The train to the Midwest came off the tracks last night and there’s no other way to put this than to say it was unexpected and is unnerving inside of WVU. It’s not over and this might just be a strategic pause, especially if key members of the government have become involved, but it might also be the totally unforeseen end.

I’m at a loss to explain how what everyone told everyone was so imminent was so easily disrupted, but it is what it is right now. WVU was in, and I’m now told for certain regardless of Missouri’s decision, which means the obstacle is Louisville.

That Nov. 5 game ought to be quite festive.

(Updates: The phone has been busy today. The firmest things I can relay:

There’s no sign that WVU is no longer being considered by the Big 12 and Louisville could join in addition to, and not automatically in place of, WVU. That makes 11 teams in the Big 12 and that worked OK with the Big Ten for many years.

– Oddly enough, twelve teams is not wholly endorsed because that conference championship game doesn’t make enough money to make up for the thinned revenue that comes with 12 teams instead of 10. The game also puts another obstacle in place of a team pursuing the national title.

– WVU’s senators and congresspersons are up to speed and monitoring the situation and ready to act on behalf of WVU and to amp up the rhetoric, though only if asked. They have not been asked.

– WVU is perfectly silent but the people on the periphery who can talk are uneasy, but cautiously confident.

– There absolutely was a press conference in the works for today. Big 12 people — the ones who weren’t readying a press release — were trying to find their way to Morgantown. Don’t lose sight of that. I just find it hard to believe it can go that far and then be reversed.