Has The Big 12 Died

With all the talk of conference expansion and how it would effect other conferences the question must be asked, has the Big 12 died?

Today we have confirmation of the first nail in its coffin. The Colorado Buffaloes are leaving the Big 12 for the Pac 10, giving that conference 11 members.

Even though it was wildly speculated the first school to jump ship would be Nebraska, Colorado and the Pac 10 made it official, just a few hours ago confirming the first to leave is Golden Buffaloes.

Speculation was that Nebraska could be exiting the conference as soon as tomorrow, however AD Tom Osborne has refused to comment other than to say, “Until we have a definite decision, I’m not saying anything else,”

Other candidates expected to move on include,Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Leaving the conference very weak with only Missouri, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State.

What does all this mean, would the Big 12 still an AQ conference for the BCS's big party? Will there even be a conference.

Providing all the teams suspected of jumping ship do, I suspect the answer to the questions are no and no.

Will this put the MWC of BYU, TCU and Utah in the drivers seat to become the next AQ conference, one would have to think so. Will the MWC be able to lure some of the remaining Big 12 schools to their conference. I would think so and in doing so shore up the Mountain West's case to become a part of the BCS.

The MWC just concluded their meeting and decided to place their expansion plans on hold pending what other conferences do. They were expected to offer Boise State an invitation to join, however with these new developments, I think the Broncos can stop holding their breath.

Granted Boise would make an excellent fit for the MWC. Geographically they are close, easy to travel to and the Boise State fans travel well. However there are bigger Big 12 schools with more name recognition that are reasonably close to the anchor schools of the MWC.

Certainly the PAC 10 will want to have balance in their numbers and bring one to three more big name schools to fill the star attraction void created by USC this last season. Oklahoma would be a perfect fit in that area. They are always contenders, travel well and put fans in the stands where ever they travel.

USC has been the hallmark team this last decade for the PAC 10 last season was short of what Trojan fans have come to expect from the Men from Troy. With Pete Carroll leaving and I do see NCAA troubles on the immediate horizon for the Trojans, now makes perfect sense to expand and attract some big name talent like the Sooners.

To answer the question, has the Big 12 died, the conference as we knew it has, it happened today with the exit of Colorado.

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