As a Mizzou sports fan, it pains me to be in a position of siding with Nebraska.

But my alma mater probably has no choice but to follow the the University of Nebraska right out of the gasping Big 12. Nebraska and Missouri once appeared to be the two hold-outs in the aggressive expansion efforts of the Pac 10 and the (reactionary) expansion of the Big Ten conference. But now, Nebraska has reportedly agreed to join the Big Ten (which already had 11 teams).

Missouri had already been handed a loyalty deadline of June 17 by the largely-toothless Big 12 — either stick with our conference or make way for college football to change forever with no apparent regard to history, geography or any sport but football.

Sadly, it's looking like everyone will cave, with an announcement on the new super conferences to be made as soon as Friday. (The Show-Me State looks like it's saying, "Show-Me the money," positioning itself for the best possible outcome). Apocalyptic — but more and more likely — scenarios have the Big 12 conference losing its major players to the Pac 10 (who are expected to swipe six Big 12 teams, including powerhouses Texas and Oklahoma) or the Big Ten, leaving a pitiful Big 12 conference with no automatic Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bid and perhaps the University of Houston as a small consolation prize.

It's an unfortunate picture for fans of the conference made for southwest America. (Oklahoma and Texas in the Pacific 10? Doesn't that just sound wrong?) The conference I so love is projected to lose all of its Texas teams (including politicking Baylor over Colorado if some legislators have their way) along with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

But the ink's not completely dry — it may still be in the pen. A lot of the rearranging has to do with television ratings, and there could be a few surprises still ahead.

Texas is being called the linchpin here, and I guess we've nothing to do but hope they don't go all West Coast on us.