More Realignment: Pac 2 Expanding to 6
Credit: Oregon State University Athletics
By Tucker Harlin
Apparently, we haven’t seen the last of conference realignment in college sports.
It was announced in the wee hours of Thursday morning that Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Colorado State are joining the remnants of Oregon State and Washington State in what is still called the Pac-12 in 2026.
Good morning! It's a beautiful new day 😎#BackThePac pic.twitter.com/jfIU1Gk22u
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) September 12, 2024
This move isn’t a total surprise as Oregon State and Washington State’s “conference” schedules are both filled with Mountain West schools after all their natural rivals left for the Big 10, Big 12, and ACC.
But if you surveyed fans following the collapse in leadership from the Pac-12, most would tell you the Beavers and Cougars would fizzle into irrelevancy in the Mountain West instead of the Pac-12 making an effort to add other schools.
Should those four schools and possibly others make the move, how does that change the national perception of the Pac-12?
Essentially what you get is a group of five juggernaut in Boise State, two programs in Fresno State and San Diego State fluctuate between Mountain West championship appearances and three win seasons, and a mediocre at best program in Colorado State.
In the four team College Football Playoff era, Oregon State and Washington State were never in consideration to make an appearance. The exoduses from both programs when they didn’t move conferences set them back at least another three to four seasons on playoff hopes.
Under the current 12 team College Football Playoff format, group of five schools are receiving one automatic bid. The Pac-12 was a part of the power five before the exodus, but adding those four is like a worse version of what the Big 12 and ACC did.
The ACC hasn’t lost any powers (yet) but added SMU while its two biggest money makers sue to exit the conference.
The Big 12 lost a large chunk of its revenue when Oklahoma and Texas departed and added: American schools UCF, Houston, and Cincinnati, independent BYU, and Pac-12 expatriates Arizona State, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. None of those new members carry the brand weight of Oklahoma and Texas.
For College Football Playoff viewership purposes, it’s probably for the best if the Pac-12 is considered part of the soon to be “group of six” because of the blowout fatigue in the years of the four team playoff.
