After months of speculation, the decision to stay put at 10 teams could have an impact on several schools and conferences in the coming months. Here are five things impacted by the conference’s decision to stay put.

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Texas, OU marriage

So Texas and Oklahoma are still the main influencers in the conference, and that marriage continues. It will be interesting to see if the 10-team conference splits into two divisions, and whether the Longhorns and Sooners would still be in the same division (likely the case). For all the rumors about Oklahoma and Texas exploring options in other conferences, it appears they are committed to keeping the Big 12 up and running.

Tom Herman

It’s easy to connect the dots here. Herman is one of the hottest coaching commodities in the FBS, and keeping Houston out of the Big 12 is going to force Herman into a decision. He can stay at Houston and continue crafting a Group of 5 power. The Cougars are 19-2 under his watch, but the margin for error to get into the College Football Playoff is zero.

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Herman could choose to stay, but some other Power 5 schools could be interesting. By other schools, we mean Texas if they decide to move on from Charlie Strong.

Cincinnati, BYU

Cincinnati and BYU appeared to be viable candidates to join the Big 12 because of their football-basketball combination, but those schools will stay in purgatory as a result of the decision. Cincinnati had success in the Big East under Brian Kelly during the BCS era, but that will be harder to come by in the American Athletic Conference.

BYU — an independent — plays a Power 5-level schedule. The Cougars will have to wait for another round of expansion to be considered. These two schools belong in a Power 5 conference. This verdict hurts them the most.

Big 12

This decision neither hurts nor helps the Big 12, which still has an uphill fight to keep up with the Power 5 conferences right now. Adding a championship game should help next year, but this year it’s going to be a stretch to get the conference into the College Football Playoff. West Virginia and Baylor probably can’t afford to lose a game.

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The “one true champion” motto has worked against the conference — that’s what happened in 2014 — and programs not named Oklahoma or Texas aren’t going to be given a margin for error. Baylor and TCU already found that out the hard way.

AAC

The Big 12 didn’t raid the AAC, and that gives a promising Group of 5 conference a chance to grow. The football in that conference is good. Holding on to Herman at Houston would help, and Navy was a fantastic add to the conference. Memphis, South Florida and Cincinnati are competitive programs. This means the Group of 5 doesn’t have to do more shuffling for the time being, at least until the Big 12 or another Power 5 conference reconsiders expansion again.