If This is Realignment, Maybe We Need a Real Reset

By LONNIE KING | © Big Daddy’s Texas Sports

There was a time when geography mattered. When the “Pacific” in Pac-12 meant something. When conferences were built around rivalries, recruiting footprints, and good ol’ fashioned bus rides instead of cross-country red-eyes. That time has clearly passed.

Because now, Texas State—the pride of San Marcos—is officially headed west. To the Pac-12.

Let that settle in.

A Texas school. In the Pacific 12.

It’s hilarious and bizarre all at once. But hey, it’s no more absurd than Cal and Stanford playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. We’ve officially reached the point in college athletics where naming conventions are as fictional as the NCAA’s commitment to amateurism.

When Labels Don’t Fit Anymore

Let’s be clear: this is ABSOLUTELY NOT a dig at Texas State. The Bobcats have made tremendous strides in football, and their 2023 season, where they earned FBS bowl eligibility and also the school’s first bowl game win, was a long-overdue coming-out party.

They’ve got momentum, a growing enrollment, and a fanbase ready to believe. On paper, they should bring value to a struggling league.

But the Pac-12? Is that still a thing?

The conference that once boasted USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington is now more of a memory than a power.

After the mass defections to the Big Ten and Big 12—and the equally-poetic absurdity of Stanford and Cal joining the Atlantic Coast Conference—the Pac-12 has been reduced to patchwork survival. It’s been hanging on with media-rights duct tape, hoping to keep its name on life support long enough to collect some TV money.

And, if you want another chuckle, some of the other schools the Pac-12 were reportedly considering included South Florida and Memphis (yeah…as in, Tennessee).

But all other oddities aside, adding Texas State gives the league eight full-time members again, which technically meets the NCAA’s minimum for conference status. And they get a legitimate football program in a football hotbed. 

But let’s not pretend this restores the Pac-12’s former prestige. The days of Rose Bowl dominance and late-night West Coast showdowns with national title implications are long gone.

It’s almost as silly as UCLA vs. USC in the Big Ten Big Noon Showdown (9 AM PT).

Pac-12 or Patch-12?

At this point, maybe we need to rename all these leagues.

The Big Ten has 18 teams. The Big 12 has 16. The Atlantic Coast Conference stretches from Boston to the Bay Area. The Southeastern Conference stretches into central Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri—none of which will ever be identified with the deep south. 

And now, the Pac-12 is recruiting Texas schools. It’s not unprecedented either, even if it’s new to the FBS level.  The WAC (Western Athletic Conference) boasts several Texas schools in its FCS league.

Kind of reminds you when the CFL tried to add franchises in various US outposts years ago—Baltimore, San Antonio, Birmingham, et.al. 

But let’s not get off on a tangent.  This is about college athletics in 2025 trying to hang onto shreds of the past while promoting the future.  But, it’s giving a toilet-paper-stuck-to-the-bottom-of-your-shoe-on-your-wedding-day vibe. 

And honestly, when it comes to the names, it might be time to let go of the numbers—and the geography. Let’s get creative:

• PAC could stand for Post-Apocalyptic Conference.
• ACC could become the Any Coast Coalition.
• Or we could just give them corporate names: The Amazon Conference, The Apple 18, The IG 16. The Walmart League of Legends.

Sure, it’s ridiculous. But is it any more ridiculous than sending Bobcat volleyball players on a Thursday to play in Corvallis?

What This Really Means

Texas State’s move says more about the system than it does about the school.

It’s a system that’s driven by survival, not sense. A system where tradition dies so television deals can live. Where student-athletes are treated like assets on a balance sheet, shipped wherever they’ll bring the most broadcast value.

(One more quick tangential detour here: at least now, NIL agreements give the players some avenues to make a little money to offset their exploitation. But let’s still not pretend that all NIL deals are created equal either.)

There’s no shame in Texas State taking the leap. If you’re a mid-major program with a chance to triple your exposure and maybe get a bigger paycheck, you take it. But let’s not pretend this is about elevating competition or expanding rivalries. It’s about clinging to relevance in a collapsing ecosystem.

Time for a Total Reset?

College football—at least at the FBS level—needs more than realignment. It needs redefinition.

Let’s stop pretending this is still the same model. Break it into tiers. Let the “Power” leagues become what they are: semiprofessional minor leagues for the NFL. Build regional divisions again for the Group of 5 (or is it 4 now?).

Here’s my proposal (and I realize it’s not original to me): 64 teams. Sixteen four-team ‘divisions’, regionalized (four regions).

Maintain a 12-game regular season schedule: three divisional opponents, six non-division regional opponents and three national/inter-regional opponents.

The three divisional games determine the division champion, similar to World Cup pool play. The 16 division winners, plus 8 ‘wild-card’ runners-up, go into an FCS-style postseason playoff format.

Deprioritize the student in “student-athlete” and pay the athletes commensurate with the value they bring to their athletic department.

And stop trying to convince us that coast-to-coast conference membership makes any kind of logistical or academic sense.

Because when Texas State is in the Pacific 12, and Cal is in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the only thing that’s truly unified anymore… is the absurdity.

Final Whistle

Congrats to Texas State. This is a big-time opportunity for a program that’s worked hard to earn its shot. But let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture: this system is broken.

And if we keep slapping new logos on the same cracked foundation, it’s only going to keep collapsing, and kind of look ridiculous in the process.

But, if we’re going to keep calling these “conferences,” maybe we ought to agree on at least one thing: the names should make sense.

There…I fixed it. You’re welcome.