What’s next domino?

Associated Press

Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott went on a come-join-us mission across Texas and Oklahoma over the weekend, a trip that could officially doom the Big 12 and set in motion another round of conference jumping.

Colorado and Nebraska have already left the rapidly disintegrating conference and five more could be on the way out, too, if Scott has his way.

The next shockwave could hit Tuesday, when the Texas regents meet to discuss the Longhorns’ place in the conference tilt-a-whirl that started with Colorado’s defection to the Pac-10 last week.

If Texas heads west, then Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas A&M would likely follow, all but securing the Big 12’s fate and leaving the five remaining schools in the lurch.

Conferences are building and blowing up, rivalries are being conceived and killed, and the structure of college athletics could be on the verge of a major shift.

“College sports, a lot of it is about traditions and rivalries and things like that, and there’ll definitely be some changes,” said Joel Maxcy, a sports economist at the University of Georgia.

The almost-hourly changes have been hard to keep up with and the future possibilities are complex, so it’s time to look at what’s happened, what could be coming and what the implications will be.

The conference jumble started in December, when the Big Ten said it was looking at expansion. Nebraska and Missouri indicated they’d be interested in switching allegiances and were given a leave-or-stay deadline of last Friday by the Big 12.

Nebraska left, breaking ties with Big 12 schools that dated, in some cases, to the 1890s. The Cornhuskers will join the Big Ten in 2011.

Missouri, once thought to be a perfect fit for the Big Ten, begrudgingly decided to stay in the Big 12 after failing to get a Big Ten invite, though school curators left open the possibility of leaving if another opportunity pops up.

Colorado didn’t wait for Nebraska and Missouri, firing a pre-emptive strike by leaving the Big 12 last Wednesday. The Buffaloes will begin Pac-10 play in 2012.

The Big 12 got all the attention, but there was another conference switch last week.

On Friday, the same day Nebraska left the Big 12, Boise State packed up for the Mountain West and left the smaller Western Athletic Conference behind for the chance at a clearer path to Bowl Championship Series games.

The big-ticket agenda item is the five-team defection from the Big 12 to the Pac-10.

Texas, the kingpin of the Big 12, is the hinge to this swinging door; the Longhorns leave, the four others will likely follow, though Texas A&M has reportedly drawn interest from the Southeastern Conference.

If the mass defection does take place, five schools will be searching for a place to land. Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Baylor and Iowa State could try to pick up the pieces and pilfer from other conferences or look for a new place to call home.

But with so much at stake, don’t think they’ve just been sitting around.