SEC football fans are chuckling at the news coming out of the Houston Chronicle that Texas and Oklahoma have approached the conference about potentially joining.

If you listen carefully, you can hear Bob Stoops groaning in pain.

Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork is none too happy about the rumor.

Who knows what's going on in the minds of Longhorn and Sooner fans. Has anyone reached out to Jim Ross?

Hey, it's a rumor. Both Texas and Oklahoma representatives will neither confirm nor deny the report, so I guess we'll treat it as gospel until they do.

Point is, the SEC doesn't need Texas or Oklahoma. The conference has its hands full as it is trying keep the conference schedules balanced with the traditional non-conference rivals such as Clemson, Miami, Louisville, and Georgia Tech. They don't need two more teams added to the mix.

Besides, the SEC already has the best team in Texas (giggle).

However, as the concept of superconferences is beginning to take root, and the idea of College Football Playoff expansion seems to be inevitable at this point, there are a handful of teams both the conference and SEC football fans would probably love to see join before the two big fish in the little pond known as the Big 12.

Maybe adding some of these teams to the SEC would halt the playoff expansion talk, too.

SEC football expansion candidate Memphis Tigers

Memphis seems to usually field a more-than-competitive team and has seen some real success in recent years. They also have (or had) a reputation for playing nasty on defense, something SEC football fans love to see.

The Tigers are one of the teams bellyaching about lack of playoff opportunity, so this would give them a real proving ground.

The in-state rivalries with Tennessee and Vanderbilt are a natural fit for the SEC East, giving them a chance to claim "We Run This State" if able to sweep both teams in a season.

The only real drawback would be adding yet another team with the Tiger mascot. Maybe Auburn would be willing to switch permanently to War Eagles? Another discussion, perhaps.

SEC football expansion candidate UAB Blazers

The Blazers have a great story, with the program going belly-up and then being resurrected to the tune of three consecutive Conference-USA championship games and two conference titles.

What better way to cap off this feel-good story than by admittance into the best conference in college football? Would the Blazers struggle? Probably, but locking horns with elite SEC talent week-in and week-out would only strengthen their growing program.

Yearly games with in-state rivals like Auburn and Alabama would prove a lot of fun and could add even more intrigue to the Iron Bowl.

Again, this would allow for a strong Group of Five team to have a chance at the College Football Playoff and could provide some fresh faces to other major bowl games with SEC tie-ins.

Roddy White, you need to campaign for this move.

SEC football expansion candidate Appalachian State Mountaineers

The Mountaineers of Appalachian state have been giant-killers for years (cue the collective sigh from Ann Arbor), and they regularly face SEC opponents. Why not just admit them into the ranks of the conference?

This would give the SEC a team in North Carolina, a state in which the conference does not have a toe hold. The Mountaineers' geographic rivals all reside in the ACC, but there could be some sparks flying if they were added to the SEC East and made to face Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia on an annual basis.

This would be a move that might actually frighten a few SEC fanbases who have seen what Appalachian State can do when they are upset-minded. It would be a great way of sorting out the contenders from the pretenders.

For the Mountaineers, more television time, more money, and more postseason hopes.

SEC football expansion candidate Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns

How fun would it be to have another team within the borders of Louisiana to meet up with LSU every year? That's why the Louisiana "Don't Call Us Lafayette" Ragin' Cajuns joining the SEC as part of the West division would be a natural fit.

Louisiana has been a fun and exciting team to watch with three straight appearances in the Sun Belt Championship Game (no wins yet) in head coach Billy Napier's first three seasons and a top twenty finish in 2020.

Not only would the yearly clash with LSU become a favorite game quickly, but matching Lousiana up with Arkansas, and the two teams residing in Mississippi would build some exciting rivalries pretty quickly.

This move would again give a deserving team a shot at some bigger bowl games and a legit shot at fighting their way into the College Football Playoff.

SEC football expansion candidate Louisiana UCF Knights

You had to know this one was coming. The team who claims they were robbed of a national championship. The fans who insist that they can compete on a weekly basis with the big boys (rather than just an isolated game at the end of the season). UCF, ladies and gentlemen.

So…let them prove it.

Throw them into the SEC East (and against former AD Danny White, now at Tennessee) and let them face the likes of Georgia, Florida, and Mizzou on a yearly basis, along with a rotating smorgasbord of SEC West nastiness.

I once proposed the idea of trading Vanderbilt for UCF, but just bringing them in via expansion would be even better. The SEC gets to keep their Vandy-bye, and UCF gets to finally show the world how wrong we all were about them.

It's a sure thing a few teams in the American Athletic Conference would love to see UCF pack up and move out.