College Football Fans Anticipate Conference Realignment

OU and Texas are leaving the Big 12 in a few years, but the conference could soon be bigger than ever.

The college football landscape was flipped upside down last week, after USC and UCLA announced they will join the Big 10.

"This is a bigger seismic shift in college athletics with this happening than what it did last year with OU and Texas," Jeremie Poplin with 1170 the Blitz said.

The move leaves the Pac 12 without its two biggest revenue earners and its remaining members with an uncertain future. Then the Big 12 stepped in.

Dennis Dodd with CBS sports reports the Big 12 is in deep discussions with six other Pac 12 schools: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah, Oregon and Washington.

That would mean 18 teams would make up the new conference, turning the Big 12 from a regional conference, to one that stretched coast to coast.

The realignment would affect the Oklahoma schools in different ways.

For Oklahoma State, Poplin said whether they join another conference or not, they are already in a good spot where they are.

"They can literally become the new power within this new version of the Big 12," Poplin said.

As for OU, they already have their ticket to the SEC.

Fans like Chris Jackson said playing harder competition is something he's pumped for.

"I am definitely looking forward to the matchups of Alabama, Georgia," Jackson said. "Hope we fare well. We're going to find out."

USC and UCLA are expected to join the Big 10 in 2024.

OU and Texas are expected to join the SEC no later than 2025.