It is just a matter of time. Colorado is already gone. Nebraska should make it official today.

It’s all up to what Texas and Texas A&M do. They still don’t seem to be on the same page.

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You know the real problem for me, with these conference expansion round-ups? It is too easy to lose track of a point that was trying to be made.

There was an actual point to my earlier post and the preamble.

You know, I think I have a vague notion of how this conference expansion, realignment and overall sanity will eventually end. It’s just that the trip there is going to involve a lot of missed exits, detours, mistakes and probably take a lot longer than expected.

So let me make it now.

If you are hoping or thinking that this whole conference insanity will even come close to be sorted out before the end of 2010, you are setting yourself up for a lot of frustration.

There are just too many schools, too many conferences, too many egos, and simply too much money involved for this to fully shake out for some time.

This is part of why I keep putting these expansion round-ups together. To show just how complicated and convoluted the whole process is. To make sure there is some record in a way to show how things are progressing to the eventual end.

If you want Pitt in the ACC, some rejiggered Big Mess (my official name for the idea of combining the Big East football schools with the Big 12 remainders), or Big Whatever — you are going to have to be patient. It is not happening right now.

Like it or not, Pitt is not a major player in this. Pitt is a piece, and has value — more than most in the Big East — but Pitt is not going to be a primary figure for some time.

Right now the major players are the Pac-10/16 and the SEC. There is a tug-of-war for Texas and Texas A&M. That has little to do with Pitt.

The  Big 11/12 is the first force that concerns Pitt, but for them, Pitt is at best a complimentary piece to expansion. A chip to try and coax ND into the conference — as Pitt is their 5th most played opponent (behind USC, Navy, Purdue and Michigan St.).

While Pitt has to wait for what the Big 11/12 does, the moves of the SEC are probably the real key.

What the SEC does is probably more important for Pitt. If the SEC makes moves that either expand their conference to 16 and/or snag some ACC teams, then Pitt truly gets into the expansion game. Pitt would be a top choice for them to replace a lost member and/or to help expand their conference to 16.

The ACC definitely seems disinclined to be proactive at this point, so do not expect some sort of preemptive move on their part.

Best guess, Pitt won’t be making any sort of announcement of leaving the Big East — or some new Big Mess until some time in 2011.