reasons over Houston, not the least of which has been TCU's recent success under Gary Patterson.

The Big 12 needed strength... BADLY. They mustered up as much as they could by adding TCU and West Virginia. TCU has been on a meteoric rise of late, and in West Virginia they have the old Big East champion. It was a decision to add strength imo, and they added two that were ready to come at a moments notice.

Now I understand that TCU's lack of support is appalling, and Houston is in Houston, but that's not what the Big 12 needed. They lost a lot of strength in their membership, and they needed to scrape together whatever they could, lest they become Big East 2.0 in that regard.

Seeing as how TCU is a favorite this year for qualifying for the playoff, and gets good TV ratings (attendance be danged) I think the Big 12 is comfortable with the decision they made. If they feel like they need Houston, they could add them tomorrow and Houston would come running like a kid being offered a shopping spree at a candy store.