While NIL and the transfer portal have had huge impacts on the landscape of college football, nothing has changed the sport more than conference realignment.
A decade ago, when Nebraska, Texas A&M, Colorado, and Missouri left the Big 12 it upset the apple cart of college football. Texas and Oklahoma followed by USC and UCLA, leaving their Power Five conferences for greener pastures has turned over the tables.
The moves over the last year have put the SEC and Big Ten at the forefront of college football, leaving the ACC and Big 12 behind in college football’s version of the Monday Night Wars. The ACC and the Big 12 have solid foundations even if they don’t have the same media rights bargaining position as the SEC and Big Ten. The Pac-12 looks like the conference that is on the flimsiest foundation with the Big Ten and Big 12 lurking.
New Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has been open about the conference’s desire to expand. Not long after the USC-UCLA announcement, it was reported that the Big 12 was looking to add Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. Things have slowed down since as the Pac-12 entered a 30 day window to open negotiations on their media right deal, but the interest from the Big 12 is still there.
And if they were able to, they’d be interested in adding Oregon and Washington, though the Big 12 will have to contend with the Big Ten for those northwestern powers.
As conference realignment continues to reshape the future of college football, let’s take a look at seven schools the Big 12 should target in conference expansion.