4 landing spots for the remaining Pac-12 teams to seek refuge in the recent conference realignments

The Pac-12 has been decimated by conference realignment as the conference appears destined to lose its Power Five status in 2024. Furthermore, it could dissolve altogether as only four teams remain in the conference. College football insider Greg Swaim recently posed a question as to where the California Bears, Oregon State Beavers, Stanford Cardinal and Washington State Cougars will land.

He presented the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Conference USA and Mountain West Conference as options, tweeting:

"What do you think will happen to the #Pac4 teams of #Stanford, #CalBears, #Wazzu and #Beavers and how much longer will they have to tread water before a lifeboat saves them? #ACC #B1G #CUSA #MWC"

One conference that was notably suggested is the American Athletic Conference. College football analyst Jim Williams previously reported that the Pac-12 and AAC could merge, tweeting:

"A PAC-American merger could be set where Stanford plays a pool of Cal, OSU, WSU, SMU, RICE, TULANE, USF, Navy, and Temple each year with the rest of the conference rotating on a yearly basis. Frankly it would be a schedule that fits their profile. Like the Big 12 helped make Texas happy, the American can make Stanford /pac happy! Welcome to college sports 2023 and beyond!"

While nothing is set in stone at this point, it is clear that more changes are coming to the conference ahead of the 2024 season. What remains unclear, however, is if the four remaining schools will depart or if there will be an expansion to rebuild the conference.

How has conference realignment affected the Pac-12?

The Pac-12 has been hit the hardest by conference realignment as eight of the 12 schools have announced that they will be leaving after the coming season. In June 2022, the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans were the first to share their plans to leave the conference as both announced that they will be joining the Big Ten.

While the remaining 10 schools attempted to secure a long-term media rights deal, they began to see the writing on the wall this summer. In July, the Colorado Buffaloes were next to jump ship, announcing that they will join the Big 12.

The remaining nine schools were presented with a media rights offer and soon after, five announced their plans to leave. The Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies will join the Big Ten, while the Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State Sun Devils and Utah Utes will join the Big 12.