If you follow college sports, it might be a little hard to keep up with the amount of conference realignment happening over the last few years.
We’ve got you covered. Here’s a summary of everything that has happened in the wild world of conference realignment and how local schools have been affected:
Local schools that have moved
Texas, Oklahoma
The Longhorns and Sooners made their way to the SEC and are currently in their first season in the conference. Leaving the Big 12 behind, Texas and Oklahoma were a package deal. After a long stretch of stability, Texas and OU heading to the SEC was the first domino in the wave of realignment that swept college athletics over the last handful of years.
SMU
After being given the “death penalty” by the NCAA, SMU football was essentially sent into the college athletics wilderness. But after a long flirtation with the Pac-12, the Mustangs flexed their financial muscles and made their way into the ACC, putting SMU back on the national college sports radar for the first time in decades. SMU just began its first season as a part of the ACC, earning its first conference win over Florida State in front of a packed house at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
North Texas
As mentioned above, Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 created a domino effect. To replace those schools, the Big 12 added BYU, Cincinnati, Central Florida and Houston, with the latter three being plucked from the American Athletic Conference.
The AAC needed to replenish its conference, so it added North Texas, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, UAB, Rice and UTSA in the 2023 season. That proved to be a savvy move by the AAC once SMU announced its intentions to bolt to the ACC.
How power conferences have been reshaped
Big Ten
The Big Ten began the downfall of the Pac-12. Amid the Pac-12′s uncertainty surrounding its next TV deal and needing to respond to the SEC’s addition of Texas and Oklahoma, the Big Ten lured USC and UCLA away as a package deal in June 2022.
The next year, Oregon and Washington announced they would also be heading to the Big Ten. In a span of a calendar year, the Big Ten plucked the four biggest brands from the Pac-12, spelling the end of the conference as we knew it. USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon all officially joined the Big 10 this season.
Big 12
In 2023, the Big 12, which includes several local schools, officially added Cincinnati, Houston, UCF and BYU.
In July 2023, the Big 12 got in on the Pac-12 feeding frenzy that began with USC and UCLA heading to the Big Ten, as Colorado announced its intentions to go to the Big 12.
Roughly a week later, three more members of the Pac-12 bolted for the Big 12, as Arizona, Arizona State and Utah announced they would be following Colorado. Those four schools officially joined the Big 12 ahead of the 2024 season.
ACC
As the Pac 12 continued to crumble, the ACC decided to get in on the action.
The conference added SMU from the AAC and pulled Stanford and California as a package deal from the Pac-12. If realignment wasn’t confusing enough, Stanford and Cal, two schools on the Pacific coast, are now members of a conference named the Atlantic Coast Conference. The three schools just began their first year in the conference.
SEC
The SEC has stressed that it has no intentions to further expand after adding Texas and Oklahoma. This is the second time in recent years that the conference has expanded, as the SEC added Texas A&M and Missouri from the Big 12 in 2012.
Realignment leftovers
With the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC essentially absorbing the main schools of the Pac-12 and AAC, that leaves a handful of schools behind. Namely Washington State and Oregon State, who were the last standing members of the Pac-12, or at this point, the two-pack.
The two Pac-12 holdovers are now attempting to rebuild the conference. There have been plenty of rumors circulating about other additions, but one thing is certain: realignment isn’t done yet.
The Pac-12 added Utah State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Colorado State and Boise State from the Mountain West.
Air Force, San Jose State and UNLV all decided to remain in the MWC after the MWC used the Pac-12 exit fees it had just received from its departures to incentivize its remaining members to stay. Texas State received a verbal offer from the Mountain West, but according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, declined the offer. The MWC was able to lure UTEP into the league, starting in 2026, and according to Ross Dellenger, is in talks with FCS school Tarleton State.
Memphis, USF, UTSA and Tulane, after some flirtation with the Pac-12, announced their intentions to remain in the AAC. On the basketball end of things, Gonzaga announced it would be leaving the WCC and joining the Pac-12 as a basketball member.
For now, the four power conferences appear to be relatively stable. The dust of realignment has largely settled for the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. All that is left is to sort out the mess of realignment with the rest of the non-power conferences.
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