Big Ten could ‘leave door open’ for Colorado: Analyst

If the ink hasn’t dried on CU’s jump to the Big 12, Colorado football and the rest of the Buffaloes’ athletics programs could still consider a jump to the Big Ten — this, at least, according to Nittany Lions Wire’s Kevin McGuire.

“Has the ink dried on the paperwork just yet? If not, then the Big Ten could still potentially leave the door open for Colorado to the Big Ten,” McGuire prefaced before saying, “And this isn’t just to get Deion Sanders to coach a Big Ten game, as much fun as that would be to see. This is all about adding that Denver television market to lock down the Mountain timezone, fill in the gap between the west coast and Nebraska, and to pair Nebraska with another historic rival dating back to their time in the Big 8 and Big 12.”

It’d be a massive blunder, if not an outright PR nightmare, for the Big 12 to let Colorado go, so the likelihood of the conference fumbling their recent acquisition is slim to none. If anything, another Pac-12 school joining the Big 12 is the most likely outcome.

One more school will join Colorado football in realigned Big 12

Colorado won’t lead to a slew of Pac-12 programs making their way to the Big 12. If anything, just one, if any, will be joining the Buffaloes in 2024 during the first year of a reimagined college football landscape.

“Fourteen seems to be our best number,” a Big 12 source told ESPN’s Heather Dinich. “Now that we’re at 13, who’s going to be the first to make a move to start having a conversation with us was the general discussion today. We talked about a lot of different schools, but it’s more about, ‘Hey, we’ve got room for one more and who wants to be the first to really want to be a part of the Big 12 now and join us?'”

Arizona is the leading candidate, though Oregon and Washington loom as potential options as well. Whoever doesn’t end up in the Big 12 seems likely to land in the Big Ten.

But Colorado is definitely Big 12-bound, just so we’re clear.