Big 12 football: What teams should the Big 12 look to bring in if they decide to expand?
By Trenton Corn
Other small schools that could potentially join the Big 12:
Colorado State: (Mountain West)
Teams prestige: 4/10
Teams marketability: 5/10
Teams location: 10/10
Teams recruiting grounds: 3/10
Total: 22/40
If Colorado came from the Pac-12, I would love for the Big 12 to bring along Colorado State as well from the Mountain West conference. Colorado state isn’t the most prestigious school, but bringing them along with Colorado brings in another good rivalry, and the move to bring in both Colorado and Colorado State insures that Colorado is officially the Big 12’s permanent stomping ground.
It’s good to dream big, but say none of the teams from the Power-5 or AAC conferences agree to come to the Big 12 for whatever reason. What other smaller schools could the Big 12 bring in?
Keep in mind that these schools are stretches, but some of these teams have a couple of things working to their advantage.
San Diego State: (Mountain West)
Team prestige: 5/10
Team marketability: 6/10
Team location: 2/10
Team recruiting grounds: 10/10
Total: 23/40
In a dream scenario, The Big 12 persuades USC, UCLA, or both to leave the Pac-12 and join the Big 12. But lets be honest, both of those schools won’t leave their west coast roots and leave the Pac-12, (Unless it’s worse than what we thought) but a fellow California school in San Diego State could very well be the school that gets the Big 12 into the California Market.
The Aztecs football stadium is the SDCCU stadium, and holds over 70 thousand people, which would easily be the third biggest stadium in the Big 12 conference.
San Diego State used to share the stadium with both the towns former NFL team previously called the San Diego Chargers, but as you probably already know, the Chargers left for LA, making SDCCU stadium pretty much only the Aztecs to claim.
Along with the big stadium, San Diego State hasn’t had a losing season football wise since 2009, and the school brings much more to the table as a basketball school, as they haven’t had a losing record since 2005. I personally think San Diego just needs a chance by one of the bigger conferences, as I think they show great potential. The school brings competitiveness in both Football and Basketball (Especially basketball) and opens up the West Coast and California market for the Big 12.
This could be a move people scratch their heads on and the conference would receive it’s fair share of hate, but I can see San Diego State being a very successful school down the road if given the chance.
FIU: (Conference USA)
Team prestige: 4/10
Team marketability: 5/10
Team location: 5/10
Recruiting grounds: 10/10
Total: 24/40
If the Big 12 failed to lure in the Florida schools of UCF and USF, Florida International University would be the next best option to get the team into the Florida market. Their football program is on the rise, thanks to the hiring of former Miami University and North Carolina coach, Butch Davis, as he has led the program to back to back winning seasons (8-5 & 9-4).
Believe it or not, their 56,718 enrolled students would be the highest in the Big 12. Texas would come in second with 50,960.
The Big 12 could look at the huge student body, Football team on the right track, along with a Florida Market as huge selling points to bring FIU in, not to mention the growth the school could have by joining the Big 12.