Pods with the Intent to Change
The following pods are what will most likely take place if the Big 12 has clear plans to continue to expand at some point in the future.
- This pod is a holder pod. It seems likely that in the future the Big 12 will expand again and they will likely look West to teams like SDSU, Colorado St, UNLV (NIL), Boise State or existing Pac 12 schools if that Pac 12 collapses. When that happens, BYU would almost certainly join those teams and the three remaining teams would pick up either the last team or Iowa St.
- East Pod: West Virginia, UCF, Cincinnati, Iowa St
- This pod is sort of a puzzled pod of teams out East. If the Big 12 were to expand to 16 and pick up one team out East (USF or Memphis) along with the three teams out west – I really don’t see the Big 12 adding more than one school out east – then Iowa St would move to the pod with the Kansas schools and TTU and the new school would join this pod.
Central Pod- TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma St, Houston
At the moment this pod looks absolutely stacked, but that will change. Baylor historically has not been a great school. TCU is heading a new direction with Patterson gone and Houston will have growing pains as they enter the Big 12. Of all pods, this is the one that will likely not change if the conference expanded.