Why the SEC? It’s a better fit for A&M academically and culturally. Though a member of the elite American Association of Universities, A&M would rank below Stanford, Berkeley, USC, UCLA (and UT) in the PAC-10. But it would immediately be one of the top-rated institutions in the SEC. As for cultural issues, imagine the reception the Corps would get in Berkeley and Palo Alto. Above all, the move to the SEC gives A&M the opportunity to get out of the shadow of UT for the first time in a hundred years. I have been told by a source close to the negotiations that OU and the SEC have put out mutual feelers. Now UT is in the precarious position of possibly losing both of its major rivals. UT is trying to coax A&M to join it in the PAC 10, but A&M’s preference for the SEC is clear. Here’s another advantage of the SEC: The time zones. SEC night games are played when they can be seen back in Texas at a reasonable hour. If UT is playing Oregon at 8 p.m. West Coast time, the game won’t be over until midnight back in Texas. This is not good for UT’s national exposure. The next step is going to be hot-and-heavy negotiations between the two schools. In fact, they had a meeting earlier today in which nothing was resolved. One thing is certain. The Big Twelve is dead, and the future is not going to resemble the present.