On Tuesday night, the University of Missouri curators voted to authorize chancellor Brady Deaton to "explore" Mizzou's athletic conference affiliation, which may lead to the Tigers taking their talents to South-eastern Conference and joining the recently departed Texas A&M Aggies as SEC program #14.
If the Tigers do join the Aggies in the SEC, this could set off yet another round of conference expansion that may result in the death of Big East football. At the very least, an even further watered down BCS AQ conference.
"What will this mean for the Big 12 when it inevitably happens? Well, it actually in all likelihood sounds the death knell for the Big East. This will take the SEC off the table for West Virginia, which makes it more likely the 'Neers will express interest in joining a revamped Big 12 with a more socialist television rights deal. The Big 12 still needs to decide whether it wants 10 or 12 teams, but assuming it ends up wanting 12 then Louisville and West Virginia both look likely to receive offers. All this is speculation, of course; but that would be exceedingly problematic for the Big East as a football conference, especially if TCU came to the Big 12 as well."
What this means is that the Big East could be staring at a football conference that includes just four to six members -- Cincinnati, Connecticut, Rutgers and South Florida. Add two of TCU, Louisville and West Virginia into the mix if they don't bolt for the Big 12. Would the Big East aggressively reload with schools like Central Florida, East Carolina, Temple, Villanova, Army, Navy and Air Force, or would they simply stop sponsoring football as an official sport and revert back to its basketball roots?
So what does this all mean for Boston College and the ACC? Would the conference give up the dream of Notre Dame and throw an invite to both the Rutgers and UConn programs left holding the Big East football check? After all, Jim Calhoun is here to remind you that:
"We've worked too hard to get where we are."
Read: worked hard to stay ahead of the NCAA enforcement staff, and
"We've worked too hard to let anyone stop us."
Read: Calhoun will personally storm Swofford's mansion and take an ACC invitation by force, if necessary.