(This is Part 2 of my series of conversations with myself dealing with conference expansion. For Part 1, scroll down the page.)

Well Aubrey, that was a good break, now let’s get down to the good stuff. Enough with what will probably happen, let’s look at what could happen and where the Aggies could end up if the cards all fall in the right direction.

Sure Aub… err… me. There are a couple of scenarios that could play out that could result in A&M landing somewhere besides a crap Big 12 or in the Pac 16. 

Yes!! I knew it! S-E-C! S-E-C!

Wait wait wait… hold on. There are a few things that need to happen first.

Yeah, whatever, like what.

Well first off, Notre Dame has to turn down the Big 10.

Okay, check, you already said that was likely.

Right. Well here’s where it gets hard. After Notre Dame turns the Big 10 down, the Big 10 needs to say “crap guys, now we look bad, let’s go after Texas and a few other schools to make up for it and screw up this whole game.”

Okay…

Yeah, so you’d need a conference that’s adamantly opposed to a college football playoff to decide to essentially create one of their own by supersizing the league. Now we’re not done with the “if” part of this yet. The SEC would also need to counter this move by deciding to expand on their own and launching an offensive.

What?

Yeah, this is the most crucial step here, the Big 10 would need to want Texas (and presumably A&M along with them, but that’s largely unimportant) and a few other schools, and this would need to cause the SEC to freak out and be like “OMG!1!! We need to add teams too because the Big 10 is doing it!”

Okay, so boom! this happens. The Big 10 and the SEC are on a school grabbing spree. Wouldn’t the Big 12 South still join the Pac 10?

Negative, while the Pac 10 has money, it doesn’t have Big 10 money, and if the Big 10 wants Texas, they could probably get them. Now here’s where another “if” comes in. Not only does the Big 10 need to want Texas, they need to ONLY want Texas. Well they could also want A&M, but the Big 10 would have to want Texas, but be absolutely morally opposed to getting Texas Tech.

Because they smell bad and it’s always windy?

No. Well yes, but no. If the Big 10 decided to ditch their academic standards and let Texas Tech be part of the show it’s likely that the Texas Trio would all go together. Though this isn’t very likely.

What do academics have to do with anything?

Right, okay, here’s the deal with that. So the Pac 10 is all super uppity about their academics because apparently they forget that they let in Oregon State (a tier 3 university.) However, they’ve said they’d be willing to overlook Texas Tech’s tier 3 status.

The Big 10 on the other hand is even more uppity. They’re all in this super elite club of schools and they smoke cigars together and talk about how awesome they all are. So essentially it’s the perfect place for Texas, but it’s unlikely they’d be willing to invite Tech. 

The Longhorns are as uppity as the Big 10 when it comes to their academic perception. Because of this they’ve already said that they wouldn’t join the SEC because they’re like the sick kids at the sandbox you don’t let your kids get near because you’re afraid they might catch the disease. 

Well, while the SEC is by no means the Ivy League it’s not exactly the Sun Belt either. Georgia, LSU, Tennesse, Auburn, Alabama and Florida are all Tier 1 Universities and their reputations haven’t exactly been crushed by being on the same field with Mississippi State. In fact, Florida holds the same Ranking as Texas, is an equally large school, and has a lower acceptance rate than Texas, but whatever.

Dude, that’s like a lot of serious crap. I want to know where the Aggies get involved.

Getting there. So if the Big 10 somehow shocks the SEC into expanding, Texas A&M needs to absolutely sell their soul to get into the SEC. It doesn’t matter what the other schools in Texas do, the Aggies need to find a way to make it happen.

Leaving behind rivals Tech and Baylor?

Non-factors. It would take about 15 minutes for A&M fans to realize that instead of Tech and Baylor, they’ll now get Arkansas and LSU. Which are effectively better in like… every sense of the word.

Fine, I’ll say it… why would A&M not join the Big 10 with Texas?

If A&M and Texas both go to the Big 10, A&M would still be “that team that came along with Texas.” A move to the SEC would be a bold move away from their burnt orange overlords in Austin. Besides, if you’ve ever been to an A&M game and an SEC game you’d understand. A&M just belongs in the SEC. It’s a perfect cultural fit, and the SEC’s academics aren’t as terrible as people think.

What happens with Tech and Baylor?

Well, in a perfect world to A&M fans, they get left out of the Big 10/SEC race and are forced to join the Pac 10 or some revamped version of the Mountain West.

Well the SEC can’t just add A&M, if they grab up four schools who else comes along?

Well I don’t know who they’d add in the East, but it makes perfect sense to bring along Oklahoma in the West.

Right so… Texas’ two biggest rivals end up the nation’s best football conference? They’d just let that happen?

Well at this point there wouldn’t be much they could do about it. Which is actually why I think the SEC should strike first even though that’s not their style. If I were the SEC, I’d invite A&M, Oklahoma, and some team from the east to join and then dare Texas to stay out.

So would A&M and Oklahoma accept?

I’d think so. I think the possibility of getting out from under Texas’ shadow into the nation’s premiere football conference would be hard to pass up.

Woohoo!! S-E-C! S-E-C!

Right well calm down, all of this is unlikely. Remember, the Big 10 would have to want Texas, the SEC would have to be shocked into action (and want A&M over nearby Florida State, Miami, Clemson, Georgia Tech, etc), and A&M’s administration would have to actually want to get away from Texas.

So this is… umm… dude your crushing my dreams.

Yeah… at this point it looks pretty far fetched.

So if you had to guess on what the most likely thing to happen would be…

I think Notre Dame turns down the Big 10, the Big 10 adds Nebraska and a few other teams, the Pac 10 offers the Big 12 South, and the Pac 10 becomes the Pac 16.

And then…?

Aggie fans will watch SEC football for the next several years wondering what could have been.

I think I’ve heard that before.

You have, it happened in the mid 90’s also.