The Pac-12 is Dead

Enjoy it while it lasts, because after this season the Pac-12 is going to be a hollow corpse of a conference. Last night, the Pac-12 announced that Colorado will be leaving the conference to join the Big-12 after the ’23-’24 season. This is a follow up to USC and UCLA, who are already scheduled to leave the conference to join the Big Ten in 2024.

ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum went as far as saying the Pac-12 will no longer be a power five conference. “You may as well administer the PAC 12 its last rites,” Finebaum said. He continued by saying that without USC, and now the departure of the Deion Sanders lead Colorado program, there is no longer any national relevance to the conference. 

With the departures of USC, UCLA, and now Colorado at the end of this season, the Pac-12 will be down to just nine teams in 2024, barring any expansions. 

I have no idea where this conference goes from here. Paul Finebaum basically calling Time of Death on them post-2023 season feels almost consensus unless the Pac-12 can swindle someone away and replace these teams. Regardless if Colorado is successful in Deion’s first year or not, that’s a big name to lose; but to me USC was basically the death sentence. That is the program in the Pac-12. 

If the Pac-12 fails to make any moves to make up for the lose of those three schools, it will be very interesting to see how fans, the media, and the committee treat the conference in 2024.