National Championship Runner-up Texas Moving To Big Ten

Sports News - February 11th, 2010 - Written By John Ritter

On a day in which Texas officials claim they were unfairly targeted by the NCAA's new head-coach-in-waiting regulations, news has broken that they are intrigued by being targeted by the Big Ten(ish).

The midwestern conference is said to be holding preliminary talks with the school to discuss a possible annexation for the 2012 NCAA Football season.

Only Missouri, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati were previously considered realistic candidates to switch conferences.

Outside of the geographical conflict, the Longhorns seem to be an idea fit for the conference that has been struggling to gain another school to increase it's revenue and add a conference championship. The Pac-10 is currently the only other major conference without a season-ending championship game, which leaves their champion at a disadvantage when the final BCS poll comes out in mid-December.

The talks with Texas have been described as only "preliminary", however, and it is unlikely anything official will be decided within a year.

"There have been preliminary exchanges between the Big Ten and Texas," a source told the Lawrence Journal-World on Wednesday. "People will deny that, but it's accurate."

Notre Dame has also been pegged as a target for a merger, but the catholic school has always been reluctant to dispatch it's independent status. Texas would probably be a bigger draw anyways. It is routinely one of the most-watched programs across the country, and is also one of the better academic institutions, as well. The Longhorns have been in the National Championship twice over the last five years, and have sandwiched three BCS wins in between.

Texas would have to say goodbye to it's historic rivals like Nebraska and Oklahoma (although it is possible an annual out-of-conference bout a la Florida-Florida State would be held annually), though, which may shock fans in the region. But the Journal-World believes it may make sense.

"Travel costs, in terms of money and fatigue, make Texas seem on the surface like a stretch, but TV revenue would more than make up for the fatigue factor."