the conference is a mess right now because the populations of the states involved is much smaller than other high-profile conferences, and the population that is there is heavily weighted toward the south. it's a patchwork organization with one good academic school, several decent schools and a few bad ones. texas is far and away the best school in the conference in both athletics and academics, so why shouldn't they hold more of the power? You highly underestimate the athletics and academics of Texas A&M. I realize that they are the tops in each category at the moment, but we aren't far behind in either area.