Pac-12 expansion update: 9 new teams get linked to Teresa Gould's conference after 4 MWC schools trigger conference realignment

The Pac-12 expansion has begun as the Conference of Champions is starting to add teams outside of the Washington State Cougars and the Oregon State Beavers. On Thursday morning, the conference announced that four Mountain West Conference schools -- Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State -- were all joining for the 2026-27 academic year.

Now, On3 Sports' Pete Nakos has listed nine teams that he is watching out for that could join the Pac-12 Conference. Not only are teams coming from the Group of Five, but even some former Pac-12 teams that left the conference this season.

• Memphis Tigers
• Tulane Green Wave
• UTSA Roadrunners
• California Golden Bears
• Stanford Cardinal
• UNLV Rebels
• Air Force Falcons
• Wyoming Cowboy
• New Mexico Lobos

The MWC teams' addition is just the first phase of the Pac-12 expansion as they need to add two more schools to reach the minimum of eight needed to qualify as an FBS conference, per the NCAA rules. Their deadline to reach that is July 2026.

With the news of the conference reaching six teams, Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould should not be too far away from landing a media rights deal as well.

Which schools make the most sense for the Pac-12 expansion?

Conference realignment makes the Pac-12 expansion an interesting situation as schools are going to be moving left and right. With the conference being six universities on the West Coast of the United States, it is difficult to picture them expanding much outside of that.

The two schools on this list that Pete Nakos posted are former Pac-12 members California Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinal. Their location and history with the conference would fit right in and with the unstable nature of the Atlantic Coast Conference right now, this could be a good fit.

Of course, there are other schools as the Pac-12 expansion seemingly is running through the Mountain West Conference and potentially bludgeoning the MWC would make sense to kick them while they are down.

With the vendetta after seeing the scheduling agreement not be extended, do not be surprised to see the MWC be essentially swallowed up by the Pac-12 Conference in the future.