Just split FBS into two factions already and get it over with. The fact that some folks are pretending the Pac-12 is a power conference again with the addition of four teams, all of which will be jumping from the Mountain West, screams of the need for a CTE examination.
Or maybe just our good, old-fashioned over-fetishization of college football is contributing to the acceleration of its demise.
The Pac-12 announced Thursday the addition of San Diego State, Fresno State, Colorado State and Boise State to the fold starting in 2026. That foursome has dominated the Mountain West Conference in football for the last decade plus, with the current Hogs QB playing a role in the Broncos’ more recent success. Basically, since Utah, Texas Christian and Brigham Young left, the Aztecs, Bulldogs, Rams and Broncos have been the class of the conference.
There’s the rub. It took three superior, more storied and more successful programs leaving first before that quartet could step up. The Pac-12 is taking the middle-of-the-road schools of the mountains, gonna throw some new paint on ‘em, complete with keeping with the Conference of Champions branding and act as though little has changed in the swap from USC, UCLA, Washington and Arizona to SDSU, Fresno, CSU and Boise.
Arkansas Connections in the future Pac-12?
Go ahead and add UNLV, Memphis and UTSA while you’re at it, Pac-12.
That’s what folks around here seem to want, anyway. The Runnin’ Rebels, at least, make geographical sense and according to CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello, “…not only because of its location, but also because of its administration, funding within in the athletic department.” I’d argue strongly against Marcello’s additional claim that “the way they play football” is also a plus. Sure, Barry Odom, the former Arkansas defensive coordinator, led UNLV to a 9-3 record last year and has them rolling to a 3-0 start so far this fall after knocking off Kansas on Friday. Impressive.
Before that? The Sin City school had a grand total of two winning seasons this millennium (8-5 in 2000, which was capped by a dismantling of Arkansas in the Las Vegas Bowl; 7-6 in 2013). If Odom has success again this year, it would surprise no one if he bolted for a real power-conference job.
Say, like, Arkansas, for example? Or, what if UNLV drew a Pac-12 invite? Would he stay and build his resume further in a so-called power conference? He shouldn’t. Frankly, that seems like career suicide. Or at least treading water. UNLV hasn’t the track record to suggest sustained quality and even in a revamped Pac-12 will remain far behind the big boys that many superior gigs will rank ahead.
Moves Don’t Affect Hogs Except Maybe in Basketball
If Odom were a basketball coach, sure. I’d be begging my athletic director and donors and whoever’s wheels needed greasing to get me to the new Pac-12 ASAP. Washington State and Oregon State have little basketball tradition, but more cachet than some currently in the Mountain West. And a UNLV-SDSU-(insert team here) trio fighting for the top spot most years isn’t a half-bad deal (remember, San Diego State was in the national title game last year). Especially if, if Memphis were to join, as some project.
Arkansas may be more prone to play Memphis and UNLV in basketball if those two schools joined the Pac-12. A renewed rivalry with Memphis is appealing to most in the Natural State. It used to be hot-and-heavy thing until John Calipari, now the Arkansas coach, put an extinguisher on it when he was the Tigers’ coach.
The name recognition of the conference is what Memphis and UNLV’s current leaders are banking on. By sheer virtue of its earned Conference of Champions nickname, the hope is Joe Regular fans will associate the league’s prestige over its new denizens. Nevermind the expanded Pac-12’s status would still rank two tiers below the most elite (if not more than two).
Frankly, it’s all a hard sell to me. A few years back, the worst and dumbest men you know on the internet were fond of a particular slogan, apparently originally said by some character in Game of Thrones (I don’t know as I can’t be bothered to look up a made-up quote from a television show I’ve never seen and that morons parrot like its real advice). You know the quote. Shoot, I bet you can see the meme.
The Internet Loves Idiocy
“A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinion of sheep.” That quote or some slight alteration of such.
Sports. Politics. Where to eat dinner. No matter what the argument or debate, some clowns throw that remark out like it’s their whole mantra. A shame, too, since the meaning behind it is (somewhat) valid.
Arkansas Razorback fans, players, brass, whoever, have little reason to care who joins the Pac-12. The Razorbacks play in the SEC. They’re fighting against the Big Ten for football supremacy, against the Big Ten and Big 12 as the best basketball conference in the land and the Big 12 and ACC for top marks in baseball. Nowhere does the Pac-12 enter the conversation.
Maybe Arkansas Should Change Conferences
Unless, maybe, Arkansas wants to join the Pac-12.
Not as far-fetched as you might think. In every year that the Hogs struggle in football, one of the terminally-online Razorbacks fans will throw out “We don’t even belong in the SEC” or some such. And to a certain extent, s/he is right. Arkansas is near the bottom of the league’s football barrel, a troubling state in a world in which football’s effect on college sports is outsized and only continuing to grow larger. Maybe Arkansas abandons the SEC, with all its money, for the Pacific Ocean. Hey, Eric Musselman did it.
It’ll never happen. Money matters more than anything in this world, especially in college sports. Arkansas would not give up its lucrative spot in the SEC, no way, no how. Deep South sticks with Deep South, y’all. Meanwhile, watching from La-Z-Boys across the country, those self-described lions in everyday life will guess and predict and project about the future of their favorite sport. Something tells me, though, we ain’t seen nothing yet.
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