Oregon State and Washington State are the only teams left after the Pac-12 mass exodus of the last month, however, those schools reportedly plan to remain in the dying conference and help rebuild it back to prominence.
The SEC started a trend that the Big-10, Big-12, and ACC have followed and are trying to turn their once regional conferences into national powerhouses. However, to grow those conferences others must die, and that is slowly what has been happening to the Pac-12 since last year.
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UCLA and USC making the decision to leave for the Big-10 was a gut punch for the legendary West Coast league, however, few realized how fatal it might be. When those two national brands took their sticks and balls and left it unexpectedly opened up the floodgates for others to follow suit.
Earlier this month, Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Oregon, and Washington walked out on the Pac-12 not long after the conference landed a less profitable-than-expected broadcast deal from AppleTV+. Then this week, after rumors swirled throughout August, Stanford, SMU, and California made the switch and will be a part of the ACC starting in 2024.
Pac-12 could target schools like Boise State and Air Force
It now leaves Oregon State and Washington State as the only schools left in the once-powerful conference. While there had been rumblings of some smaller conferences making a push to add the two universities, it seems they may be staying put if they can be successful with a new scheme.
On Friday, Action Network college football insider Brett McMurphy reported the two schools are “still trying to rebuild the Pac-12, maintain this thing & steal some of the Mountain West schools.”
Pulling from the Mountain West Conference makes a lot of sense since many of the schools are located in the Western half of the country. And there are some very notable teams from the MWC that were worthy of a prestigious spot in the Pac-12 even before the mass exodus of 2023.
Some of the notable schools in the conference include Boise State, UNLV, Air Force, San Diego State, Hawai’i, and Fresno State.