UPDATE: Wait, Baylor beating TCU blew up the Big 12?

(Ed. Note: Before I get into the meat of this post, I think we should all take a moment and think -- truly think -- about the absurdity of conference realignment.

Last night's game between Baylor and TCU is what college football is all about. A stadium packed with fans on a Friday night watched an underdog shred one of the best defenses in country before blowing a 24 point lead and then having the intestinal wherewithal to respond with a game-winning field goal and a game-ending interception. It was truly a magical game, one that should have every college football fan in the country buzzing -- both literally and figuratively -- for today, the first Saturday of the season.

Instead, all anyone can talk about is realignment. Can the Big 12 hold on to Texas and Oklahoma? Who does the SEC get as a 14th? Is the Pac-12 done expanding? Cougars and Hokies and Noles, oh my!

Not only are the power conferences and their rich, white middle men lining their pockets off of the product that a bunch of college kids put on the field -- and on your television -- every weekend, now we are ignoring that product to speculate how the next billion-dollar deal shakes out.

I need a shower. If you dare, read on.)


Basketball isn't the only sport played at the collegiate level that can get, well, crazy.

Take Baylor and TCU last night. If you missed it, I don't blame you (too much). It was the Friday of Labor Day Weekend and all. Baylor hit a three hit a 37 yard field goal to knock off No. 14 TCU 50-48 despite blowing a 24 point second half lead. It was wild, and I'm sure a perfect example of why all those college football zealots are so ... zealous? I'd be willing to bet that Baylor-TCU would post a similar score if the two were to play in hoops.

But the game itself isn't what truly mattered last night. It was the news that leaked out while the game was being played.

Let's start with the comments that Oklahoma president David Boren made yesterday. Read them in full here, but the money quote is right here: "I don’t think there’s any chance OU’s going to end up being a wallflower." That was the last thing Boren said, but when taken in context with the rest of his press conference -- again, I urge you to read it in its entirety -- its not hard to read between the lines.

It gets worse. Oh, so much worse. Chip Brown from Orangebloods.com -- who has been all over the conference realignment story dating back to last year -- paints a dreary picture for the Big 12. Not only does Brown report that Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe held a conference call for the program president's -- excluding Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M -- in which Beebe essentially asked the rest of the league to plead with Texas not to leave for the Pac-12, but he quotes one source as saying that there is a "50 to 60 percent" chance that UT bounces.

Poor Dan Beebe. He's either totally clueless or already accepted defeat and that he's out of a job.

Texas doesn't hold the power here. Oklahoma does. Another interesting tidbit from Brown's report is that a source tells him the Pac-12 would be willing to accept Oklahoma and their tag-along little brother, Oklahoma State, should they opt to leave the conference. With those two gone, the Big 12 will be nothing but a memory. I'm sure Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott is keenly aware that by landing Oklahoma and hitting the Big 12 with a crippling blow, he makes his conference look just that much more attractive to Texas.

So either Beebe doesn't realize that he needs to rest of the Big 12 to beg and plead with Oklahoma not to go anywhere, or he's resigned himself to the fact that the Sooners are westward bound and is doing what he can to hold the Big 12 scraps together by duct-taping the rest of the conference to Papa Texas.

Pick your poison, I guess.

So I hope the Bears enjoyed that win last night. Because fairly soon -- possibly as early as next week -- we could find out that it is TCU, and not Baylor, that has a BCS conference membership.

UPDATE: It didn't exactly need to be said, but according to Barry Tramel of The Oklahoman, OU's "sole focus" is heading west. Hello Pac-16, goodbye Big 12, and for the love of god, will the Big East scoop up Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri already?