Bloggers React To Texas A&M’s Interest In Joining The SEC

They might be the team of the 12th man but Texas A&M is about to become the 13th team in the SEC, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.

Aggies’ blog I Am The 12th Man has already come to the conclusion that joining the SEC is the right choice for the school.

Geographically, A&M is a much better fit in the SEC than the Pac-10. The farthest game from College Station would be a thousand miles to go play in Columbia, South Carolina; the Oregon State campus in Corvallis, Oregon is over twice that distance. Aggie fans would have to fly to almost every game if they join the PAC 16; all SEC games (save South Carolina) are within a days drive. For all the talk of breaking up traditions, college football has traditionally favored regional rivalries. Texas A&M resides in the southern region and has historical rivalries with teams throughout the South. We have no regional affiliation with the West Coast…

I have heard from multiple people that A&M will get killed in the SEC. I realize everyone who has said that is talking about football (we should fare quite well in all other sports). I would make the argument that if we are going to get killed in the SEC in two years, we would get killed in the PAC 16 also. This decision is not about two year from now or five years from now. This decision is about the next 50 years. The SEC is the right move for A&M for today and for the future.

If you assume expansion is going to happen and the SEC isn’t going to stay exactly where it is…I think the best case scenario is going to 14 teams, and adding Texas A&M and Virginia Tech.

A&M and Virginia Tech wouldn’t be the sort of overwhelming addition the way Texas and Oklahoma would’ve been. But you can have too much of a good thing, and I think had we put those two schools in what’s already the best conference in college football, life would’ve been awfully tough for everybody.

With A&M and VT, you’re adding two great football schools in two brand new states. In more ways than not, Virginia Tech is a better fit than even Florida State – the Hokies have been more successful recently, and while FSU certainly still has some level of national appeal, we already have a school in the state of Florida, and there would be much less strife among the existing schools in adding the Hokies.