As College Football has shifted over the past several years, all of the changes have moved the sport from having a Power 5 to a Power 4. Oregon, USC, and Washington all departing the Pac 12 took away the Conference's three prestige programs and as every other program aside from Oregon State and Washington State left, the Conference became a shell of itself.
After being stripped down to just two programs, the Conference had a choice to make, either drift away into the history books or to start rebuilding the Conference. The leaders of the Conference chose the latter picking teams from the Mountain West to kick off an overhaul.
The latest news came as ESPN's Pete Thamel reported that Texas State would be the next program poached by the Pac 12 as they near a complete new look Conference. While landing Texas State is a great add for the Conference, Paul Finebaum doesn't like the Conference as a whole as he declared it a "collection of rejects and misfits" on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.
"I don’t really recognize the Pac-12 as a collection of rejects and misfits. Texas State is probably a better add than it sounds because I think a lot of people probably aren’t all that familiar with what they’ve done. They have a good program, but it’s just cobbling a bunch of things together."Paul Finebaum
Declaring the Conference of rejects and misfits may be true but, it's also unfair to fully trash the Pac 12 for what they did. The Conference was left with little to no choice as all of the prestige programs rushed for the "Power 4" and any program they added would've been less appealing than USC, Oregon, and Washington were.
The vast majority of the programs that the Pac 12 has added have been from the Mountain West almost rebranding the Pac 12 as a version of that Conference. As the years move along, the Pac 12 can continue to add programs meaning we're far from seeing this new look group at its final form. Ultimately, if the Pac 12 can hold onto the brands it has now and maybe add a few up and coming programs, it could eventually rival the Big 12 or ACC.