If Mizzou Had Joined B1G, What Would The SEC Have Done? - Big East - XII Merger?

Interesting fluff piece examines what could have happened with the conference realignment had Missouri joined the B1G instead of Nebraska.

Would the SEC have stayed at 13? If not, who would they have realistically tried to add with the goal of expanding the SEC footprint and potential TV subscribers for the SEC Network?

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And as an aside, the West Virginia AD dropped a mini-bomb about his secret phone calls to the XII dwarfs about trying to form a conference with the leftovers of the Big East and XII had Texas, Texas Tech and the Oklahoma schools joined the Pac-12.

LINK

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While conference expansion has slowed considerably, Luck revealed a plan he had three years ago that would have merged teams from the Big 12 and Big East conferences.

In September 2011, the Big East was stunned by the departures of Pitt and Syracuse, and the Big 12 was in danger of losing four schools to the Pac-12.

"My favorite story that hasn't been written," Luck said. "After Syracuse and Pittsburgh (announced they were leaving for the ACC), that was in the same time frame that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were playing footsie with (Pac-12 commissioner) Larry (Scott) and the Big East was a mess."

So Luck began cold-calling athletic directors at Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State with a proposal.

"I didn't know those guys from Adam," Luck said. "I knew the schools. I told them, 'Your conference may fall apart. You guys look like you might get left behind. Why don't we take all of you and TCU, which was kind of homeless."

Luck's plan, which also had the support of Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, was also to add UCF for a 12-team Big East divided into two divisions: West: Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, TCU and Louisville; East: UConn, Cincinnati, Rutgers, West Virginia, South Florida and UCF.

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