Despite losing 10 of its 12 schools to realignment, the Pac-12 appears as though it’s going to survive.
Rumors arose late Wednesday night that the Pac-12 was looking to add a quartet of Mountain West Conference (MWC) schools. And it was confirmed Thursday morning that Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State are joining the Pac-12.
The Pac-12 will have six members beginning in the 2026-27 season, but it will still need two members to hit the eight-school FBS minimum. The Pac-12 could look to add further MWC schools or it could broaden its focus across the college football landscape.
On3 Sports reported that it’s, “a logical move for Cal and Stanford to re-join the Pac-12,” should a window open.
Pete Nakos of On3 pointed to the legal battles surrounding Florida State and Clemson and the ACC, but the two programs appear no closer to breaking the complicated ACC Grant-of-Rights agreement today than they did when the legal proceedings began. If FSU and Clemson are unlikely to exit the conference, so are Cal and Stanford.
And while the Pac-12 appears as though it will survive, it won’t be a Power conference. There’s still work to be done to maintain its FBS status and any sort of postseason relevancy.
The ACC, on the other hand, is one of the four Power conferences and has one of those four automatic berths in the College Football Playoff. The Pac-12 will need to broker a new television deal, too.
Cal is off to a 2-0 start in the 2024-25 season, knocking off Auburn on the road in a big win for the conference. And Stanford is 1-1 early in the new season.
There could be further realignment in college athletics, but it doesn’t appear as though the ACC will be impacted in the near future — either by Clemson and Florida State or Cal and Stanford.
Yeah…cal Berkeley and Stanford are going to whore around with boise state and the Colorado school of mines
They ain’t getting invited anywhere else if the ACC falls apart.
Headline: “Cal and Stanford Linked to Pac-12″Last Sentence: “There could be further realignment in college athletics, but it doesn’t appear as though the ACC will be impacted in the near future — either by Clemson and Florida State or Cal and Stanford.”
Got it.
just blow up the ACC. Half the teams want out anyway
Not to mention the stupid grant of rights they had to sign. Pac12 doesn’t have enough money to get them out of it. Nobody in the ACC has enough to get out of it. That’s why FSU is suing.
All this talk about conferences is complete BS. Get rid of all conferences and make it a free for all. Take the top 12 teams at the end of the season and do a playoff for the championship. Divide all profits at end of season depending on your record and rank. 🙏🇺🇸❤️💰💰
I agree with kowboygoc do away with all conferences and bowl games as they mean nothing. Take top 12 teams and be done with the silly stuff