Did you know that the University of Texas is responsible for global warming? For breaking up Kim Kardashian's marriage? For hunger and poverty in the third world?

If you didn't know that, you haven't been paying attention to one of the most prevalent memes in college sports since the beginning of the realignment mess -- Texas as the big bully, the evil empire, the cause of everything that is wrong anywhere and everywhere.

In a Pundit Roundup a few weeks ago, txtwstr broke down the fallacies of that basic premise and blaming everything wrong with the Big 12 on the Longhorn Network in an excellent piece, while Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds spoke with the Missourian on Tuesday to once again tell his own side of the story as Missouri prepares to take off for the SEC.

The argument from Dodds was once again that Texas was simply looking out for the best interests of the school, exactly as Texas A&M and Missouri have been doing.

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After a tumultuous week that saw the Big 12 apparently tear up a press release announcing that West Virginia was going to join the league, the conference announced on Friday that the Mountaineers will officially become the 10th member when Missouri leaves.

On Tuesday, reports surfaced that the Mountaineers were set to become the eastern-most outpost in the conference, with a press conference scheduled for Wednesday. But with Louisville making a late push aided by involvement from Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell in support of the Cardinals, the Big 12 cancelled the press conference and announced that that it was putting plans for expansion on hold.

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Despite a Tuesday report that a Wednesday press conference announcing the move of West Virginia to the Big 12, the Mountaineers now appear to be in limbo after a Tuesday evening announcement that there would be no press conference and Wednesday reports that the Big 12 has put expansion on hold and cancelled plans to visit Morgantown.

Part of the delay may be in waiting for Missouri to finally make a move, but it also appears that there is some division among members of the Big 12 about whether to invite Louisville or West Virginia, with Texas Tech coach Tommy Tubberville taking to the airwaves in Dallas in support of Louisville because of the travel difficulties in getting to Morgantown and Kirk Bohls tweeting that the Sooners also prefer the Cardinals. Meanwhile, basketball coach Rick Pitino is campaigning for the Big East to add schools amidst reports that Louisville is lobbying hard behind the scenes for an invitation to the Big 12.

Moving beyond the absolute shock that the Big 12 is divided about something, make sure to keep in mind the first rule of conference realignment -- everything could change in a second. Stay tuned, as this is far from over.

Update 10/25 2:30 p.m. EDT: Report from Charleston Daily Mail confirming West By God Virginia University is headed to the Big 12.

With Missouri poised to leave the Big 12 and apply for membership in the SEC, the Big 12 appears poised to extend an invitation to West Virginia, according to a report from CBSSports.com, citing industry officials. The New York Times' Pete Thamel, however, is reporting that West Virginia has already applied and been accepted.

Things could happen quickly after the Tigers make their intentions officially known, as the exit fee for the Mountaineers would double from $5 million to $10 million if the Big East adds Air Force or Navy before West Virginia leaves the rapidly crumbling conference that is in danger of losing its status as an automatic qualifier.

The biggest potential hurdle for the Big 12 is that West Virginia would not be able to join the conference until the 2014 season, increasing the pressure on negotiations between the league and Missouri as to when the Tigers would officially leave. Difficulties in putting together a 13-team schedule in the SEC are helping to push the Missouri timeline up.

It's possible, and perhaps even likely, that the Big 12 would have to survive 2012 and 2013 without Missouri in a nine-team league before the addition of West Virginia, which would present scheduling difficulties for the Big 12, most notably in forcing teams to find another non-conference opponent at the last second, which would likely require helping the new opponents buy out games with former opponents.

Despite the geographical distance of West Virginia from the rest of the league, the Mountaineers are apparently the leading candidate since BYU fell to the wayside and Louisville -- a better geographic fit -- doesn't have the same caliber of football program, enough to essentially eliminate them from being the top candidate in a football-driven landscape.

At an undisclosed location in Dallas, The Big XII Board of Directors met today in a regularly scheduled meeting to discuss various topics ranging from Tier 1 & 2 television rights to a potential Conference TV Network.

But most of us following the action have been waiting for some signal that the University of Missouri would submit its resignation as a conference member.  Recall last week that the Missouri Bard of Curators granted chancellor Deaton was granted the authorization "to take action and negotiate contracts" on behalf of the University.  Soon after, Deaton announced publicly the school was having "communications" with Southeastern Conference officials.

However, today's meeting did not result in any further realignment fireworks.  There was speculation the league members, including TCU who also participated in the get together, would receive from Missouri a notice of conditional withdrawal.  But it appears it did not happen.

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Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne reached out to his counterpart at the state capitol on Friday afternoon regarding the continuation of the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry after the Aggies make their 2012 move to the SEC and was told that the Longhorns have no room on their non-conference schedule to play the Aggies at least through 2018.

As Texas A&M coaches also reached out to Texas coaches in other sports, only the tennis team has currently replied to requests to continue the rivalry in those sports as well, declining the offer to play A&M.

Meanwhile, state senator Tommy Williams, a Republican from The Woodlands, is starting to make noise in the legislature, saying that he will file legislation that would instruct both schools to continue the rivalry. While it's understandable that the legislature declined to get involved in attempting to keep A&M in the Big 12, why get involved now and tell Texas what to do?

After all, as DeLoss Dodds has said in recent weeks, A&M was the one who left the conference, destabilizing it to the point where it barely survived once again. If the Aggies so desperately wanted to continue the rivalry with Texas, why leave the conference? Perhaps Dodds and the Texas administration are declining to play the Aggies as payback for bailing on the league and if so, don't the Longhorns have that right? This is the consequence of making the decision to leave. Own it, Aggies. Of course, it's probably still more convenient to blame everything on Texas, as always.

Earlier in the week, interim commissioner Chuck Neinas indicated that the Longhorns are not currently considering newest Big 12 member TCU as a potential opponent on Thanksgiving, leaving the opponent for that date up in the air, though Texas will continue to play a T-day game. Texas Tech has expressed a desire to take A&M's spot.

On July 1, 2012, the Big 12 conference will replace one Texas school with another. In a news conference Monday evening in Irving, Texas, the Big 12 and TCU announced that the school will, as expected, join the conference less than a week after news broke that the Horned Frogs were extended an invitation to replace Texas A&M when the Aggies leave for the SEC.

TCU will become the first new member institution for the Big 12 since the league's inception in 1996, when the Big 8 and SWC conferences merged and kicked the Horned Frogs to the curb. Since then TCU has journeyed from conference to conference, trying to once again run with the big boys -- from Conference USA to the Mountain West to the Big East, in which TCU never competed.

Credit the TCU football program led by Gary Patterson as the primary reason for the move, as the Horned Frogs have finished in the top 10 each of the last three seasons -- the only school in the country to do so. As a result, the school has been able to begin work on expanding Amon G. Carter Stadium, a necessary move to compete in the arms race currently sweeping high-level college football.

Here's what Chancellor Vincent Boschini had to say:

Joining the Big 12 connects us not only to schools with whom we share a rich tradition in sports, but also to schools committed to academic excellence. Over the past six years, TCU has seen unprecedented success in academics and athletics.  Participating in this conference allows us to strengthen the core of the TCU experience, which includes providing students with major opportunities in a personalized environment. It is very much in line with our overall goal to create a world-class university.

If Missouri decides to stay in the conference -- still up in air -- the Big 12 will mostly likely decide to remain at 10 teams. Your move, Mizzou.

There is only one story I want to post today.

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