After it became official that USC and UCLA would be leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024, one thing became true: All bets are now off.
While the Pac-12 is exploring its expansion options, it’s hard to believe that all of its member schools will stand pat and wait for everything to work out. Just like every other conference and FBS school out there, you’d have to imagine many of the other schools in the conference will be kicking the tires on potential conference realignment destinations if and when the next domino falls.
It appears that a number of Pac-12 schools will be among those exploring those opportunities. According to Jason Scheer of Wildcat Authority, the University of Arizona, Arizona State, the University of Utah, and the University of Colorado are meeting with the Big 12 to discuss potentially moving over.
On paper, at least, it makes a lot of sense, especially if you assume the Big Ten will eventually want to poach Washington and Oregon, if not also Stanford and Cal. The Utah–BYU rivalry becomes a conference game. Colorado gets conference rivals on both sides and gets to rekindle old Big 12 rivalries. Arizona and Arizona State stay together and bring the coveted Phoenix market with them. And the Big 12 retains some semblance of geography, though Central Florida throws things off.
On the basketball side, the idea of Arizona joining the same conference as Kansas is a huge upgrade.
I love that core group.
A lot of great rivalries and FB& BB muscle with some good Eastern exposure to go with it.
Those Arizona and Kansas games are going to be. pic.twitter.com/6vROuUUwA0 — Marc Londo (O.T.B. Productions)
(@mlondo856) July 3, 2022
Of course, it’s conference realignment season so take everything you hear with a grain of salt for now. But still, given what’s happened in the past, let alone the past couple of days, none of this sounds too surprising.
And of course, remember, the Big 12 could decide to do this only to see some of their schools leave for the ACC or elsewhere. Who knows where this carousel stops…
Let the march towards megaconferences commence!
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About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.