Wow, we here in the Big 12 said goodbye to one rivarly Thursday and now today we will be saying goodbye to another.  Granted there were some rivalries that fizzled out last year due to teams leaving the league but these hit closer to home and home away from home.  It’s funny how the accleration of money caused much of this.  Yes, you can say that it could be other things, but when conferences are getting big payouts for television deals, things just turn sour quick.  So today I get to say goodbye to the Border War.

Now I grew up in Kansas and lived in a house divided.  By house divided, I mean that I had one brother go to Kansas and two go to Kansas State.  There were healthy rival conversations going on and that spirit stays with me to this day.  Kansas will always be a hated rival in my heart but I am siding with them today against their more hated rival in Missouri.

Missouri, like Texas A&M, got tired of being a whipping boy and decided to head south to the SEC.  Ironic right?  But, they are heading to the best football conference out there today and will get an eventual bigger chunk of money.  I can’t say that I blame them, but I can still give them some crap on the way out.  It’s just a shame that tradition is dashed across the rocks in the wake of this, and other conference, moves.

College football is at a serious turning point.  What held schools together in the past were rivalries.  If you haven’t checked your history, schools move conferences all the time.  It’s a bigger deal now because of money and that news flies as well as gets hyped faster than ever before.  Things will settle down as the college football landscape evolves.   I think rivaries will die in the process.

Now we may not see something as huge and traditional as Ohio State and Michigan splitting conferences, but you will see rivalries of teams who do not win as much split.  The biggest one today is Missouri and Kansas.  They’ve played each other for over 100 years and now that is done.  Every week I compile games to watch and always include rivalries.  I gauaruntee you that at least 30 percent of them will change within the next 10 years.  I hope it stops after that.

My confidence in college football is shaken.  Tradition is a huge part of why I love it so much.  It seems like tradition will be turned on its head here in the next couple years.  Change is always inevitable.  I just hope that when things stop or slow down, that I won’t be angry and/or disappointed at the results.  That said, goodbye Texas A&M, goodbye Missouri, and goodbye to some real awesome Big 12 rivalries.