Nick talked late last week about the prospect of Texas A&M, along with Virginia Tech, joining the SEC. This weekend, speculation to that effect has only intensified, at least on the A&M side of things. Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News discusses the possibility:

Barring political intervention in the Lone Star State, two well-connected SEC insiders told The Birmingham News today, Texas A&M is going to leave the Big 12 and join the SEC.

The announcement could be made in a matter of days.

Since the decisions by Colorado and Nebraska to leave the Big 12, it was widely expected that five of the six Big 12 would head westward, including A&M, but Gene Stallings (former Alabama coach and current A&M regent) has pushed internally for a move to the SEC, gaining major traction. Separating the public Texas schools, though, is not something that will happen without a fight in the Lonestar State. There are a lot of politics in play here.

Despite Big 12 commish Dan Beebe’s ongoing best efforts to keep his conference and job intact, it’s not looking too good. The prospect of joining a giant Pac-10 or piggybacking with the powerhouse SEC is going to be tough to resist.

If A&M does opt for the SEC, Mike Slive will need to track down a partner for A&M to enter the conference with them. The SEC needs to stay at an even amount of members to continue to split into two divisions and hold a conference title game. The logical guess would have been a team like V. Tech, Florida State, Miami, or Clemson, but word is that the SEC is not interested in pursuing those schools. Beyond that, I’m really not sure where the SEC would turn to.

This is clearly a very fluid situation, but one that will come a conclusion sooner rather than later. Stay tuned.