Paul Finebaum analyzes grim future for Pac-12, sends warning to Big 12 in future expansion

The Pac-12 is in dire straits in the eyes of many college football fans and media as they roll into the 2023 season with two teams on their way to the Big Ten next summer, another who will head to the Big 12, plus the league still doesn’t have a long-term television deal in place.

Amid these substantial issues, conference commissioner George Kliavkoff has stood mute and offered little insight into TV or realignment plans except to say that a TV deal is coming and conference realignment is over — which it wasn’t.

One prominent critic of the Pac-12 of late has been SEC Network host Paul Finebaum, who has called for the downfall of the Pac-12 ever since USC and UCLA were swiped from under their noses.

Now that Colorado has left the league just after Kliavkoff said he expected no other teams to depart, Finebaum is calling a spade a spade and went in on the mess that is the Pac-12 right now when he joined Cole Cubelic and Greg McElroy on the radio recently.

During his appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Finebaum had the following to say on the state of the Pac-12 after Colorado’s agreement to depart:

“I don’t think the Pac-12 can survive. And if we are sitting here on the final day of July going into August without a TV deal, then you know it’s been a slog for them to get one. So I think what the Pac-12 has to hope is that they don’t lose another school in the process and they may. I don’t know what Arizona is thinking, I don’t know about some of the other schools out there. But a lot of times, schools do move in concert, and I think that could happen. The Pac-12 is out of options, and we’re saying the same thing over and over again here. But, you know, they missed their moment.”

Finebaum credits Big 12 but gives a warning

However, even Paul Finebaum admits that you can’t count out a longstanding power conference like the Pac-12, pointing to the Big 12’s recent resurrection as evidence:

“You never can completely rule a league out, because the Big 12 was easy to write off a couple of years ago. But you’ve got to look at the reality of it. And the Big 12 came back and they came back with a conventional path. I mean, they went out, they brought in four schools that didn’t replace Oklahoma and Texas, but they at least stopped the bleeding. Now, they’ve gone one more,” Finebaum added of the recent Colorado move, which he discussed in more detail next.

“I think the question about Colorado is interesting. If you take Deion (Sanders) out of the equation, does anyone really care?” asked the SEC Network host. “They’re not a great find except they happen to have one of the most important people in the sport at the moment. But they really hurt the Pac-12 more than they help the Big 12.”

Lastly, Finebaum issued a warning for the Big 12 that they better not get too gluttonous with adding programs.

“And I think right now for the Big 12, I would be very careful. You know, I wouldn’t go out there and grab a Connecticut or a school like that just because they’re available. In watching the SEC up close with you guys over the last couple years, it’s very difficult to absorb new schools, and the Big 12 is now on its fifth school already. Be careful. I wouldn’t just go on a shopping spree.”