Texas A&M may open a Pandora's box

One day, when the anger at Texas has eroded and the euphoria of their SEC gambit has worn off, the Texas A&M community is going to eventually wake up and wonder how the heck they let this happen. One day, they’ll look in the mirror and see a program with no traditional rivals, no geographic conveniences and probably no more glory than they’ve enjoyed for the past quarter-century as a wannabe football power.

THE DAILY

The Daily is the first daily national news publication created for the iPad. For more, click here.

It’s going to happen. Who knows whether it takes two years or 20, but it’s going to happen. And for the sake of college football, which seems intent on cannibalizing itself beyond all recognition, let’s hope that realization comes before the entire landscape is redrawn by one program’s inferiority complex and a television channel that few will ultimately watch.

Yes, after months of rumors and threats and secret negotiations with the SEC, Texas A&M is finally ready for the showdown. The Aggies are leaving the Big 12, leaving Texas and the Longhorn Network, and threatening to blow up college athletics as we know them. It’s not official, not 100 percent done, but there’s no turning back now. After school president R. Bowen Loftin acknowledged Thursday that Texas A&M has formally notified the Big 12 of its desire to leave, they’re just a few weeks of paperwork and legalese away from being in the SEC.

Just 14 months ago in the midst of the first conference expansion crisis, the 10 remaining members of the Big 12 — including Texas A&M — agreed to stay together and create an alliance that was supposed to serve all of their best interests. Now that bond is gone, and suddenly there’s another green light for all hell to break loose in college athletics.

The SEC is going to eventually find a 14th team to pair with Texas A&M. Maybe, just like last time, things won’t change much. But for anyone who fundamentally enjoys college football — who, despite all of its flaws and scandals, loves all the quirks and traditions and competition that this sport has provided for 100 years — this could be a nightmare.

No. 11: Texas A&M

• Head coach: Mike Sherman (fourth season)
• Letterwinners returning: 61 | Lost: 15
• 2011 schedule | Team page | Scout.com
• Texas A&M offense | Defense | Depth chart
• FS Southwest: Full Aggies coverage
• Latest CFB updates: CFN | Scout | YB

There’s no way to know for sure how it will play out, but Texas A&M’s departure leaves the Big 12 awfully vulnerable and just a breath away from being unsustainable. One more development in the wrong direction could be the straw that sends Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State running to the Pac 12, which almost certainly would prompt the Big 10 and SEC to expand, which would lead to the ACC and Big East waging a war for survival. Suddenly, conference Armageddon is right at our doorstep.

But as one reaction triggers the next, will anybody stop to think about what the future of college football would look like? This is a sport whose brand and appeal is built on rivalries and regionalism. The Big 12 experience is fundamentally different from the Big 10, the brand of football played in the Pac 12 is not the same as the SEC, and we revel in arguing all year long about what’s better. Games like Oregon-LSU next Saturday are exciting in large part because they represent a contrast of geography, culture and conference. The actual football teams, in many ways, are secondary.

If that’s sacrificed in favor of four large, rather homogeneous conferences, college football gives up the very thing that helped make it popular in the first place.

Texas A&M can talk all it wants about getting a bigger paycheck from the SEC and the benefits of breaking free from Texas, but the fleeting satisfaction of striking out on their own will pale in comparison to the enjoyment of having a 100-year-old rival to hate. Nothing gives the Aggies more enjoyment than beating Texas, but you can’t beat the Longhorns anymore after you’ve run away from them. College sports are big business, sure, but aren’t they also supposed to be fun?

BIG 12: NEWS AND NOTES

• FS Southwest: Big 12 media days page
• FS Southwest: QB Jones named for legend
• FS Southwest: Texas Tech seeing red
• FS Southwest: Don't mess with Texas
• FS Southwest: Watch out for Aggies
• Pinkel not fan of Texas' network
• FS Southwest: Top questions | Games
• Gallery: Big 12 media days | Cheerleaders
• Video: Get latest Big 12 clips
• Latest updates: CFN | Scout | YB

Fans don’t get to count the millions, just the wins. And as conferences get bigger and more competitive, the unintended consequence is that there are more losers every year. You can finish ninth in a 12-team SEC these days, still make a bowl game and convince yourself by signing day that a BCS bid is just around the corner. But hypothetically adding Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Florida State and Missouri only means there will be some awfully expensive 12th-place finishes.

More restless fan bases, more frequent coaching changes, more cheating — welcome to the new world of college athletics that could result from A&M's recklessness. Superconferences sound exciting until you realize that somebody has to lose.

In the Big 12, Texas A&M plays two teams — Texas and Oklahoma — that should have equal or better talent in a typical year. That’s as favorable a path to a national championship as A&M will ever see. Good luck getting through Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and the rest. Compared with that gauntlet, the Longhorn Network, which will feature mostly filler programming and not marquee events, will seem like a minor obstacle.

But the Aggies will have their money and they’ll have their spite, and by God they’ll have shown the Longhorns they can live without them. Eventually, though, they’ll realize it’s just a different life, not a better one.