The SEC is welcoming Texas and Oklahoma to the conference. The ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 have come together to form The Alliance. The future of the Big 12 in its current form is a bit uncertain.

As Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said during The Alliance’s introductory press conference on Tuesday, “This is a year for seismic shifts” in the college football world.

Even though only 3 of the Power 5 conferences are part of The Alliance, that doesn’t mean the SEC and Big 12 won’t be communicated with, according to Warren, who also stated that he has “great respect for the SEC.”

“I have great respect for Greg Sankey and his leadership,” Warren said. “I would say one of the most powerful mentors of my life was Mike Slive, who was the SEC commissioner before Greg. He helped train Greg. Mike had an important role in my life. My son is an SEC graduate. He received a degree from Mississippi State University before he became a grad transfer to Michigan State University”

In fact, Warren went on to share that the Power 5 commissioners have still been participating in a weekly call, with one having taken place Monday that included Sankey, Warren, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff and Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby.

“We communicate regularly and quite naturally,” Warren said. “I think the SEC had an opportunity in accepting Texas and Oklahoma to their conference. What that did is allowed all of us in college athletics to do was really take a step back and take a step forward in evaluating what will the next 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 years look like in college athletics? …

“We’re always aware of conference realignment … That’s always there. From where we sit, we have to be aware as far as what’s going on. … We live in uncertain times. I wouldn’t say this is a reaction to Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC, but I think, to be totally candid, is you have to evaluate what’s going on in the landscape of college athletics with all the things we are facing.”

And things are certainly changing. So it will be interesting to see how the college football landscape will be impacted by this wave of realignment and the formation of The Alliance.