the clock and ate up 5 minutes and scored the game winning touchdown. They added another score to put the game out of Alabama's reach. The Crimson Tide have nothing to hang their heads on. They improved vastly this year and only have room to improve. And with Nick Saban as their coach and lead recruiter, I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the SEC championship game next year.

Will They Get Exposed: Whitlock had a great column today talking about how Missouri's spread offense got exposed by defenses that can get pressure and make open field tackles. He also talked about how Oklahoma could get exposed by Florida. Sam Bradford and the rest of the Big 12 quarterbacks have had great years because of the week defenses in the conference. But if they face a tough defense that can get pressure Bradford might get exposed. He doesn't have the arm strength or accuracy to deal with the pressure. This should be an intriguing matchup.

Their Is Only Room For Improvement: While UCLA lost again to USC, their is only room to improve for this team. A young offensive line and injuries hurt this team this season. If Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow can find a great quarterback look out, the monopoly in LA could end. While the Rose Bowl will get a great matchup between USC and Penn St.

If They Provide It, Then Don't Come: Virginia Tech and Boston College played in the ACC championship yesterday in an half-full Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The ACC championship has been an utter disappointment since its foundation. It doesn't help though that neither Florida St. or Miami haven't played in it. But Florida is just not ACC territory. North Carolina is ACC territory, and hopefully for the ACC when their championship moves to Charlotte in 2010, the stadium will be full.

East Carolina Is Still Relevant: After beating West Virginia and Viriginia Tech in the opening weeks, East Carolina looked like a team heading for a BCS berth. But after a loss to N.C. State the bottom fell out. They eventually recovered and won the Conference USA east division tittle. Yesterday they forced Tulsa into seven turnovers and won the Conference outright.

Player of the Week: While Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford both had great games, Cal running back Jahvid Best had the best day. He ran for 317 yards on 17 caries and four touchdowns, beating a horrible Washington team. While I know the SEC likes to proclaim that they have the fastest players in college, Jahvid Best might be the fastest player in college football.

Going Out In Style: Last week Phil Fulmer lead Tennessee to a win in his last game. So this week it was up to Tyrone Willingham. And good ole Ty definitely went out in style. He watched his team lose 48-7 and give up 300 yards to Best. He won't be missed in Washington.

Heisman Watch:

1. Tim Tebow, Florida

2. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma

3. Colt McCoy, Texas

4. Graham Harrell, Texas Tech

5. Javon Ringer, Michigan St.

Bow Projections:

National Championship Game: Florida vs. Oklahoma

Rose Bowl: USC vs. Penn St.

Orange Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech

Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Texas

Fiesta Bowl: Ohio St. vs. Utah

The bowl picks come out today and we will report on it then.

College Football Must List

Well it is always a sprint to the end of a season in college football. And we are headed to the finish line. There will be championship games played and some hold over regular season games. But the SEC championship game and Big 12 Championship game will be the focal points of this weekend.

Who's wills will overcome the challenge: Florida's offense or the Alabama Defense: I said yesterday that I liked Alabama because of their defense. The Alabama is lead by their 3RD ranked defense that is averaging 11.5 points per game. The Florida offense is also 3RD ranked that is averaging 46.3 points per game. This will be a battle of wills and I think Nick Saban's will is stronger. His defense will pressure Tim Tebow and force him to make mistakes. When Tebow is pressured he does not make the best throws and the entire Florida offense literally runs through him. Alabama will win this game.

Will the Big 12 Championship pull another surprise: Just ask the 2003 undefeated Oklahoma team that was hammered by Kansas St. in the Big 12 Championship game. The 1996 Nebraska team also felt the wrath of the Big 12 Championship game. While Missouri has been disappointing and did loose to Kansas last week at Arrowhead Stadium, where the championship game will be played this year, they will have a home field advantage. The weather will be miserable and could slow down the up-tempo Oklahoma offense. This game will be the most interesting game of the weekend.

After the end of the weekend most of the questions will be answered. We will know who will be playing in the BCS games. So have a fun time watching the last weekend of college football.

