Is Big 12 expansion edging towards UConn and SDSU programs? Analyzing the aftermath of this potential move

Are we going to see further Big 12 expansion? This is perhaps the most asked question in the ongoing conference realignment saga after questions about the Pac-12's future.

Fans have good reasons for asking this question. The Big 12 has been involved in the ongoing conference realignment more than any other conference.

It lost two marquee programs to the Southeastern Conference in 2021 in a move that set off the the current conference realignment drama. It wasted no time in adding four schools in response.

Those four schools start competing in the Big 12 this season. Add them to the four new additions from Pac-12 expected to join the conference in 2024. That makes eight schools added by the Big 12 between 2021 and now.

But there are new speculations indicating even more additions by the Big 12. College football insider Greg Swaim hinted at a potential Big 12 expansion that will involve UConn and SDSU.

Big 12 expansion is leaning towards SDSU and UConn

If this move happens, it will bring the number of Big 12 additions to 10 since 2021. That is an expansion on a scale that's probably unprecedented in the history of conference realignment. But it does serve a purpose for the Big 12.

It will bring it on par with the Big Ten in membership strength. Remember that Texas and Oklahoma are billed to leave the Big 12 in 2024.

But with all the additions in Big 12 expansion so far, its membership strength by July 2024 will stand at 16. Whereas, that number would bring it on par with the SEC, it would still be two short of the Big Ten's 18.

The Big 12, under the leadership of Brett Yormark, has made it clear that it is going to go about its expansion business proactively. Adding UConn and SDSU to its teeming membership will be a proactive approach by the Big 12.

Are UConn and SDSU ideal candidates for Big 12 expansion?

UConn is mostly an unproblematic candidate for any further Big 12 expansion move. The school has been competing in football as an independent since 2019 when it left the American Athletic Conference. While the school is a men's and women's basketball powerhouse and the school has a strong presence in the Northeast, its football program is a laughingstock.

The rest of its programs still play in the Big East from where the football program transitioned into the AAC before finally leaving to play independently in 2019.

SDSU is one of the charter schools of the Mountain West. But after it's clumsy attempt to move to the Pac-12 in June, it has become sort of estranged with the conference. Perhaps it can find a new befitting home in the Big 12.