This Is The Most Realistic Realignment For the Big 12

Morgantown, West Virginia – With rumors and TV contract debates being rapidly talked about, the pieces for the new era of the new college football world are starting to fall into place.

As previously mentioned in our last article about realignment (https://voiceofmotown.com/report-big-12-to-expand-to-16-teams/), Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah are looking to join the Big 12. That isn’t where the story ends, though.

With Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff stubbornly believing the PAC-12 is worth a lot more than it is, which is holding the conference back from any chance at a real TV deal for the conference. This gives the Big 12 and the Big Ten the chance to purge and put down the PAC-12 for good. The Big Ten on the other hand is looking to seek an offer from Amazon for a new TV deal, and with Oregon, Washington, Standford, and California looking for a new conference, the foundation for a conference leap is looking more and more likely every day.

What will this mean for the Big 12? 

Well, this gives the Big 12 an opportunity to expand to 20 teams. If the Big 10 decides to expand to 20, it will most likely open up the door for the SEC to expand as well to combat the Big 10’s expansion. With this, the SEC will have no other choice but to take the best of the best from the heart of the ACC. My guess is North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State, and Miami. Those are the four best brands from the conference and will allow the Big 12 to take the best of what is left over.

This is the BEST case scenario for West Virginia and would allow them and Cincinnati to have a big say on who the new teams from the East would be. The likely members the Big 12 would target are Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, and Louisville. This would be a perfect compromise between East and West in the conference and give the Big 12 the best geographical fit all around with four pods of 5 schools each.

Examples of Big 12 Pods:

Northeast: West Virginia, Cincinnati, Pitt, NCST, Virginia Tech

Midwest: Louisville, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Oklahoma State

Southwest: UCF, TCU, Baylor, Houston, Texas Tech,

Four Corners: Utah, BYU, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado

It will be interesting to see in the next few weeks what conference realignment has in store for the Big 12, but if things end up like this, it will not only be big for the conference but HUGE for West Virginia. It would bring back rivalry games, and allow West Virginia to end up staying in a stable conference that only a little over a year ago, was on the brink of collapse. Unlike the PAC-12 which has made stupid decision after stupid decision, the Big 12 was smart and thought ahead.