When the original announcement regarding Texas and Oklahoma’s move to the SEC being confirmed came to light, it was clear evidence that the landscape of college athletics was about to shift.
While the Sooners and the Longhorns joining the SEC is an eye-opening move on its own, it also creates and has created a continuous domino effect for the rest of the college landscape.
Texas and Oklahoma unanimously accepted the SEC’s invitation to join the conference in July of 2021. Just a few months following that move, the Big 12 had extended invitations with acceptances from BYU, Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston to join the conference.
With the addition of the four teams into the conference, the Big 12 will play the 2023 football season with a total of 14 teams before being set to move back down to 12 following the subtraction of Texas and Oklahoma during the summer of 2024.
That doesn’t look to be the case anymore, though, considering a new report regarding the Big 12’s realignment this week.
A report from Action Network’s Brett McMurphy on Wednesday afternoon stated that Colorado is set to return to the Big 12 conference in 2024. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the Big 12’s presidents and chancellors voted late Wednesday night to unanimously approve the move to bring in the Buffaloes.
Colorado’s Board of Regents is expected to vote on the move to the Big 12 on Thursday.
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When someone gains something, another loses something, and that is the truth with the continued domino effect of Texas and Oklahoma.
With the Big 12 rushing to add in more teams and fill the spots that will be left behind by the Sooners and the Longhorns, the Pac-12 is starting to crumble.
Southern California and UCLA are already set for a move to the Big 10 starting in 2024 and now Colorado looks to be exiting the Pac-12 conference around or at the same time.
A report from CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd in March stated that the Big 12 had been in contact with Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State previously, implying that other Pac-12 schools could be looking for an exit strategy from the conference as well.
While some teams are waiting on officially making their move to another conference, other teams are waiting to survey the landscape and see how best to approach it. Oregon, another team from the Pac-12 for instance, is one of the widely-rumored teams to be looking for a way into a different conference at some point in the near future.
The Southeastern Conference will now play out the final year of a 14-team league before Texas and Oklahoma officially enter the league and continue the domino effect in and through the summer of 2024.
