Texas Talking to the Big Ten?

It sounds crazy. I mean, the closest Big Ten school to Austin is probably Illinois. It just doesn't sound reasonable. Well if that kind of talk seems crazy then you can call the Lawrence Journal-World John Forbes Nash. They earlier reported that preliminary talks have begun between the school and the conference. 

What could this potentially mean? Personally, I think we could see a great deal of conference restructuring. Some have suggested that in order to retain their storied rivalries, the Big Ten might include Texas A&M as a package deal. Jon Solomon suggested that this could be the beginning of what could be considered "super conferences" that continue to further the gap between historically winning programs and the more obscure D-1 FBS schools. 

The obvious reason for all of this is TV revenue. The SEC really threw a wrench into college football TV payouts when the conference secured it's mammoth ESPN deal. Now, other conferences are trying to figure out how to even the playing field. 

All of this talk about the Big Ten expanding has even fueled the debate within the PAC 10. It seems like the Big Ten, Big 12, and PAC 10 are going to experience some massive rearranging. This type of musical chairs might affect every conference except the SEC and the ACC (let's be honest, who wants any of those teams?). Also, don't forget the smaller guys like Troy. This may be the opportunity they've been looking for to jump into the Big East. 

Ultimately, when the snowball starts rolling, we could potentially end up with 3 or 4 super conferences. Before you know it, college football is split, and thus making it more feasible to implement a playoff system. Imagine if the Big 12 and Big East disband. All of the surrounding conferences absorb those teams. That goes from 6 BCS conferences to 4. The Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, and Pacific conferences. The BCS payouts for conferences would become diluted to the point where it isn't really worth it. Also, don't forget the post season bowl landscape. My head's hurting just thinking about that. At this point I think you would have no choice but to do a 4 team playoff.

Could this be the beginning of super conferences and the death of the BCS? I don't know. I need to graduate college before I waste anymore time thinking about this. Regardless of what happens, take note. This is a massive shift that almost every team, conference, and any other entity that relies on college football will feel.