Paul Finebaum Doubts More Power Conference Expansion, Rips New Pac-12

College football insider Paul Finebaum fired a shot at the newly reconstituted Pac‑12 this week, calling its recent additions a “collection of rejects and misfits” while asserting that no further Power Conference realignment is likely.

Appearing on McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning, Finebaum remarked that he’s “shocked if major tremors start to occur within the Power Four right now,” pointing to the SEC, Big Ten, and ACC as content and stable for the moment.

That does leave the Big 12 in a group of its own, which Finebaum noted by saying, “In relation to the ACC, I don’t see any room for growth right there. I think the SEC-Big Ten conversation has been hashed out. I don’t think either is all that excited about taking anybody else in, which leaves the Big 12. They’ve been aggressive in recent years because they had to keep up, but I would be shocked if major tremors started to occur within the Power Four right now.”

That didn’t keep ESPN’s golden boy from ripping the Pac-12, though, as he roasted the league for some of their new potential additions.

“Listen, I don’t really recognize the Pac-12 as a collection of rejects and misfits,” Finebaum continued. “Texas State is probably a better add than it sounds because I think a lot of people probably aren’t all that familiar with what they’ve done. They have a good program, but it’s just cobbling a bunch of things together.”

In Finebaum’s eyes, that means no expected expansion from the SEC or Big Ten, leaving the Big 12 as one of the only Power Conferences still hungry for growth, even as the Pac‑12 tries to regain relevance.

Will anything come of that? It’s tough to say. Expansion can be a topic with some wild pace, and fans of just about every team in America have witnessed it.

Finebaum’s blunt critique serves as a double-edged revelation. The Pac-12’s scramble underscores the broader instability in the Power Four, where only a few leagues now hold upward momentum, as the other conferences stand pat; the Big 12 stands hungry for more.

For the Big 12, stagnation among peers isn’t a setback; it’s an opening. In a college football world defined by reinvention, Brett Yormark and Co. are poised to define what comes next.