College Football Insider Confirms Two Pac-12 Expansion Candidates

After about a year of the conference being viewed as a thing of the past, it was reported on Wednesday, September 11, that the Pac-12 had plans to expand.

The following morning, it was announced that Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State would officially be leaving the Mountain West Conference for the Pac-12. The programs are set to officially join in 2026, and while this is the most life we have seen out of the Pac-12 since losing 10 members ahead of 2023, it still needs two more members to maintain status as an FBS conference.

Fans and analysts have speculated about who could be next all week, and on Saturday, during Fox's "Big Noon Kickoff," college football insider Bruce Feldman confirmed who the Pac-12 has "interest" in.

"Rob, the Pac-12 has to add two more teams at least to get to eight," Feldman told Fox's Rob Stone. "And they have to do it by July of 2026. That would be in that two-year window where the NCAA allows them to basically reform itself. Now, here's the interesting part to this. Sources tell me that the Pac-12 has some interest in Tulane and Memphis from the AAC.

"There's a bunch of other schools that they're also considering. Keep in mind this is not going to be an automatic bid into the CFP (College Football Playoff) so we'll see how much interest comes on the other side of this as the league reforms itself."

Feldman also provided an update on UNLV, which, similar to the four new Pac-12 programs, is currently in the MWC. However, despite being one of the best Group of Five teams in the country, they didn't receive an invite.

"As for UNLV," Feldman said. "That's a program that seems to make a lot of sense in terms of it's a big market, it's very travel accessible and that football program under Barry Odom has really improved. But the problem with UNLV is they would have to probably take Nevada too since it's the same school board and that issue may make it a deterrent there."

Feldman also expressed that the ongoing court cases between Florida State and Clemson with the ACC is a wildcard in this situation.

There has been a thought that if the ACC collapses, former Pac-12 members Stanford and Cal may return.

We are far from conference realignment being done.

Related: Michael Wilbon Wants Stanford to go Back to the Pac-12 After Recent Expansion Moves