...it changes nothing. TAMU had been interested in joining the SEC since 1990 (maybe longer). The last time the SEC expanded they took Arkansas and South Carolina, not TAMU. At the time the Pac10 tried to expand the SEC wasn't looking to expand. The school was conflicted about joining the Pac10 because they've always been interested in the SEC and were likely worried that joining the Pac10 would mean closing the door on their dream of joining the SEC. BYU faced a similar decision when the Big East invited them. It's a tough thing to consider, is a bird in the hand worth two in the bush? Do they take the offer in hand or decline and wait/hope for an offer from the better conference to come?

They had a deadline of 72 hrs to decide but before the deadline was up, Texas and OK pulled back the reigns and worked out an arrangement with TAMU for all 3 schools to get a larger share of the TV revenue than the other Big 12 schools (equal to the $20 million-ish the Pac 10 was proposing). The Big 12 was saved.

Later in July the TAMU Board of Regents met to discuss the long-term impact of the new Longhorn Network. According to SI, because the Longhorns also planned to broadcast Texas High School football games it was going to give them a major unfair competitive advantage with recruiting and TAMU felt it was too big of a cross to bear. On August 15, 2011 the Board of Regents met in a special session and granted the TAMU President full authorization to take any and all actions necessary to get TAMU into the SEC. 2 weeks later he announced the SEC had invited them (although the SEC didn't officially extend an invitation until September).

But at the time the Pac10 tried to woo them and failed, there was no offer or exploration by the SEC or even a hint of a chance at joining. It was just TAMU's long held dream of joining the SEC. AT the time the TAMU president announced they were joining the SEC (Aug 31, 2011) he dubbed it "the 100 yr decision" to underline how long they've wanted to do this.