I am not a strong believer that the Big Ten would seriously offer an invitation to the University of Texas to join its conference, but it certainly is an interesting concept. However, as much as a Texas pickup would change the landscape of the Big Ten, for the better, I might add, it would have a major ripple effect for college football in general that might be too difficult to imagine or encourage.
If Texas would join the conference, it would completely change the geographical landscape of the conference as a whole and would certainly open up other schools to join the conference in the future. Along with Texas, for example, couldn’t the conference then go after Missouri, Nebraska or even Oklahoma? Hell, why stop there? Couldn’t Alabama, USC or Oregon be next?
Of course, a Texas pick could discount the geographic alignments of other conferences as well. What would stop the Big 12, for example, from extending an invite to Michigan? Or perhaps the SEC would go after Ohio State? Or maybe the Pac-10 will come after Penn State?
The point is this: I cannot for the life of me see a scenario where Texas joins a Midwestern conference, for all the buckeyes, cheese and Nittany Lions in the world. To do so would open up the entire system, change tradition and probably be a bad thing for college football in general.
The Big Ten should consider where it is and sniff around interest accordingly. Missouri, Pitt, perhaps even Maryland would be a nice fit.
But Texas? No way.
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