The SEC has made it official; the Missouri Tigers will join the league as the 14^th member on July 1, 2012 beginning play with the 2012-13 season.

After months of speculation and deliberation, the announcement today comes six weeks after the conference officially invited fellow Big 12 conference mate Texas A&M Aggies to the Southeastern Conference as the 13^th school.

Some may wonder whether the move is a good one for Mizzou. First and foremost, they are giving up rivalries against four schools they have shared a conference with since 1928, most notably the Kansas Jayhawks. Whether the Mizzou-KU rivalry can withstand a shift in conference affiliation is yet to be seen, but initial indication by both schools shows that they will try and hold annual basketball and football games against each other, most likely in Kansas City.

As for the Big 12, they are secure with ten schools for next season, but the departure of four institutions over the past year has been a seismic shock to the conference. Rumored departures of other institutions earlier this year also led to instability, but interim Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas has done a commendable job keeping the boat afloat, while adding the West Virginia Mountaineers and TCU Horned Frogs. Neinas has stated publicly that the conference is done expanding for next season, and any further expansion back to 12 schools wouldn't happen until the 2013-14 season, at the earliest.

Interesting Stupid Facts: Mizzou will be the third 'Tigers' in the conference (Auburn, LSU) and will be the second to call 'Columbia' home (South Carolina)

If you're lost with all the conference shifts, SEC and Big 12 affiliations for 2012-13 are included after The Jump.

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According to an ESPN report, the West Virginia Mountaineers have been formally invited to join the Big 12, and have accepted the conference's offer. A Big East spokesman confirmed ESPN's report.

For the short term, the Big 12 has stated that it is content with ten schools, and invited West Virginia on the premise that the Missouri Tigers were leaving for the SEC. Though Mizzou hasn't officially left the conference, the SEC mistakenly posted an official announcement (pdf, h/t Rock M Nation) of Mizzou's acceptance on its website Thursday night, before pulling the announcement down 30 minutes later and issuing an apology.

West Virginia's entry and the conference's claim that they were staying with ten schools means that other reported schools interested in joining the Big 12  - namely Louisville and BYU --  will have to wait for their invitation... but as we know with the ever changing landscape of college athletics, that could change at any moment.

ESPN's report says that West Virginia will have to wait 27 months before leaving the Big East - the same stipulations put on Pitt and Syracuse's move to the ACC -- meaning the Big 12 could have nine schools next season, if Mizzou joins the SEC alongside Texas A&M this summer. [Ed note: the Big 12 official announcement says WVU is joining the conference next year]

Either way, let's welcome West Virginia into the conference and say hello to West Virginia's SB Nation blog, The Smoking Musket.

The TCU Horned Frogs, who just last year committed to join the Big East in 2012-13 have instead will committ to join the Big 12 next year, according to reports. TCU currently participates in Mountain West Conference athletics.

The Horned Frogs, who geographically align better with the Big 12, will replace the Texas A&M Aggies as the fourth Texas-based school in the conference.

If reports of an inevitable departure of the Missouri Tigers from the conference are true, TCU will be one of nine schools in the conference next season. Numerous reports circulating speculate that the BYU Cougars may be the next school to join the conference, which would keep the conference at ten schools next year, after the Texas A&M Aggies leave and assuming Mizzou follows.

Other schools the conference have reportedly been considering are Texas-based SMU Mustangs and Houston Cougars, as well as current Big East members West Virginia Mountaineers, Louisville Cardinals and Cincinnati Bearcats.

We'll continue to update you on all the conference realignment talk.

According to a KC Star report from earlier today, Missouri has been offered a spot in the SEC, but the SEC would rather wait for the Big 12 implosion than have the Tigers join immediately.

The news is obviously huge. However, there's a caveat. The SEC denies inviting Missouri. My personal opinion (which is just a semantic interpretation of the facts) is the SEC invited Missouri conditionally on the Big 12's collapse. According to Clay Travis, the SEC was very unhappy about Missouri leaking the invite to the press, as the conference is already facing legal issues.

The question now becomes, "Why then did Mizzou leak confidential information that could justify a golden parachute in the case of the Big 12's disappearance?" Well, my guess is only Missouri knows the answer. But I'm not the only one who thinks the Tigers might be dangling the invitation in front of the Big 10, which spurned the Tigers last year during the realignment start by picking Nebraska as the school to poach from the Big 12.

News of Missouri's invite comes on the heels of reports that the SEC denied West Virginia's application.

In the least surprising news of the day, Oklahoma wants Dan Beebe out as Big 12 conference commissioner if the Sooners are going to stick around. To say that this is long overdue would be an understatement. Beebe managed to keep the Big 12 from falling apart last year by inking an unsustainable deal with Texas that essentially spawned the Longhorn Network while only bolstering a winner-take-all revenue sharing that put Texas on top of the conference.

At the time the move looked like the right one, especially to schools that would likely be left behind in the event of major conference realignment (read: Iowa State, Kansas State, Baylor and possibly even Kansas). However, even then, an objective observer could see that the deal was a castle made of sand.

Not surprisingly, a year later the Big 12 is looking at itself in the mirror and seeing nine schools where there used to be twelve, Oklahoma schools investigating the Pac 12 with more than a little interest and Missouri looking at an invitation from the SEC. Needless to say, things aren't good. While Beebe can't be blamed for everything, he certainly looked for the quick fix instead of staying on top of his job as conference commissioner.

