Well, it turns out Texas A&M isn't joining the SEC after all. Evidently, conferences decide on their members, not schools. So, the next time you're planning on announcing you want to switch conferences, wait for the one you want to go to to actually invite you first. Otherwise, you just come off looking like morons. Which is certainly what Texas A&M looks like.
The reasons why Texas A&M wants to leave the Big 12 is very simple. Envy and ego. Texas A&M thinks it's on par with Texas in every way. It's not. Aggie Nation is also upset that Texas enjoys favorite nation status in the Big 12, conveniently disregarding the fact that's the reason the Big 12 stayed together last summer in the first place. The tipping point was probably the Longhorn Network, a TV network that Texas and ESPN are starting up this fall. As a result, Texas A&M went crawling to the SEC begging to be admitted. The SEC's response? "We're good."
While Texas A&M thought it was a good idea for that conference to have 13 teams and expected to be embraced with open arms, the SEC presidents utilized this crazy notin known as logic in denying their application for admission. The SEC humored them by saying that adding Texas A&M could "expand the conference's recruiting base into Texas," but, amazingly, reasoned that having an even number of schools in the league makes a lot more sense than having 13. So, unless Texas A&M can find somebody else willing to bolt their current conference, they aren't joining the SEC anytime soon. I loved it how everybody was acting like this was a done deal on Saturday and was throwing out options as the potential 14th SEC member. Clemson? No. South Carolina has made it pretty clear they don't want to be in the same conference as Clemson. Ditto with Georgia and Georgia Tech, so Georgia Tech's out. Florida State? Possibly. Missouri? That one doesn't make much sense.
Frankly, other than penis envy, I don't know why Texas A&M would want to make this move in the first place. It's certainly not for competitive reasons. Texas A&M won three national championships (women's basketball, men's & women's outdoor track) during the 2010-11 school year. They're the three-time defending national champion in both outdoor tracks. Texas A&M also played in the men's basketball tournament and made it to the College World Series in 2011. With Nebraska and Colorado leaving the conference, they figure to be even stronger across the board in the Big 12 this season.
Now let's take those same teams and put them in the SEC, which is widely recognized as the best conference in the nation. Women's basketball? Maybe you've heard of this school called Tennessee. Men's track? Florida won the indoor title and finished third outdoors. Women's track? LSU finished third. Baseball? The NCAA championship series was South Carolina vs. Florida. The SEC has admittedly been down in men's basketball recently, but Kentucky made the Final Four, Florida lost in overtime in the Elite Eight, and Alabama was in the finals of the NIT.
And how about football, which, let's face it, is what this is really about? Texas A&M's football team hasn't been that good in a while. They won their division in 2010, only to get spanked by LSU (an SEC school) in the Cotton Bowl. Texas A&M has lost 10 of its last 12 bowl games and hasn't won one since the 2001 Galleryfurniture.com Bowl. All this while playing in a conference that features such powerhouses as Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas and Kansas State. Do they seriously expect to be any better than the middle of the pack in the SEC, the conference that features the last five "national champions?" Texas A&M would obviously be put in the SEC West with Auburn (13-0 in 2010), Arkansas (10-2), LSU (10-2, win over Texas A&M in Cotton Bowl), Alabama (10-3) and Mississippi State (9-4). No Iowa State's there.
Texas A&M is so desperate to get out of the shadow of Texas that they're not considering another consequence of leaving the Big 12: their rivalry with the Longhorns. Texas A&M fans love beating Texas. If the Aggies were to bolt for the SEC, why would Texas have any reason to agree to play non-conference games against them? If I were Texas, my response to any such request would be, "Screw you!" I highly doubt the rest of the Big 12 would be that eager to play you, either. Would it really be worth it to give up your school's biggest rivalry? And for what? My guess is that if given the option, those involved with Texas A&M would rather beat Texas than not play the Longhorns at all.
Texas A&M needs to face the facts and accept reality. You're not Texas. You never will be. Just deal with it. Running away to the SEC certainly isn't going to change that. As the old saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. That's what makes a rivalry. You don't like Texas. We get it. You're not supposed to like your archrival. But you have to be in the same conference if you want to go out and prove that you're "better." Just ask UCLA and USC. Or Duke and North Carolina. Or Ohio State and Michigan. Or Auburn and Alabama. So, Texas A&M, do us all a favor and suck it up. You're in a much better situation than you think you are.
P.S.-There's nothing stopping you from creating the "Aggie Network," which you wouldn't be able to do in the SEC.
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