You could make a case that a team from Houston or Dallastown (Pa.) or Austintown (Ohio) could join the Big East Conference before a school from Fort Worth, Texas.

Heck, Cleveland, Georgetown, Pittsburg and Temple would make more sense, as all are towns in Texas. But, in a geographical oddity, Texas Christian University is heading east.

When the Horned Frogs join the conference for the 2012-13 school year, they might have a direct path to the national championship.

Credit TCU for taking a golden opportunity and running with it. Under head coach Gary Patterson, the Frogs have pulled off back-to-back undefeated seasons, but they were on the outside looking in because Mountain West doesn’t have an automatic Bowl Championship Series berth.

The Horned Frogs have been able to get one of the two at-large berths, but because of their conference, they tend to get into one of the lower bowls and not the national championship game.

Enter the Big East, which could pave the way for getting TCU to that elite game.

Do you think Pitt — which struggles against other conference teams like West Virginia, Cincinnati and Connecticut — will have a better chance at winning the mediocre Big East?

The end result? It will keep some of the teams from their shot at one of the top four bowls and a chance at a national title, but this actually will benefit the Big East teams.

While TCU becomes the 17th basketball team in the Big East, it gives the conference its ninth team in football. Villanova would be No. 10 if it bumps up its football program.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is the nation’s fifth-largest media market, and adding that much attention never hurts. It also could open up recruiting in that area. Players who are overlooked in a football hotbed such as Texas might decide to come east and play against the Horned Frogs.

The way the college football landscape is changing, teams leaving one conference to bolster another is the wave of the future.

TCU, however, will reap the largest benefit, but it adds a little cache to Big East football, which sorely needs it.

West Virginia, which beat Pitt 35-10 Friday, is the lone conference Top 25 team.

The Horned Frogs have now set up their future with their decision Monday. Seeing a chance at a national title stymied by an affiliation with a conference without an automatic BCS bid, TCU has removed that hurdle.

Much like teams such as Boise State, TCU also took a step to prove it’s worthy of a chance.

In other words, if you can beat them, join them.