By Justin Worsley
Rumors have been circulating since December that both the Pac-10 and the Big Ten conference have been looking to expand and on Thursday, the Pac-10 drew first blood, luring Colorado away from the Big XII.
The Big XII has been the scapegoat of the conference expansions, with Texas being the apple to nearly every conference's eye. Along with the announcement that Colorado will leave the Big XII, reports have surfaced that Nebraska will move north to the Big Ten conference.
If Nebraska does leave, it could mean the end of the Big XII. Colorado was able to woo the Pac-10 due to their Denver television market. If the Big XII does dissolve, however, the Pac-10 has the potential to pick up the scraps, including Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
Colorado will not join the Pac-10 until the 2012-13 season, which means the Buffaloes will be forced to spend two awkward seasons in the Big XII, a conference they have been a member of since the Big 8 conjoined with the four Texas colleges in 1994. Colorado won the Big XII title in 2001 and has played in the conference title game three times between 2002-05, but has been less than stellar since, going 16-33 since Gary Barnett was forced to resign as head coach in 2005.
The Pac-10 conference is vying to become the first "power conference" in the BCS by hosting 16 programs. The last conference to do so, however, was extremely unsuccessful. The Western Athletic Conference failed in attempting to host a 16-team conference, causing the WAC to split in half in 1999, the latter becoming the Mountain West Conference.
Colorado becomes the first school to join the Pac-10 since both Arizona and Arizona State joined in 1978. If the Pac-10 adds one more school, the conference will be able to host a conference championship game, something the Big XII will no longer be able to do.
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