Pac-12 Football: Top 5 expansion candidates for the conference

They tried to do it once, and they will almost certainly try it again. If expansion stirs up again, any expansion and realignment in college football would see the Pac-12 pitch Texas once again on joining its league. Texas A&M is no longer there to sweeten the deal, and Oklahoma isn’t a guarantee to follow its Red River rival. But the Longhorns wouldn’t necessarily need the Sooners or any other Big 12 brethren to make this a viable move.

Bringing in the Longhorns would also open the Lone Star State wide open for other conference teams to recruit. Schools like Oregon have opened up recruiting pipelines in the state already, and this would help fortify those links.

Texas has an allure that few other schools bring to the table. Few other schools have the ability to call all their shots, either. That could be the sticking point for Texas, just as it was back in 2011 when talk about a Texas-sized Pac-16 first arose. The Longhorns want to have greater control over their revenue streams and to maintain their ESPN-backed network. The Pac-12 follows a more equitable revenue sharing model.

Related Story: Why Texas is the white whale of conference realignment

It would be a tough deal to close, that is certain. But if the two sides could iron out an amenable agreement, the marriage of Texas and the Pac-12 could turn the league into a western juggernaut.