The Big 12 shocked the world last week when they announced that the Colorado Buffaloes would be returning to the conference after over a decade in the PAC 12. Many analysts are convinced that Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark isn’t done yet with his raid of the PAC 12.
While the Big 12 should certainly keep their interest high in PAC 12 schools, there is a university currently being overlooked by pundits and maybe even Yormark himself, the San Diego State Aztecs.
Would the Aztecs be as attractive to fans and TV partners as major brands in Oregon and Washington? No, however, Oregon and Washington would rather be in the Big 10, and the PAC 12 school most heavily linked to the Big 12 by the media at the moment is the Arizona Wildcats.
The Wildcats wouldn’t be a bad addition by any means, it would give the Big 12 access to the Phoenix TV market, and the Wildcat’s national powerhouse basketball program would fit like a hand in a glove in the best college basketball conference.
However there is a hangup, a big one, the Wildcats are terrible at football both right now and historically. The Aztecs on the other hand just went to the National Championship game in basketball, and have a strong football program that just built a new stadium.
San Diego State would also give the Big 12 access to the San Diego TV market, and help recruiting league-wide in southern California one of the nation’s hottest recruiting beds.
Not to mention giving TV partners access to Pacific Coast Time zones for some late-night football highly coveted by networks looking to squeeze as many football games into a Saturday as they can.
So while continuing to raid the PAC 12 is a good decision, San Diego State deserves some serious consideration as well.
