2026-27 Pac-12 Football Conference Preview: Rebirth of the Pac
Written by: Nate Hornung
Published: Fri Aug 07, 2026, 6:02 pm ET
Read Time: 7 minutes
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Return of the Pac (There it is), Return of the Pac (Come on), Return of the Pac (Oh my God), You know that we'll be back. Well guess what, folks. The Pac is back. This NCAA Football season, eight teams came together to revive the glory that was the Pac-12. Of course we have the two members who held strong (Shoutout the Beavs and Cougs), along with six other teams, five from the Mountain West, one from the Sun Belt. Let's get into our Pac-12 preview for the upcoming college football season!
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Pac-12 Conference History
Tony Freeman had 54 catches for 590 yards and three touchdowns for the Cougars last year.
The Pac-10 stood strong for several years, eventually becoming the Pac-12 in 2011 after adding Colorado and Utah. However all good things must come to an end. Teams started jumping the ship left and right to join the Big Ten, the Big 12, and even the ACC. We were left with just the "Pac-2", as Oregon State and Washington State remained without a home.
Thankfully, this season, they are joined by six other schools to form the new Pac-12, despite there being only eight teams in the conference. Those eight teams are as follows.
New Pac-12 Conference Teams
- Boise State Broncos
- Colorado State Rams
- Fresno State Bulldogs
- Oregon State Beavers
- San Diego State Aztecs
- Texas State Bobcats
- Utah State Aggies
- Washington State Cougars
The Beavers and Cougars were always members. Texas State comes from the Sun Belt, and the other five come from the Mountain West, which has a new look this year as well. These eight schools will compete during football season, with the Gonzaga Bulldogs joining the Pac-12 for NCAA Basketball this winter.
Odds to Win the Pac-12 Conference
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- Boise State +150
- San Diego State +425
- Fresno State +550
- Texas State +700
- Washington State +900
- Utah State +1200
- Oregon State +1600
- Colorado State +1800
According to the oddsmakers, Boise is the clear favorite to win the Pac-12 in its first season. They return plenty from last year, including being one of 12 teams to return their head coach, both coordinators, and their starting QB. But could anyone give them trouble?
Pac-12 Football Preview: Team Tiers
Maddux Madsen and the Boise State Broncos are looking for a fourth straight conference title. Can they do it in the Pac-12?
Tier 1 – Blue Turf Broncos
Boise is in a league of their own in the Mountain West, and they could seriously be the G6 representative in the College Football Playoff as well. They have the undisputed best quarterback, running back, and offensive and defensive lines in the conference according to Phil Steele. Plus the linebackers and secondary rank second, with the wideouts coming in as fifth. They return seven offensive starters and four on defense.
Boise has been to four straight conference championships and have won three in a row. I would be more than comfortable betting on them to win this league, as I don't believe anyone competes with this team on a talent level. The Broncos will crown themselves Kings of the New Pac-12.
Brad Jackson had over 4,000 passing and rushing yards with 38 total touchdowns and seven INT last season
Tier 2 – Could Be Frisky
Although the conference will run through Boise, I believe San Diego State, Texas State, and Fresno State could make some noise.
The Bobcats come over from the Sun Belt returning seven offensive starters to a unit that was top 15 in the country in scoring last year. They also broke the top 10 in rushing yards, going for over 222 per game. Brad Jackson completed 71.3% of his passes for 3,224 yards with 21 touchdowns and just seven picks. He added 17 touchdowns on the ground and 744 rushing yards. Look for a bigger jump offensively in year two for this kid. He returns both of his 1,000 yard receivers from last year (Beau Sparks & Chris Dawn Jr.), plus they added Zechariah Sample as another target.
San Diego State's defense was sixth in the nation in points allowed, but they only retained three starters. Can the defensive side of the ball lead the Aztecs? They had a solid rushing attack, with Lucky Sutton going for 5.1 yards per carry and 10 touchdowns. The question will be, can the offense keep up without much of a passing game? Jayden Denegal hasn't proven to be a prolific passer.
Lastly, Fresno State. The Bulldogs bring back 13 starters, seven offensive, six defensive and add quarterback Khristian Martin. After a year at Maryland as a backup, Martin has the keys to Fresno's offense. Like the Aztecs, they relied heavily on defense to keep them in games (top 20 scoring defense, No. 85 scoring offense last year). Martin is here to change that.
Maalik Murphy and the Beavers have a full Pac-12 schedule this season
Tier 3 – Thank You For Reviving the Pac-12
The rest of the conference. Washington State, Utah State and Oregon State should all be better than Colorado State, but I don't feel as if any are good enough to be ranked in a higher tier. The Cougars bring in Caden Pinnick from UC Davis to be their QB, but he'll have plenty of help from RB Kirby Vorhees. However they did not return a single defensive starter.
McCae Hillstead is back at Utah State after a season at BYU. Doesn't really excite me much, but we'll see how he does. Maalik Murphy is still the quarterback for the Beavers, a team that won just two games last year (Lafayette, Wazzu in Pac-2 Championship). But Oregon State isn't all that great, and they open the season against Houston and Texas Tech, not to mention facing Montana, who could beat them as an FCS side. I will be laying the -134 juice on Oregon State's win total under 4.5, as I think they could be the worst team in the conference.
Colorado State hardly deserves to be mentioned, but maybe they make some noise and refuse to finish last. I'll be rooting for them on October 3 when they host the Beavers.
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Nate has been a recreational sports bettor for about 5 years. In that time, he has grown to love the pursuit of winners and sticking it to The Man. Nate loves data and uses his understanding of numbers to help him be a more profitable sports gambler, however he will be the first to tell you this game is about more than just stats.
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