With Big 12-SEC Game Comes Uncertain Ripple Effect Less than a year ago, when conference realignment began to shift significantly, few could have imagined that Texas A&M's decision to bolt the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference would eventually lead to Virginia Commonwealth's move to the Atlantic 10. There is a lesson that this mind-bending year of realignment taught everyone: paradigms shift and conferences are often gutted because of unintended consequences. The potential for a chain reaction was raised again Friday when news emerged that the Big 12 and SEC would create their own "championship game" in football - think of a non-Pasadena version of the Rose Bowl. The ramifications will be significant, but the biggest question will be whether it will create another ripple of conference realignment. The creation of such a valuable property will further the perception that the top football conferences - the Pac-12, the SEC, the Big Ten and the Big 12 - have further distanced themselves from everyone else. And by everyone else, that means the Atlantic Coast Conference, which is known as the fifth-best conference because of its 2-13 record in Bowl Championship Series games. The Big 12 and SEC champions are scheduled to meet each year on Jan 1, beginning in 2015, in a game that is expected to be bid out to areas like Dallas, New Orleans and Atlanta. The two conferences will maximize profits from this game, even though the actual value of it is impossible to calculate until the parameters of college football's new playoff system are determined. This union will probably create tiers of college football. The four-team playoff that has been discussed would make up the first tier. The next tier would be this game, known as the Champions Bowl, and the Rose Bowl. While neither game would have the cachet of the national semifinal and national title games, they could be put in favorable time slots on New Year's Day and considered the best leftovers. There would also be a third tier of games, which could include the Orange, Fiesta and Sugar Bowls and perhaps some assortment of the Cotton, Capital One and Chick-fil-A Bowls. The decision by the Big 12 and the SEC is widely viewed as a leverage move because the Rose Bowl - which theoretically pits the Pac-12 and Big Ten champions - has become a contentious part of the playoff process. But Jim Delany, the Big Ten commissioner, said he did not see this merger as a strategic counter to the Big Ten or the Rose Bowl. "I don't see it that way at all," he said. If it's anything, it's a complement to what's been built at the Rose Bowl. One consultant familiar with the college sports landscape said: "It's really taking the cue ball and knocking it into the rack. People are going to get quoted, but they don't have answers because they have not designed the playoff system yet. The knee-jerk reaction on Twitter and among other college officials was that this could mean that Florida State winds up in the Big 12, as the chairman of the university's board of trustees spoke openly about last week. Could that happen? It's more likely today than it was last week. The Big 12, which has 10 teams, will eventually want to grow back to 12. Florida State would pine to keep its football relevance. The twist, of course, is that the A.C.C."s national irrelevance can basically be traced to the struggles of Florida State and Miami, which could be the top targets to be poached. Don't expect any major moves until a playoff plan is settled. "I wouldn't draw up any hard and fast conclusions until you see how the dust settles," Delany said, adding: "The unfortunate thing is that there were five leagues that are seen as separate. Maybe this does, in some ways, raise other issues because there's an odd number of conferences. There are those unintended consequences again. What about Notre Dame? The Irish appear more isolated in football independence after every reverberation, real or projected, of conference realignment. The Big East, where Notre Dame houses its non-football programs, appears vulnerable if the A.C.C. loses more teams. "We don't think it has significant near-term consequences for Notre Dame," the Irish athletic director, Jack Swarbrick, said of the Big 12-SEC game. He added that he would continue to monitor the landscape. Don't expect anything to happen with the Irish until after a playoff plan is completed. What about the playoff? There are still mind-numbing issues to navigate: How? When? Where? Who? Computer polls? Humans? Conference champions? A basic system should be determined by July 4, but the details will take much longer to iron out. One notion that became more viable that had long been disregarded is an actual Plus One - the often misused term for a one-game playoff after the bowls are played. If all the power in football is consolidated in the Big Ten, the SEC, the Big 12 and the Pac-12 - especially if teams flee the A.C.C. - could the Rose Bowl and Champions Bowl serve as de facto national semifinals and the top-ranked teams play a title game? It wouldn't be a playoff, technically. And it would alienate fans, who want simplicity after years of frustration and confusion. But there is an argument that will be heard in the next few weeks that the four league title games would be (essentially) quarterfinals, the Rose and Champions Bowl semifinals and the Plus One game a title game in most years.