College Football Links

- What went wrong before Tuberbille walked away (Scarblog.com)

- Still don't know if Percy Harvin will play for Florida on Saturday (Gainesville Sun)

- Washington named USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian as their new coach (Seattle Times)

- Oklahoma is on the verge of winning their 6TH Big 12 Championship (The Oklahoman)

- Nate Davis has been the focal point of Ball St. football since 2006 (Muncie Star Press)

- USC football has not been the same since Norm Cow left (LA Times)

- The Big 12 Championship game has always been unpredictable (SI.com)

College Football Links

- Defending the Florida Gators (The Huntsville Times)

- The running backs will be the star's of the MAC Championship (Muncie Star Press)

- Boston College expected to play in the ACC Championship game (Boston Globe)

- The annual Pete Carroll to the NFL rumors have started (LA Times)

- The Big 12 needs to get rid of their divisions, so you wouldn't have this problem next year (CBSSports.com)

- The coaching carousal (Rivals.com)

Breaking News: Oklahoma Jumps Ahead of Texas!

The BCS Standings just came out and Oklahoma jumped ahead of Texas in the standings. What that means is the Sooners will be the Big 12 South champions and will play Missouri next week in the Big 12 championship game.

This is definitely going to cause an outcry by BCS haters and Texas football. I give you my thoughts on the outcome shortly.

The Mourning After

Game of the week: The Missouri-Kansas game was one for the ages. Kansas was down to Missouri 37-33 with about 1:00 remaining in the game. Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing drove the team down the field with a coolness to him that reminded me of Joe Montana. With 27 seconds left and a 4Th-and-7 Reesing felt the pressure, stepped up in the pocket and threw a floater to Kerry Meier for a game winning 26-yard touchdown. This was the best game of the week, in a week full of great games.

Coach of the Week: Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson gets my vote. Tech hadn't beat Georgia since 2000. Georgia took a 28-12 lead into halftime, and it looked over for the Yellow Jackets. But you should never count out Georgia Tech now that Johnson is the coach. His old fashioned Flexbone Offense, tore up the Georgia defense 472 yards on the ground. Georgia knew what was coming and they couldn't do anything about it.

Paul Johnson in my opinion is one of the best coaches in college football. While at Navy, Johnson's teams always preformed very well despite being smaller than their opponents. Georgia Tech was smart by making him their head coach, because Tech will be a force to be reckon with for years to come.

Goat of the Week: Norte Dame was routed by USC 38-3 and all the blame will fall on their coach Charlie Weis. There has been chatter all week that Weis's huge buyout will not affect Weis future with Norte Dame. In all likely hood, the pressure will be to much for Norte Dame officials to keep Weis around and they will be forced to buyout his contract.

The Norte Dame offense only accumulated 91 yards of offense for the entire game. This does all fall on Weis. He is suppose to be an offensive genius. Norte Dame was never going to be out schemed in a game. The offense and developing his young players is where Weis failed. This is the reason why he should be fired.

The debating begins: With Oklahoma winning last night their is a three-way tie in the Big 12 South between the Sooners, Texas Tech, and Texas. The BCS standings(which come out latter today) will determine who is the winner of the Big 12 South.

My vote would be for Oklahoma. They played their best game yesterday, beating their rival Oklahoma St. The Cowboys would not go away last night, so Oklahoma had to keep on scoring to put them away.

Texas also played their rival Texas A&M but they blew them out, in a game they were expected to win big. Oklahoma gets my vote because their win was more impressive. My gut feeling though Texas will get more BCS votes and will win the Big 12 South.

Going out in Style: While former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer didn't have the year he wanted, he went out in style by beating the teams Tennessee has always beat up on. They beat Vanderbilt last week, and this week the beat up Kentucky(a team he has never lost to). Fulmer is a classy guy and we wish him luck in his future endeavors.

Muschamp to stay in Texas

Well Tennessee and Clemson can cross Will Muschamp off their list of potential head coaches. Texas has followed the trend of pro and college teams and have named Muschamp a head coach in waiting.

Whenever Mack Brown steps down as Texas coach, Muschamp will take over. Muschamp was the hottest assistant coach this season, and a hot prospect for colleges looking for a new coach. Texas wanted to leave out the "drama" of looking for a new coach.

This is a great decision for Muschamp. Clemson, Tennessee, and Kansas St are messes right now. He can learn from Brown and be prepared to to take over the program. This is a win-win for both sides.

The Big 12 Problem

Well it's that time of year again when we all debate why the BCS has to go and why college football needs a playoff system. Just ask Texas Tech coach Mike Leach.

If Texas Tech loses to Oklahoma this week then there will be a three-way tie in the Big 12 south. And then coaches would have to do a whole lot of politicking. Coaches in the Big 12 would have to talk about how their schedules were tougher than the other teams, just to get into the Big 12 championship game.

And Texas Tech could be the odd man out in the Big 12. Yes, it is time for a major college football playoff.