Texas A&M to SEC Not Dead, Despite Sunday Statement from SEC

Both the Southeastern Conference and Texas A&M University released statements earlier this afternoon.

The SEC's statement came after a meeting of conference presidents and chancellors:

“The SEC Presidents and Chancellors met today and reaffirmed our satisfaction with the present 12 institutional alignment.  We recognize, however, that future conditions may make it advantageous to expand the number of institutions in the league. We discussed criteria and process associated with expansion.  No action was taken with respect to any institution including Texas A&M.”

After the SEC's statement was released, Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin then issued one of his own:

“As we have seen over the past several days, there has been a considerable amount of misinformation regarding these discussions and any associated timelines. The chairman of our board has indicated that the regents will proceed with tomorrow’s agenda item, which authorizes the president of Texas A&M to take all actions related to athletic conference alignment. I will also accept Chairman Branch’s invitation to participate in his committee’s hearing on Tuesday. These are extremely complex issues, and it is imperative that we proceed methodically and in the best interests of Texas A&M.”

Conventional wisdom this afternoon points to Texas A&M having to make some sort of formal declaration of their intent to leave the Big 12 Conference and then making an application to the SEC for membership, before being able to officially join the SEC.

The August Texas A&M Board of Regents meeting is still scheduled for tomorrow and then a Texas House of Representatives Committee hearing will go on as planned on Tuesday.