Pac-12 expansion candidates are nothing to get excited about

In June, UCLA and USC shocked college athletics by announcing they were leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. The schools will officially join the conference on Aug. 2, 2024.

Their moves have left the Pac-12 scrambling to find replacements. Neither SMU nor San Diego State, though, are exciting choices.

SMU, undergraduate enrollment of about 7,000, is best known nationally in sports for receiving the NCAA’s “death penalty” in 1987 for repeated NCAA violations in its football program. 

San Diego State, undergrad enrollment roughly 35,000, has won three Mountain West conference titles since 2012 but has never appeared in a premier bowl game.

By contrast, USC has won two national titles in football since 2000 and returned to prominence in the sport under head coach Lincoln Riley. While UCLA hasn’t found huge success in football recently, the team calls the Rose Bowl -- the sport's most famous venue -- home.

The move to add SMU and SDSU is apparently ahead of the league’s new TV deal. The hope is that SDSU can help add TV sets in southern California while SMU gives the league access to the Texas market. But it’s a fallacy.

On its best day, SMU might be the fourth-most popular college program in Texas. San Diego State is far down the pecking order in athletics among California schools.

If SMU and San Diego State are the best the Pac-12 commissioner can find, Pac-12 stalwarts Oregon and Washington should look for an escape hatch. Each will fade to irrelevancy if they remain in the conference. 

Their other option may be to to start a new conference with pickings of some of the best schools not aligned with the Big Ten, SEC and ACC. The remaining Pac-12 schools could join with some of the Big 12 schools to form a super conference. A top of the league featuring Oregon, Stanford, Washington, Cal, Houston and TCU isn’t the worst option.

It might be the only way for the remaining Pac-12 schools to stay relevant. It is certainly better than adding SMU and SDSU and claiming all is well.