Why has USF been so quiet with its courting of the Big12 during their inevitable expansion? Is it because we are higher class than most? Because we have respect for ourselves and our current conference so we refuse to publicly humiliate ourselves for a much needed promotion? Perhaps. As a Bulls fan, it's a pretty noble way to look at our school and, should we not be selected, we keep our reputation intact.

But, what if that's not it at all...

What if the reason we are staying behind the scenes is strictly to keep from embarrassing the AAC? And what if the reason we don't want to embarrass the AAC is because we will still be in that conference after expansion? And what if we are also in the Big12?

Currently, the most desirable candidate for Big12 expansion is BYU. They come with a national fan base and yadda yadda yadda, you've all heard this before. Their big negative is the "we can't play on Sundays" problem. So, BYU is being considered as a football only participant in the Big12. That solves it right?!? Wrong. As we saw with being a member of the Big East and our Notre Dame arrangement, an unbalanced conference is a nightmare. Big12 doesn't need nor do they want that. So the solution is to bring in two football only schools. It has been long argued that USF and UCF are a package deal because they need travel partners. Only, what happens if you remove non-revenue sports from that situation? So you still need a travel partner solely for football games? Notre Dame and BYU sure don't seem to think so.

So here's the deal: West Virginia gets not one, but two travel partners with the inclusion of Ohio State Jr. Bearcats and the FedEx Tigers. The Big12 get their national audience with the inclusion of BYU football only. Then they round it out with the inclusion of USF as a football only school into the conference. USF has a history of being an outlier in the conference so for the folks in Tampa, it's business as usual. But the Big12 gets their foot into Florida recruiting, and they get to gamble on a potential future powerhouse without risking very much at all.

So, this whole time USF has been quietly courting the Big12, it isn't because we are of higher moral standard (we probably still are but that's not the point) it's because we refuse to embarrass our current, and future, conference; the AAC.