Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

Cause and effect, chain of events
All of the chaos makes perfect sense
When you’re spinning ’round, things come undone
Welcome to Earth, third rock from the sun
— Joe Diffie, “Third Rock From the Sun”

When the Big 12 was being torn apart at the seams and universities in four states (two especially) were in deep trouble — TWICE — the affected states’ DC delegations stayed on the sidelines.

In the Big East, though, the calculations are different. Charleston (WV) Daily Mail:

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin is calling for a congressional investigation to see if political interference is to blame for West Virginia University’s now not-so-done deal to join the Big 12 Conference.

The state’s congressional representatives — including Manchin, D-W.Va., Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. — were all enraged by media reports that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., may have used his influence to at least temporarily block WVU’s move.

Why McConnell? Louisville, of course.

The obvious solution is to take both of them. Even if when Missouri leaves, 11 teams are perfectly doable, even if as a stopgap. I seem to remember a conference that lived with that arrangement for quite a while.

The problem is that about half a dozen things need to happen at the same time yet in a specific order. The Big 12 finally acts instead of reacts, and still manages to have the plan blow up in its face.

UPDATE: Headline kudos to the Kansas City Star’s “Now it’s political football in Big 12”.

This is the song that doesn’t end
Yes it goes on and on my friend
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because…

Missouri is so far gone to the SEC while technically not there that Brady Deaton has to backtrack on his comments. (Referring to the Big 12: “I wish them the best, and all of that.”)

But a replacement appears…?

Acting quickly to make sure it maintains a 10-member lineup, the Big 12 approved bringing in West Virginia to replace Missouri when the Tigers complete their move to the Southeastern Conference, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Note use of the word “when”. The Charleston Gazette, meanwhile, says WV-to-Big 12 is a done deal “regardless of Missouri’s decision.”

The only time Iowa State has played West Virginia in anything is one women’s basketball game, last year. WV won. (It should be noted that WV has a wrestling program, so maybe paths crossed once or twice there. Missouri wrestling, meanwhile, could be an endangered species.) Ames is about as far away from Morgantown as it is from Waco, which means Morgantown’s closer than Austin and Lubbock.

Ideally, the Big 12 could go after Louisville too. But then what? One blogger has floated a “Brigham Dame” option, which would mean BYU for football and Notre Dame for everything else. But that seems unlikely for various reasons.

BYU’s prohibition against playing on Sundays would inhibit women’s basketball and volleyball, and travel could be problematic, hence the football-only plan. Meanwhile, if Notre Dame can play Olympic sports in the Big 12 but remain independent in football, how long would it take before Texas thinks it can attempt the same thing?

I have wanted Missouri to stay. But this is stringing everyone out too long.

The person said that Missouri’s decision to apply for membership to the SEC was “inevitable and imminent,” although a specific timeframe has yet to be set. — New York Times, Monday

The University of Missouri has played Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, and Oklahoma (and Nebraska) for more than half of the time the state of Missouri has existed. Since college football began being played west of the Mississippi, almost.

Those decades of history ended today, as the Missouri Board of Curators did everything but actually say “Missouri is going to the SEC.” (Hence, the title’s asterisk.) The board gave the chancellor complete power to make a decision and also want to explore throwing Kansas City a bone or two with a special basketball tournament and a football game in Arrowhead — but didn’t specify what teams would be involved. Such an exploration wouldn’t be needed if Missouri planned on remaining in the Big 12.

These are the most-played Division I-A rivalries as listed by the NCAA through the end of 2010:
120    Minnesota-Wisconsin 1890
119    Kansas-Missouri 1891
117    Nebraska-Kansas 1892
117    Texas-Texas A&M 1894
115    Miami (OH)-Cincinnati 1888

Thursday, a Kansas City radio host eviscerated sports anchor Jack Harry, who said that it was senseless for the Big 12 NOT to hold the basketball tournament in KC without Missouri. Go here, then click on the “Jack Harry” podcast lasting 22:16. (Via Bring on the Cats.)

Harry had said: “KU, K-State and Iowa State should wield enough clout to get Sprint Center into a rotation, at least every other year, to host the tournament in Kansas City.” But this whole saga is an exercise in reinforcing that they don’t have any clout. It doesn’t matter that ISU, KU, and KSU are passionate basketball fans.

Missouri is following A&M’s playbook. It’s only a matter of time.

It’s official: TCU is joining the Big 12. The first actual realignment news! With something that makes geographic sense! A&M won’t be able to gig ’em, though.

It’s not official: Missouri thinks it can get big money and no whammies in the SEC. (Aside from football never sniffing the top half of a conference again.) I don’t know whether this study took into account the actual income from a new Big 12 contract vs. potential income from an SEC contract that isn’t up for renegotiation until 2025.

It’s very not official: The SEC presidents made no move Monday toward expansion. Missouri could drag this out for a long time.

Meanwhile, the Big East is getting desperate and going after Central Florida.

(Name h/t: Kirk Bohls)

PS: San Diego State? Huh?