So let me get this straight...as the college athletics world is changing by the hour.

A few months ago...The Big Ten Conference says it wants to study expansion.  Says it might be a 12-16 month process to study the next move to try and add a 12th team to the historic league.

Suddenly the Pac-10 conference...which has kept the membership of  it's league the same since Jimmy Carter was President of the United States....starts making noise about major expansion.  Not of just 1 or 2 teams...but maybe as many as 6 teams.  And they want to do it quickly.... as they see a potential to radically improve the league's financial standing among the major BCS conferences and set itself up for a juicy television contract.

Meanwhile.... the Big 12 coference looked peaceful and successful on the surface. But underneath...there was a lot of smoldering animosity....especially among teams in the Big 12 North.... and especially directed at Texas.   The conference is on the verge of breaking up and scattering across the country.  Colorado is already gone to the Pac-10....Nebraska is looking at joining the Big Ten ...and  Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech are looking at the Pac-10's offer to form a monster-sized  16-team conference that will be an extremely valuable property.

You see...when the Big 12 started play in 1996...it had been cobbled together from the remnants of the defunct Southwest Conference and the Big 8 Conference.  Geographically it made sense...but because of financial concessons made to get the Texas schools to join the new league....revenue distribution was uneven...and in the minds of some other Big 12 schools...unfairly tipped to the advantage of the mammoth Longhorn progam. 

Combne all of these events...mix them together in a giant mixing bowl...and you get what we are seeing right now:  Universities and their athletic programs trying to make decisions that will change the collegiate conference landscape forever.  And they dont have a lot of time to make those decisions.

And what does Notre Dame want to do?  They were invited by the Big Ten to join the league in marriage  about a decade ago and left the Big Ten at the alter.  Back then...there was no Big Ten Network...and the financial advantage for Notre Dame to join the league was totally different than it is now.  But we live in a different world now.

And if you are the Big Ten and adding Nebraska.......how do you convince Notre Dame to commit this time?   And if they dont commit...do you go east and grab a Rutgers, Syracuse or Pitt and leave the Irish wondering about their  future in the Big East Conference (of which they are a member-except for football)?

What is happening right now in college athletics is breathtaking.   An amazing moment to watch unfold. 

Or as Carole King sang once "I feel the earth move under my feet".