Big 12 football: Ranking the 6 PAC-12 candidates for expansion
2. Washington
The package deal that is figured to be the prize among the remaining schools in the PAC-12 at this point has the Washington Huskies and Oregon Ducks. We’ll first take a look at what Washington could bring to the table for the Big 12.
Washington is one of the more prestigious public academic institutions in the entire country. And there is a ton of potential in the football and basketball programs for the Huskies. New head coach Kalen DeBoer will be looking to get the Huskies back on the map as a national contender like former head coach Chris Petersen had the program at just a few years ago.
DeBoer will bring a more offensive-minded mentality to the table for the Washington football program after having a couple of successful seasons as the head coach of the Fresno State Bulldogs.
Overall, Washington brings a pretty underrated recruiting ground to the table for the Big 12 and the coveted Seattle TV market. This would clearly be a valuable addition to the Big 12.
1. Oregon
The most valuable asset remaining in the PAC-12 at this point of the summer after USC and UCLA bolted for the Big Ten is Oregon. A very well-rounded athletic program and an extremely well-known brand name nationally, the Ducks will be an appealing option in conference expansion for essentially every party involved.
Former Georgia Bulldogs defensive coordinator Dan Lanning is taking over for the Ducks after the departure of former Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal. Lanning will be instituting a much different mindset in this program compared to recent predecessors such as Cristobal and Chip Kelly. But this program is still recruiting well in the first offseason under Lanning and has some promise ahead of the start of the 2022 season.
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If the Big 12 is able to get a package deal of Oregon and Washington into the mix in the near future, this would obviously be a huge win for the conference. These would be the prized additions in this round of conference realignment. Yet, adding the duo of Oregon and Washington will present a major uphill battle for the Big 12 as other power conferences try to add the schools.