Where SMU stands as the dust settles on a rapidly-changing day of conference realignment
6:35 PM on Aug 4, 2023 It was nearly six months ago that SMU’s Moody Coliseum was home to a unique event. College realignment, for the most part, had historically been manufactured under secrecy, rather than in front of the public. But on Feb.
8, Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff sat in a suite with fellow conference leaders and examined a potential expansion candidate. Fans were abuzz with the possibility that SMU might return to Power Five prominence. Jack Joyce, an SMU senior at the time, even celebrated the night by adding “Pac” in red tape above the No.
12 on his blue SMU club baseball jersey. Since then, SMU’s future place in the Pac-12 might as well have been set in tape, as well, waiting until it could be scribbled in permanent ink. After Friday’s developments, it’s probably time to rip off that tape.
The Pac-12 has now been reduced to four permanent members. Oregon and Washington accepted an invite to join the Big Ten in 2024. Meanwhile, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah plan to follow Colorado’s footsteps and join the Big 12.
Those schools will spend one more year in the Pac-12 before leaving Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State. And what about SMU? The American Athletic Conference has never looked so good. Things changed rapidly, which is contrary to how Pac-12-related realignment has gone so far.
On Friday morning, multiple reports said that the remaining Pac-12 teams planned to meet with the expectation that they would sign a grant of rights deal, binding them together. Also expected: a new media deal and — much to the happiness of SMU fans awake and on social media that early — expansion. But that didn’t happen.
Instead, Oregon and Washington reportedly showed disinterest in the Pac-12′s new media deal. That set the stage for a Big Ten meeting to discuss poaching Oregon and Washington. “It’s a rollercoaster,” Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported.
By 5 p. m. CDT, Oregon and Washington were officially heading to the Big Ten.
The Pac-12, it appears, is set to run out of Power Five, well, power. Kliavkoff could pivot and try to add more teams, but how many teams want to pay multimillion dollar exit fees to join a four-team conference? Even if the remaining four teams were to merge with the Mountain West Conference, that doesn’t look like an enticing destination for SMU — even for a conference that claims Hawaii. For SMU fans, Friday may have evoked a familiar feeling.
The Mustangs recently watched the Big 12 choose BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston over them. This time around it looked like it would be SMU’s turn for a Power Five invite. So where does SMU go from here? The Mustangs, barring something unforeseen, will likely stay in the AAC and await the next realignment move.
SMU leadership, board of trustees chairman David Miller, met with leaders from the Pac-12, the Big 12 and the Atlantic Coast Conference after USC and UCLA announced they were leaving for the Big Ten last July. The Pac-12 is now on the brink of extinction, and the Big 12 hasn’t shown mutual interest in SMU, but the ACC remains a viable match for the Mustangs. Florida State’s board of trustees had a meeting this week to vocalize their hopes of leaving the ACC eventually; maybe that could open the door for SMU.
There is some good news for SMU. The College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams next year. The six highest-ranked conference champions get automatic bids to the playoff.
It’s a format that AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco — as well as SMU President R. Gerald Turner, according to Aresco — fought to enact. If the Pac-12 does go the way of the Southwest Conference, that could create two Group of Five automatic bids, unless the College Football Playoff elected to change the format.
Either way, the path to a conference title and a CFP berth would be possible for SMU and other AAC teams. For now, the dust has probably settled on SMU’s realignment hopes. There’s no more need for red Pac tape.
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