Prior to the announcement that the Colorado Buffaloes would become the prodigals and return to the Big 12, there was plenty of buzz surrounding San Diego State joining the Pac-12.
The only problem was that an official invite never came and the Aztecs had to go crawling back to the Mountain West. It cost them legal fees but they avoided paying a huge exit fee. But as we all know, college realignment is a fluid situation and it can change in an instant.
Take Colorado for example, it seemed as though they would wait on a media deal before determining their future. The deal still hasn’t come and now the Buffs head to the Big 12, which is suddenly more stable despite losing both Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC.
Does the Pac-12 and George Kliavkoff dare go back to the Aztecs now that they are staring at just nine teams for the 2024-25 calendar year? Do the Aztecs even entertain the idea? The answer to both of those questions is an emphatic yes. The conference needs to do something and a school like SDSU should certainly want to jump up a level to the Power Five.
The hitch in this plan has to revolve around Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. These five schools have been in contact with the Big 12 at some point over the last year since the conference announced they were “open for business.” If one or more of these schools opts to join the Big 12, we could be talking about a potential Pac-12 and Mountain West type of merger.
If not San Diego State, there are several other schools that the Pac-12 should be gauging interest on. Just look to the Mountain West if they want to get back to 12 teams, where they can potentially add Boise State, Fresno State, or UNLV as CBS Sports discussed. And don’t forget about the Pony Express either.