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As suddenly revitalized Pac-12 expands, which Texas schools could get their shot?

With the Pac-12 poaching schools from the Mountain West, the race is on for Texas schools to get their power conference shot.

Because Texas State couldn’t quite pull off a win over a power conference school in front of a national audience Thursday — which would have made two years in a row, by the way — the door now swings open to North Texas for its matinee Saturday in Lubbock.

The stakes are high for the Mean Green and Texas Tech, too, come to think of it. Certainly for Joey McGuire, who’s trying to keep himself off hot-seat lists.

But Saturday’s game at Tech and every game from here on out is bigger than any coach or Lone Star bragging rights, especially for the likes of UTSA, Texas State, UNT and UTEP.

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The race for a Pac-12 bid is on.

May the best Texas team win.

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Make that teams.

Here’s the deal: Turns out the two-team Pac-12 wasn’t dead after all, just playing possum. Washington State and Oregon State snuck up on the Mountain West with a scheduling alliance, then poached four of its best schools this week. Nice. The last surviving members of the old Pac-12 apparently learned this act of deception after their former commissioner, George Kliavkoff, agreed to a similar non-aggression pact with the Big Ten and ACC. Next thing you knew, the Pac-12′s biggest brands were hanging out with the Big Ten and ACC while the Cougars and Beavers were left stranded on the West Coast all by their lonesome.

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The moral of this story is never double-date with a college athletic director, who’s probably looking for an upgrade.

Anyway, the reanimated Pac-12 still needs more working parts to meet the NCAA minimum of eight by the time the 2026 football season kicks off. The candidates aren’t overwhelming in an era when everything’s already been picked over.

The Pac-12 reportedly is hoping first and foremost for a refund of Stanford and Cal from the ACC. Even if those schools hadn’t signed away their grant-of-rights through 2036, why would they come back? Maybe because of the tenuous standing of the ACC, what with Florida State and Clemson constantly chirping.

Also, Stanford and Cal are getting just 30% of normal league shares for seven years. Still better than SMU’s cut, which is bupkis. Of course, the Mustangs aren’t short on billionaires. The same is true for Cal and Stanford, who are also just snooty enough academically not to want to be associated with the Mountain West expats.

What it means is that the field of candidates for the Pac-12 vacancies is wide open. How wide? According to ESPN, the next two on the list after Stanford and Cal are Memphis and Tulane.

Not exactly a Mount Rushmore of college football.

Fortunately, that’s the good news for schools from Texas looking to upgrade from the AAC, Sun Belt or Conference USA. The Pac-12 isn’t what it used to be, and never will be again. But it’s still a brand, which matters with TV, as does the late-night Pacific time zone for scheduling purposes. Amazon and Apple reportedly might be interested, as well as Turner and The CW.

Here’s all you need to know: The Pac-12 has enough in the bank to help mitigate a nice chunk of the $18 million in penalties each of the Mountain West schools will incur for deserting.

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So what are the chances a Texas school ends up out west? The San Jose Mercury News’ Jon Wilner — whose fingerprints are all over the Pac-12′s pulse — ranks UTSA’s odds second only to Memphis. The Roadrunners’ chances improve, he says, because Memphis prefers a bid from the Big 12 or ACC.

UTSA, Wilner says, would give the Pac-12 a large TV market, a football-crazy state and the Central time zone. Behind UTSA, Wilner lists UNLV, Tulane, Air Force and New Mexico.

Look, I get UNLV, because of proximity, tradition and potential. But Tulane, Air Force or New Mexico? If it were my choice, I’d rather have a team from Texas.

In fact, I’d rather have two.

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A couple of Texas teams would give the Pac-12 better balance, potentially built-in rivals and more resources in rich recruiting areas. Besides, if UTSA is so high up the Pac-12′s list, shouldn’t the team that recently dropped an anvil on the Roadrunners be in the running? For that matter, the Bobcats, located in the sweet middle of the San Antonio-Austin market, nearly beat one of the schools that just vacated the Pac-12.

And then there’s this upside for the Bobcats: If the Pac-12 is in the offing, maybe G.J. Kinne’s eyes won’t wander.

North Texas could make a nice argument Saturday with a win over Tech. Eric Morris, the Eagles’ second-year coach, will be going home and back to a place where he figured in some of the Red Raiders’ biggest wins under Mike Leach. Morris could produce one of his own for UNT. A 3-0 start that included one over a power conference school could give the Pac-12 something to think about if Morris can keep it up.

Denton is next door to one of the nation’s biggest media markets. The Mean Green also play in one of my favorite football settings in the entire state.

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As for UTEP, it’s closer to LA than Houston, which, at the moment, is about all the Miners have to offer the Pac-12.

Chances are we’ll learn soon if the West Coast-based league develops a Texas twang. The vacancies won’t last long. They’ve got to move fast, if only to keep Brett Yormark from claiming their list of contingencies for the Big 12.

Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN

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