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If you can’t add two schools with the cache of Texas and Oklahoma, like the SEC is doing, the answer appears to be to take the initiative to make said conference stand on its own.
While the Big 12 still appears to be standing in a proverbial no man’s land after losing its two anchor programs, the other three Power Five conferences are looking to potentially make a giant splash. Rather than see one poach a couple of schools from the others, continuing college football’s big shakeup, according to The Athletic (article requires a subscription), the three conferences have been discussing an alliance.
The Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC are engaging in high-level discussions about an alliance, sources tell The Athletic.
Talks have centered around not just a scheduling alliance in football but in broader cooperation, according to sources in the three conferences. Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips have been having conversations for several weeks.
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According to The Athletic, said alliance will not include the Big 12. It would mean the three aforementioned conferences would work together to essentially be the NCAA governing body. Of course, there could also be some cooperation in scheduling, with schools from the different conferences playing each other more regularly, instead of perhaps the SEC. Certainly, and this is conjecture, they could also lower the number of conference games to schedule more teams within said alliance, as well.
Really, the possibilities are endless as to what it could mean, but one thing is for sure: the three are serving notice to the SEC that it’s not the biggest, baddest boss in college football.
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