The Big 12 spent more than a decade as a 10-team conference, and was prepared to spend decades more until Texas and Oklahoma joined the SEC. The Big Ten long ago left behind its numerical shackles and never looked back. The Pac-12, though, is not prepared to revert back to the Pac-10.
With USC and UCLA really going through with their move to the Big Ten, the Pac-12 is making preparation to replace them.
Multiple reports this week indicate the conference is focusing on making San Diego State and SMU members No. 11 and 12.
In reality, there really is no replacing USC and UCLA. The LA schools were not just the most valuable college brands west of Austin, Texas, they were the Pac-12's anchor to the nation's No. 2 media market. Their departure not only hurts the conference monetarily, it also makes life more difficult on the field, since every Pac-12 school recruits Southern California.
On that front, San Diego State appears to have the most leverage that a Group of 5 school has had, or ever will have, over a Power 5 conference.
SDSU's Snapdragon Stadium is an 89-mile drive from Mater Dei High School; the next-closest Pac-12 location, Arizona State's Sun Devil Stadium, is 370 miles away. Stanford Stadium is 390 miles away. Stanford and Cal may look down their bespectacled noses at SDSU's 151st national ranking in the US News and World Report (for the record, they're tied with Oregon State), but at this point in time the Pac-12 kinda, sorta needs the Aztecs.
The ideal fit left the building when USC and UCLA joined the Big Ten, but San Diego State is the only school that can even come close to filling that void.
As for SMU, commissioner George Kliavkoff is reportedly visiting campus on Wednesday.
Pac-12 commish George Kliavkoff visiting SMU Wednesday, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. San Diego State & SMU are top Pac-12 expansion candidates. Pac-12 needs more members & more inventory for new media rights deal, which is expected to rely heavily on digital streaming services
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) February 8, 2023
Kliavkoff will see first hand that SMU is very, very far from the West Coast, but adding the Mustangs would give the Pac-12 a presence in every major media market west of Interstate 35.
SMU is in the Dallas-Fort Worth media market, but the Mustangs do not carry it. The Ponies fall in line behind the Cowboys, the Longhorns/Aggies/Sooners, and then the Red Raiders/Horned Frogs/Bears/Cowboys. SMU's presence alone would be unlikely to get Pac-12 Network on D-FW cable systems. However, it's not 2010 anymore, so that may not matter.
CBS Sports reports that the Pac-12 is expected to be "heavily reliant" on a digital streaming partner for its post-USC/UCLA media contract. That to-be-determined streaming partner will just be looking for subscribers; it won't matter whether those subscribers live in Dallas or Duluth.
On that front, from where I sit BYU seems to be the better match than SMU. The Cougars would be an easier road trip for Pac-12 teams than Dallas, and would bring with them a national following as the Mormon church's preeminent university. However, it's likely that affiliation with the Mormon church that makes BYU a no-go for the conference.
San Diego State and SMU would immediately jump at the chance to join the conference, all Kliavkoff would have to do is say the word. Perhaps he's preparing to do just that.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.