Big 12 Expansion: 5 teams that need to be added

The Big 12 is announcing its plans for expansion to 12 or even 14 teams on October 17th. Here are the five teams that we want to see join the Big 12.

If you haven’t heard, the Big 12 is looking to expand. Finally. The Power 5 conference may stand pat at 10 teams, but could add up to four teams by the end of today. If the conference is going to add more teams — which they should — here are the best five that candidates to make the conference better than what it is.

5. SMU Mustangs

Does SMU really belong in a Power 5 conference? Not really, but it would be the most ironic thing ever if the Mustangs get a shocking Big 12 bid. That is because the Pony Express Mustangs of the mid-1980s were a major reason that the Big 12 even exists.

The rampant slush funds and paying players back in the 1980s resulted in the SMU football program getting the Death Penalty. Their demise as a football program brought to an end the Southwest Conference and gave birth to the Big 12. SMU football has never fully recovered, but did show signs of competitiveness under former head coach June Jones.

SMU has one of the better up-and-coming coaches in Chad Morris. While Morris hasn’t done a ton of winning in Dallas since his first year on the job in 2015, he did come from one of the best Power 5 programs in the nation as the offensive coordinator of the Clemson Tigers.

With a Big 12 backing, maybe Morris can get the top-flight talent he needs to build a potential winner at SMU in Dallas? Frankly, the Big 12 needs more attractive cities in its conference. It doesn’t gain anything by adding Dallas in terms of media market, but it does offer a program in a major city in a conference that just doesn’t have any.