Big 12 football: Ranking the 6 PAC-12 candidates for expansion

4. Colorado

The only former member school of the Big 12 that is up for consideration to return in this round of conference realignment is the Colorado Buffaloes. It wasn’t all that long ago that Colorado left the Big 12 in the first place to join the PAC-12. Colorado left the Big 12 for the PAC-12 roughly one decade ago.

And now we’re talking about the idea that Colorado could be back in the mix in the Big 12 in the next couple of years.

Colorado isn’t the strongest football program at the moment, but this move makes sense for all parties involved in terms of the potential for this entire athletic program and the geographic proximity to the rest of the conference.

It’s also interesting that Colorado re-joining the Big 12 could naturally open the door to other potential future expansion options in that state such as the Colorado State Rams and Air Force Falcons.

3. Utah

It’s hard to argue with the appeal that head coach Kyle Whittingham and the Utah Utes bring to the table, even solely from a football perspective, in this round of conference realignment for the Big 12. In a hypothetical sense, Utah would always make sense for the Big 12 from a football perspective.

But now that the Big 12 has already added BYU to the mix in the latest round of conference expansion last year, the Utes make even more sense. The Big 12 being able to get the Holy War housed in the same conference would be nothing short of insanely entertaining.

Utah is also a pretty well-rounded school athletically that has remained a nationally competitive football program in the last couple of decades. Whittingham continues to find success for this football program on a consistent basis.