Big 12 Football: 3 programs that made a mistake leaving the conference

2. Texas A&M Aggies

This will be a controversial selection to put on the list. But the Texas A&M Aggies haven’t found a whole lot of success worthy of national recognition since leaving the Big 12 for the SEC West ahead of the 2012 season. Texas A&M and Mizzou both bolted for the SEC at the conclusion of the 2011 season.

While Texas A&M was more consistent than Mizzou, with a more difficult road in the SEC West, of late they have not come close to making it to the conference title game. Maybe outside of the years they had under the wing of superstar Heisman-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M had some mediocre finishes in SEC play.

Manziel did bring back the most significant piece of hardware to College Station, by far, since they left for the SEC West eight years ago. But Manziel was really only an impact that carried for two years. Former Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin would be let go less than five years after Manziel’s time in College Station was over.

Texas A&M has at least made a bowl game in every single one of their years in the SEC since bolting from the Big 12. But they only had one double-digit win season, which came back in 2012 and did result in a Cotton Bowl win over Oklahoma. It was mostly all eight or nine win seasons since then. At least there’s some consistency in that regard.

They could likely do better in the Big 12, and it would be good to see the Lone Star Showdown reignite on the gridiron sooner rather than later.