Colorado, Nebraska, Texas A&M and Other Updates

LATE NIGHT UPDATE: Many people have taken to the airwaves and Internet, claiming the Kansas City report from this afternoon (immediately below) has no substance. However, a possible scenario of Texas A&M going to the SEC has not been so readily knocked down. In reference to the plan for A&M, UT, and four other Big 12 schools to join the Pac 10, the linked article states that:

...Texas A&M isn't yet sold on the package. The Aggies have historic rivals in the SEC, including Arkansas and LSU. They would also give the SEC, which includes football powers Florida and defending national champion Alabama, a key entry point into the Texas market.

As can be seen in the map I made for this blog's initial posting, A&M is basically just over the Texas-Louisiana border from SEC territory, but virtually half the length of the entire country away from most of the current Pac 10 schools.

----------

AFTERNOON UPDATE: Here's a bolt out of the blue. A Kansas City TV station reports that Texas and Texas A&M may be going to the Big 10 (not the Pac 10), with Oklahoma looking into the SEC!

If this comes to fruition, the Pac 10 (having added Colorado, see below) may just want to add one more school (perhaps Utah) to end up at 12 schools, the necessary amount for a conference-championship football game.

----------

In what appears to be the first official declaration of a team switching conferences -- acknowledged by both the league and the school -- Colorado will be moving to the Pac 10. As the linked article notes, a key factor is that the Pac 10 will gain access to the Denver television market (CU is in Boulder, which is just 25 miles from Denver). The Colorado announcement appears to extinguish Baylor's hopes of joining its Texas mates UT, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech en route to the Pac 10 (along with CU, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State). As a large, public university, Colorado also fits the prototype of a Pac 10 school (even the Pac 10's private institutions, USC and Stanford, have large enrollments).

A Nebraska-to-the-Big-10 announcement could come tomorrow. This USA Today article takes a more cautious tone, however. Meanwhile, there seems to be some buzz that Missouri's status as a possible Big 10 invitee is a little more tenuous than once thought.