I suspect Beebe leaving will be the least of Oklahoma's concerns by the end of it. The bigger terms that the Sooners are looking for before declaring their allegiance to the Big 12 are concerning the Longhorn Network and revenue sharing. Yesterday, it looked like the folks in Norman wanted equal revenue sharing (which would mean LHN served no purpose). The Oklahoman's article today was a little vaguer on the restrictions they have in mind for the network, but it still seems a long way off.

As for the meanings of this, Dan Wolken thinks "the jig is up" and Oklahoma may be staying. I still think the Sooners are on their way to the Pac 12.

Author's note: if you're interested in some irony, read the caption of the picture above (it's unchanged from the original AP story last year)

I live in Colorado. I listen to sports talk radio. I watch sports on television. I read the papers.

From that first-hand perspective I can unequivocally tell you that the Air Force Falcons should not be a target on the Big 12's radar. (Radar, airplanes, eh? eh?)

Air Force is a great academic institution. One of the tops in the nation, and we should all respect the commitment the cadets who attend the Academy, but their sports are sub-par, unconventional and simply don't draw attention, even within their own state. If the Big 12 is looking to add teams to increase their numbers, then sure, look at AFA, but we're not the WAC, Sunbelt or C-USA. We're the Big 12, dammit, and if we want to remain a powerhouse conference we need to look at quality over quantity.

The Big 12 used to be the Big 8, so we know it's possible to compete at high levels with our dwindling membership. The Big East has eight football schools, and while their football product doesn't compare to ours, they are a BCS conference and occasionally ruffle some feathers on the gridiron.  Our football and basketball products are good enough that we are in the national spotlight already. Adding a team just to add a team makes no sense whatsoever.

And I don't mean to pick on the flyboys in Colorado Springs. I have gone down there and had fun at an AFA football game, but there is ZERO talk about them in Denver. Zero. When CU bolted for the Pac-12, the conference lost the Mile High City, admitting Air Force won't bring it back.

Because of the conference's prestige, the inclusion of AFA will create a buzz with the local media, but when they are talked about, either on the radio, television on in the papers, it is as an aside after rants on CU and talk about the Colorado State Rams. AFA just doesn't get the publicity needed to warrant inclusion in the conference.

When last call is announced at bars, guys scramble to find single women to take one final shot with. This isn't last call. We have plenty of time to find the most attractive woman at the bar, not the most readily available.

There is a lot of internet speculation on the future of current Big 12 teams. We all know assume that the Texas A&M Aggies are heading to the SEC. But what about the futures of the other nine Big 12 schools? Who will land on their feet and who will fall out of the BCS graces?

Let's take a look at the percentage chance that each of the remaining schools will be in a BCS conference when if the Big 12 crumbles.

I've divided the conference into three groups, The "Fans Will Love Reading This" Group, The "Fans Will Agree With Me Privately, But Blast Me in the Comments" Group and The "Fans Will Send Me Hate Mail" Group.

See who is in each group and what the percentages are after The Jump.

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For weeks we've heard reports of the Texas A&M Aggies wanting to leave the Big 12. For weeks we've speculated that they will end up in the SEC and for weeks we've thought that the Longhorn Network and the Texas Longhorns have had something everything to do with the Aggies impending departure. In the internet age, where speculation supersedes fact, we've all had a chance to digest a smaller Big 12.

But with the Aggies official announcement this morning, Big 12 fans should take a breath, walk away from the computer and understand the significance of the move.

The conference could hold together - if A&M is the only school to depart - and even gain a wider footprint if a school like BYU is added to the mix, but fans of the conference should be a little worried.

As Rock M Nation blogger Bill C. points out on the mothership, if A&M is the only school to leave, 'Expansionapalooza' (as Bill puts it) is put on hold. However if this triggers a school like the Missouri Tigers to head out, then the whole college world will be shaken.  No conference will remain untouched. No rivalry sacred enough to ward off the almighty dollar.

When I was going to school in the late 90's, I hated no football team more than the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  I hated when they came to town, with their 30,000 fans all clad in red. (No time more than this).

Now they are gone. No longer will they come around. Good and bad alike. Also, as of July, no longer can Big 12 fans take road trips to Boulder and root for their school. One of, if not THE, best college towns in the country is no longer in Big 12 travel plans.

Now, we will lose one of the best rivalries in the conference. Two schools duking it out in a state that prides itself on being big, yet isn't big enough for the egos of two massive collegiate institutions.

And now we have to ask ourselves, "What next?" If UT and A&M can separate, can Oklahoma and Oklahoma State? Can the I-70 corridor tri-valry of Kansas, K-State and Mizzou part ways? We're talking 100+ years of hatred, going out the door.

I get the monetary reasoning. I really do. But as a sports fan, don't you want to see these teams competing every year? And not just in a one-off game, but competing for a conference title. Competing for in-state bragging rights. Competing for the pride that goes along with winning.

I don't know what the solution is. Writing to the provost won't work, pleading with the university president won't either. These institutions have their minds made up, and are weighing their decisions based on Excel spreadsheet forecasts.

They are forgetting that without us, without the fans, no money would roll in. We need to somehow speak up. But I haven't quite figured out what to say.