Canzano: Mailbag mulls Marcus Mariota, a mountain of LEGOs, and Pac-12 expansion

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Your questions, my answers.

 

"Geographically, the Pac-12 presidents wouldn’t love adding a Texas-based program. But I think they’d at least talk about it."

 

Talking about things is what higher education institutions are good at. 🤔 IMHO

Having read the post on expansion, I think that from  financial and recruiting points of  view, adding Houston and Dallas based universities could make sense. Texas is one of the most talent rich and  monied states there

are. But didn't UH just join the Big-12?  And  I  can't  remember  for sure, but I think both TCU and SMU are members  of that conference as well.

 

Other closer schools that have decent football programs  but  add little market share (and maybe necessary academics)make little sense (e.g., Boise State). And BYU is now, or soon to be, a Big -12 school. So fans of expansion  may have to accept Texas or Bust.

 

In  my opinion, the conference is probably better off staying with 12 teams. I suspect finances would get better in a hurry if one or more  Pac-12 programs start penetrating the playoffs regularly, but the 4-team playoff format is going to mitigate against this.