Who’s most likely to survive latest round of conference realignment? Big 12, Pac-12 or ACC?
The Power Five conferences are looking more and more like a “Power Two” these days with the SEC getting Oklahoma and Texas and the Big Ten getting USC and UCLA.
For better or worse, this appears to be the new world order, and it begs the question: With the Big Ten and SEC the clear top dogs, who will be left to stand with them when this realignment craziness subsides?
If the ACC loses Miami and Clemson, that’s a massive problem. If Miami leaves, Florida State will likely follow, most likely to the SEC. Clemson is already considered an SEC program in all but name. If the conference holds on to North Carolina and Duke, it could be alright, but if it loses the Hurricanes, that’s a backbreaker.
The Pac-12 isn’t looking much better.
Let’s just say it: If Oregon leaves, the Pac-12 is as good as dead. According to Sports Illustrated, Oregon booster and Nike co-founder Phil Knight wants the Ducks in the Big Ten.
However, there’s another conference that wants Oregon.
According to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, the Big 12 is trying to bring six teams from the Pac-12 to the Big 12. Oregon is among those six, along with Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah, and Washington.
After being viewed as unstable after the OU-Texas move was announced, the Big 12 appears to be the most ambitious of the three Power Five conferences hit by realignment in recent years. It already has four schools coming in 2023, and if it can get all of the six programs it wants from the Pac-12, the Big 12 would have 18 teams, spanning from coast to coast.
That would secure the future of the Big 12, leaving the Pac-12 on life support. Who does the Pac-12 get to replace those schools?
The Pac-12 is set to renegotiate its media rights deal, so we’ll see if it can get its schools to stay where they are.
This is an ever-changing situation that seems to be the new norm of collegiate athletics in 2022. The SEC and Big Ten have reshaped the college football landscape. The ACC will have to worry about the Big Ten and the SEC poaching teams. The Big 12 looks to be solidifying its future while the Pac-12 may not have much of a future left if the Big 12 successfully raids it.
A year ago, it looked like the Big 12 would be the Power Five conference to take a back seat, but with their additions of the BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF along with the reported attempted additions of the Pac-12 schools, the Big 12 looks to have a long, bright future ahead of itself.
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