In less than 24 hours the rumor that BYU was going independent became fact. And in the same 24 hours Fresno State and Nevada accepted invitations to join the Mountain West Conference. Just like that.

This mini-realignment that came out of nowhere has probably set the tone for future conference defections and migrations. Evidently these schools learned something from the aborted Pac-16 situation a few months ago: Do it so fast that political interference doesn't even have time to marerialize.

You can imagine the wheels that are turning in Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds' head right now. If upstart BYU can go independent why not the Longhorns? Back in May, shortly before the realignment mayhem began, DeLoss Dodds told Steve Wieberg of USA Today:

Among the options Texas has explored, according to Dodds, is independence in football.

The 'Horns' program is one of the few with enough resources and national appeal to allow consideration of that move, though hurdles would loom. One is state legislators' insistence that Texas and Texas A&M remain a tandem. Another is the need for a conference home for basketball and other sports.

"We've had those conversations. We've thought about it. It's a possibility, but it's not something we're thinking about seriously," Dodds says. "You could do it in football. It hurts basketball badly unless you find a conference. It's got lots of flaws."

Still, he says, "Nothing's off the table."

There's nothing set in stone keeping the ten remaining Big 12 members together right now, much less on paper. Already Texas A&M has been making noises about getting the money it was promised. That, and the SEC probably would still gladly take the Aggies in, relieving the Longhorns of that political umbilical cord.

Anyway, food for thought. If anything does happen, we might not know about it until it's over with....