On Wednesday in Indianapolis, a collection of university presidents, conference commissioners and NCAA administrators hailed a return to sanity in college sports.
On Monday in College Station,Texas, a school that hasn't been a top-10 football program in 17 years could do something that basically mocks the optimistic outlook in Indy. Texas A&M appears to be running away from rival Texas to the SEC.
Is the Big East in big trouble? What about Texas, which holds even more?
Scott Van Pelt
Scott Van Pelt comments on the possibility of additional conference realignment in college sports in his "One Big Thing."Television dollars and rampant egos are running the show in college sports, no matter how much the academic side of campus aspires to exert control.
Texas' multimillion-dollar Longhorn Network deal with ESPN rekindled the belief in Texas A&M people that it will never be able to command equal footing with their rivals from Austin. And equal footing with Texas is everything for the Aggies.
I remember being in College Station in 2006 and listening to A&M officials chafe at Texas for building its new "Godzillatron" video board to be bigger than the Aggies' new one. Texas went huger, at 55 by 134 feet.
"Godzillatron" was a point of contention for Aggie fans.
Forget the Thanksgiving football meeting, and every other meeting in every other sport. Why would Texas continue to schedule A&M in anything if the Aggies walk out on the Longhorns?
Problem No. 2: Texas A&M has less chance of achieving kingpin status in the SEC than in the Big 12. Put it this way: Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Baylor don't play in the SEC.