The top 5 Big Ten expansion candidates as Colorado leaves Pac-12 for the Big 12
Let’s be honest for a quick second. When it comes to conference realignment, the dust never really settles.
Although the Big Ten seemed content to sit on the addition of USC and UCLA coming up in 2024 without any momentum toward adding additional schools to the mix, there is no doubt the Big Ten has its eyes on the developments going down in the Pac-12.
After already losing USC and UCLA to the Big Ten, the Pac-12 now loses one of its newer members, Colorado, to the Big 12. The Buffs will return to their former conference, the Big 12, that will look totally new to them next year.
The Big 12 welcomes four new members this year: BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston are joining the conference and longtime staples in the conference Oklahoma and Texas are leaving for the SEC next year.
Rumors suggest the Big 12 is looking to add one more program, potentially from the Power Five. Pac-12 schools Arizona, Arizona State and Utah have been considered among the most likely targets for the Big 12.
Even if the Big Ten wasn’t proactively seeking other new members from the West Coast, now feels like as good a time as any to reopen the conversation about the Big Ten’s next moves. There are some notable schools worth evaluating as they seek long-term stability.
Here are the top five Big Ten expansion candidates that Colorado is heading to the Big 12 and leaving the Pac-12 on the brink of a potential collapse from the power conference structure. One quick note on the omission of Texas and Oklahoma, which has always been on my personal Big Ten wish list. With those schools heading to the SEC, there is no way they change their course. Maybe the money would be better in the Big Ten, but it would not be that much of a difference than joining the SEC.
Oregon
Let’s start in the Pac-12, which is the most ripe for the picking. The Big Ten has already locked in USC and UCLA, and it could be just fine staying with those two if it chose. But the next best thing out of the conference could be Oregon. Adding Oregon would give the Big Ten a tent pole in the northwest and would help ease travel schedules for its two other West Coast additions.
The college football internet world was buzzing about a recent photo shared by Ohio State’s Brutus the Buckeye with the Oregon Duck. And while it may have nothing to do with expansion, it certainly seems timely.
But if you add Oregon, odds are another northwest program would come with it, and it doesn’t have to be Oregon State.
Washington
If peanut butter and jelly go together so well, why would you say no? And if the Big Ten is going to add Oregon, it makes too much sense not to add Washington with it. The two schools together would give the Big Ten as strong a footing as possible in the northwestn with Seattle and Portland locked down to go with that lucrative Los Angeles market.
But Washington does enough to stand on its own as a solid candidate for the Big Ten without the assist from Oregon. Some might even argue they are a better option anyway. But to me, this would have to be a package deal with Oregon and Washington. I’ll take one without the other, but I really want them both if this is the direction the Big Ten decides to go.
Colorado
Has the ink dried on the paperwork yet? If not, then the Big Ten could still potentially leave the door open for Colorado to the Big Ten. And this isn’t just to get Deion Sanders to coach a Big Ten game, as much fun as that would be to see. This is all about adding that Denver television market to lock down the Mountain time zone, fill the gap between the West coast and Nebraska and pair Nebraska with another historic rival dating to its time in the Big 8 and Big 12.
And imagine the drama that would stir up in the Big 12 if the conference lost Colorado before they ever actually rejoined.
Kansas
As far as football is concerned, this move doesn’t make too much sense. Kansas football barely moves the needled and every move the Big Ten has mad in expansion has been backed by a strong focus on football audiences. So this is a less-than-likely option to throw out there, but it would make so much more sense for basketball. A conference with Kansas going head-to-head with Michigan State, Purdue, Maryland, Michigan, and UCLA every year would help provide a boost to the Big Ten’s basketball lineup without a doubt.
Notre Dame
Look, you can’t possibly at this point put together a list of the top five Big Ten expansion candidates and not include Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a perfect fit in the Big Ten with an established history with a number of its members like Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and soon to be USC. The Fighting Irish are a top brand name that will draw television viewers. They slide right into the mix in a variety of other sports. They’re already a Big Ten school in ice hockey.
The biggest hurdle to the Big Ten opening the doors for Notre Dame is Notre Dame’s unwillingness to ring the doorbell of football conference membership. Notre Dame did it once for the sake of having a football season at all in 2020 with its partnership with the ACC. At some point, one might think there would simply be too much money in a Big Ten revenue share to pass on for the leaders in charge of such decisions at Notre Dame. Joining the Big Ten would not tarnish the Notre Dame imagery when it can continue to build serious history with some of its esteemed rivals and play more games against schools like Penn State, UCLA, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
Notre Dame has a case for not wanting to join a conference though with the upcoming expansion of the College Football Playoff. Not joining a competitive conference like the Big Ten could potentially make it easier for the Irish to get into a 12-team playoff, and the Fighting Irish quite literally could be banking on that outlook.
If Notre Dame to the Big Ten doesn’t happen now, it never will.
