When politics and football combine in the Lone Star State, it gets sorta prickly.
In recent days, the Big XII has announced that the board of directors approved "exploring expansion options" and that they will hear all offers.
This was a rather surprising development, considering one of the factors that prevented the Big XII from making such an announcement was Texas' steadfast refusal to consider such a measure. The university has since backtracked on the decision and actually embrace the move with welcome arms.
But only on one condition: that Houston be one of the expansion candidates.