The Pac-2 is officially growing again.
On Thursday, the surviving conference members of last year’s 10-team mass exodus announced four new schools will be added to the conference beginning in 2026-27.
Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Colorado State join Washington State and Oregon State in the revamped Conference of Champions.
It’s a net positive for college sports to keep the Pac-12 alive — even if it comes at the likely destruction of the Mountain West Conference. The Group of Five league gave Wazzu and Oregon State a lifeline via a scheduling alliance only to watch their own conference get raided by their guests. It’s a tough hang, but that’s the reality of college sports in 2024. And the Pac-12 almost assuredly isn’t done yet.
Good morning! It's a beautiful new day 😎#BackThePac pic.twitter.com/jfIU1Gk22u
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) September 12, 2024
The conference still needs at least two more schools to meet the minimum eight required for league membership under NCAA rules for the Football Bowl Subdivision.
So who should the Pac-12 add next? In the college football spirit of keeping this conference as weird as possible, we’ve got some ideas that would make the league endlessly entertaining.
University of Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors
Let’s start with the layup of all layups.
There is nothing college football fans want back more than Pac-12 After Dark. The final FBS games of the week always deliver the weirdest and wildest outcomes and there’s nothing like the camaraderie of posting through it together as the rest of the world goes to bed.
Bring Hawaii into the fold, promise fans it will kickoff no earlier than 10 p.m. ET each week and enjoy the ratings surge for the new America’s Team.
University of Wyoming Cowboys
Speaking of weird late-night games, there’s really no reason the Pac-12 shouldn’t invite Wyoming (aside from the incredibly small TV market).
The altitude in Laramie is 7,165 feet — nearly 2,000 feet higher than Boulder, Colorado. That does tremendous things to the football when it’s in the air, to say nothing of what it does to visiting players.
Let’s look at some of the big wins the Cowboys have pulled off at home in the last decade: No. 24 Fresno State (24-19), Texas Tech, Mizzou and No. 13 Boise State.
Get this team in the Pac-12.
UNLV Rebels
UNLV isn’t a bad team by any stretch — and there’s certainly a growing TV market out in the Nevada desert — but we can be honest about this. Las Vegas is one of the weirdest cities in the world. Every league wants a foothold for a major event along The Strip. The Pac-12 shouldn’t think twice about this. It’s a perfect fit.
Simon Fraser Red Leafs
Tell me with an honestly straight face that you don’t want the only Canadian school in the NCAA to join the Pac-12. You can’t do it.
Look, Simon Fraser might have a ways to go before it’s FBS ready, especially since the former D-II Lone Star Conference team gave up the sport in 2022. Sure, a 186–321–2 all-time record isn’t great. But to that I say first, it’s nothing a little TV/NIL money can’t fix. And second, Maple Leafs on football helmets!
Think outside the box, Pac-12. Go north and stake a claim to the Vancouver television market. Go get the Red Leafs.
Pomona–Pitzer Sagehens
LOOK AT THAT MASCOT.
Before I tell you anything else about this school, just take it all in.
Ok, now, can I interest you in a program that’s actually a joint venture by two schools: Pomona College and Pitzer College? Yes, the Sagehens are currently D-III. We’ll worry about that later. Their program clearly knows how to produce winners.
Gregg Popovich coached the basketball team from 1979-86 and won three straight SCIAC titles. Mike Budenholzer also came through Pomona College.
But this all goes back to the Sagehens mascot, Cecil. He’s got one eye on the field of play, and one eye on the enemies all around. He never sleeps. You will never catch him off-guard. Stealing from him is a death sentence.
He is the new face of the new Pac-12. Embrace it.
