Daily Stampede Big XII Expansion Links: 7/26

Out of nowhere, a certain AAC member has really put on the full court press in making their Big XII candidacy publicly known in the past 24 hours. Here are your links for today:

• Since this new round of realignment speculation was ratcheted up just one week ago at Big XII Media Days, several schools have made open statements declaring their candidacies. East Carolina REALLY wants you to know they're in the mix as a potential member. On top of AD Jeff Compher mentioning last week that ECU could "delver the entire state of North Carolina", the school's official athletics twitter account tweeted this map declaring themselves a prime travel partner for West Virginia. Even the Greenville, N.C. city council chimed in with their endorsement of the Pirates in the Big XII.
• Our friends at Underdog Dynasty and N.C. State's Backing the Pack blog didn't hold back when roasting ECU's strategy for an invitation.
• Speaking of twitter campaigning, here's Cincinnati's president tweeting stats about Cincy's TV market and proximity to half of the U.S. population.
• Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Bay Times says that USF and UCF need to bury the hatchet and work as a tandem for a shot to be included.
• A common issue with BYU's candidacy is the whole no playing on Sundays caveat. SB Nation's Alex Kirshner broke down how the Big XII can easily work around this.
• Steven Godfrey and Bill Connelly discussed the increasing divide between the haves and the have nots as a result of conference expansion in the latest Podcast Ain't Played Nobody.
• Did you know Clemson's Deshaun Watson was just a freshman in high school when all of this Big XII realignment talk first blew up in 2010? Let's see what else was different in those simpler times.