Big 12 Football: 3 schools that would succeed right away in the PAC-12

Iowa State

It’s hard to find the flaws with really any of the remaining power conferences that aren’t the Big 12 with adding a football program like that of the Iowa State Cyclones. Head coach Matt Campbell has established a very firm foundation of success in his five years with the Iowa State football program.

Campbell has a career record as an FBS head coach between his time with the Toledo Rockets and Iowa State of 70-43 (.619 winning percentage). And he finished up last season with a Fiesta Bowl win and a top 10 ranking in the final AP Poll.

While most thought that if Iowa State did make the move to leave the Big 12 in this round of conference realignment that it would leave for the Big Ten, that possibility appears to be fading. The Big Ten hasn’t shown much public interest in trying to get Iowa State from the Big 12 in a potential package deal with the Jayhawks.

It seems like the lone Big 12 school that the Big Ten might go after at this point in time is Kansas.

Moreover, Iowa State definitely has the tools to succeed right away if it joined the PAC-12. Iowa State started to emerge as a real force to be reckoned with in the Big 12 as soon as Oklahoma and Texas left for the SEC. Now, Iowa State could have the chance to upend some of the top competition in the PAC-12.

Campbell and the Cyclones were surely able to do that with that aforementioned Fiesta Bowl win over the Oregon Ducks to round out last season.