Pac-12: Is this a Top Five league? The league thinks so, but here’s what the data say
The Pac-12 is pushing a narrative that it is a Top Five conference, and it certainly can make that case. But there is a wide gap between it and the four power leagues, some of which include schools that invest more just in football than half the Pac-12 does in their entire athletics departments.
That includes Rutgers, which has averaged 1.8 wins per season in Big Ten play since it joined the conference in 2014. It spent $76.1 million on football last year, according to its NCAA revenue and expense report. Boise State put $75.6 million into its 18 sports programs, and ranked fourth among schools that on July 1 will join the Pac-12.
But there is an important distinction to be made — if the Pac-12 can make it.
“People talk about the power conferences like it’s a binary thing, like all the schools in the power leagues are the same and all the schools that aren’t in those leagues are different and that’s just not true,” Pac-12 deputy commissioner Rick Hart said on a stop in Fresno while on a tour of conference schools.
“We’re not measuring ourselves by Ohio State. We’re not measuring ourselves by Texas. But I do think there are a number of programs that compete at that level or in those leagues who, absolutely, not only can we compete with them and beat them. We look a lot like them, and in many cases we have greater potential than some of them.”
So how close to that level are the nine schools, eight that field football programs, that will form the new Pac-12?
It’s Fresno State, Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Utah State from the Mountain West, Oregon State and Washington State as holdovers from a Pac-12 decimated by realignment, and Texas State from the Sun Belt. Gonzaga, from the West Coast Conference, joins as a full member, but does not sponsor football.
Some data points work in their favor. Others, not so much.
The schools toward the bottom of the Big 12 Conference in football spending are not miles ahead of the schools in the Pac-12.
For the Big 12, that would include:
West Virginia: $34,153,489
Iowa State: $33,289,781
Oklahoma State: $32,830,617
Cincinnati: $30,199,813
Kansas State: $27,762,499
And, at the top of the Pac-12:
Colorado State: $37,791,844
Boise State: $30,738,142
Texas State: $23,116,059
Oregon State: $23,847,864
Washington State: $22,896,017
“I think that’s the thing that is irritating about the (power conference) label,” Hart said. “It’s to suggest that somehow they are all at a different place and that’s just not accurate. We believe we look the part when it comes to many of the schools in those leagues. That’s where we want to be aligned.”
That has not translated well on the field, however. Here are the eight Pac-12 schools and how they have fared against power conference opponents, with their most recent victories:
Colorado State: lost 12 in a row; Arkansas in 2018
Boise State: lost 10 in a row; Florida State in 2019
Utah State: lost 6 in a row; Oregon State in 2021
Oregon State: lost 6 in a row; Purdue in 2024
Washington State: lost 4 in a row; Washington in 2024
Fresno State: lost 3 in a row; Arizona State in 2023
Texas State: lost 2 in a row; Baylor in 2023
San Diego State: lost 0 in a row; Cal in 2025
The Pac-12 also has had fewer teams that were in College Football Playoff rankings on selection day since 2000 than the American Conference and the Sun Belt.
American: 9 teams, 5 still in the league
Sun Belt: 5 teams
Pac-12: 4 teams
Mountain West: 2 teams
Conference USA: 2 teams, 1 still in the league
Mid-American: 0 teams
The fun part starts on a Friday, Sept. 4, when Fresno State plays at USC. The next day, Boise State will play at Oregon and attempt to break that 10-game losing streak to power conference opponents — the Broncos have lost three of those games by three points or fewer, but the average margin of defeat also is 17.0 points per game.
Colorado State also gets Brigham Young at home, and Oregon State has a home date with Texas Tech. Washington State has three power conference opponents on its schedule, with Arizona at home and Washington and Kansas State on the road. San Diego State also plays at UCLA, and Utah State plays at Washington and Utah.
Will the Pac-12 find some validation there?
“We keep score, so we need to win,” Hart said. “We need to put our best football teams in the College Football Playoff. We need to have multiple bids in the NCAA tournament and advance teams deep into the tournament, both men and women.
“We want to compete for championships across all of our sports. We know that will drive a lot of the reputation.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 6:31 AM.