Conference Rumor Round-up

The conference is still alive, at least for now.

The Internet is buzzing with all of the conference realignment talk and it seems a few new changes have emerged in just the past 48 hours.

The Pac-12 has stated they are not looking to expand at this point which means a deal to add Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech would appear to be dead at the moment. Now something could always happen, but if we take their word for it, it seems to be quiet for now.

This means the Big 12 is going to have to figure out what they want to do. Oklahoma and Texas have been quoted they want to try to keep the conference together and could even add a team like BYU to replace Nebraska at this point. Could the conference still break apart? Sure it could. Texas continues to be the catalyst of a lot of rumors, even talks about them joining the ACC have been thrown out there (won't happen in my opinion).

The SEC looks like they could be adding another team, this time with Missouri. After back and fourth rumors, it is nearly confirmed by ESPN. While the SEC denies it, there seems to be smoke to this story. If they add Missouri and TAMU as expected, that would leave them with 14 teams and they might stop at that point and avoid the 16-team super conference everyone fears.

Then there is the ACC. The ACC has added Pitt and Syracuse, but it has not been stated how long it will take to add both teams to the conference and when they will start conference play. Which leads us to the lovable Big East.

Big East presidents and ADs met last night in New York to discuss the future of the conference and there seems to be agreement that they are going to work to keep this conference together and could already be looking at several programs to replace Pitt and Syracuse with. Since the Big 12 is staying together, for the most part, the rumors of joining with Baylor and company are cold and will not happen after both sides mutually agreed it would not work for either side down the road.

So what is the Big East to do? Well, for now, they will explore adding programs. Stories broke yesterday that an agreement to add Navy to the conference was in play before Pitt and Syracuse bolted. No offer had been made (as far as we know) to Navy, but both sides seem very interested and there could be something here. Talks also included Air Force (same area as TCU).

Adding any service academy would help keep the conference alive (would add teams for football purposes only at this point) but losing Pitt/Syracuse and possibly UCONN and Rutgers could hurt, although Rutgers seems to be changing their tune about staying in the conference and making it work.

The Big East may not let Pitt and Syracuse to walk after this season either and is exploring ways to keep them around to 2014, but this may not happen and keeping two schools that want out when they could be adding more and letting them walk, doesn't seem smart.

The Big East could also look at adding Southern Miss, Army, Houston or other programs if the academies don't come through.

So for the moment, don't panic folks, the Big East is still alive (for now). The conference while not making huge moves, is still active and understanding of the situation it finds itself in. With Pac-12 and Big-12 calming down, it gives the Big East a few more options on how to stay alive. There will be more conference talk all through the season, but hopefully this helps sum it up for now, until the next wave of rumors comes through.