UConn football in talks to join the Pac-12 

Over one year ago, the disintegration of the Pac-12 began and every Power Five conference, except the Pac-12, secured a new long-term TV rights deal. This negatively impacted the conference, pushing eight programs to seek a new conference.  

Oregon and Washington headed to the Big Ten, Arizona and Arizona State quickly joined Colorado in the Big 12 and California and Stanford advanced to the ACC. This left just two teams behind, Oregon State and Washington State, forcing a rebuild of the conference. 

Expanding in 2026, the Pac-12 looks to add Utah State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Colorado State and Boise State after merging the Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences. Still needing seven more teams, talks began between the conference and the University of Connecticut. 

In the past, the Huskies struggled to generate success in the American Athletic Conference and exited their contract early. Considering all possibilities, the football team staying independent impacted the program greatly. The first year of independence was a struggle as the team finished 1-11, but soon after, the era of Jim Mora began.  

Ending the year with a 6-7 record and attending a bowl, Mora earned his players’ trust in his first year, providing the team hope. After not ending the season how they wanted last year, the team turned the page and blew out three of their opponents so far this year. Last year, Duke University beat the Huskies 41-7, whereas this year, they lost by only five points. 

With Connecticut consistently improving and showing their competitiveness, this is what the Pac-12 wants and needs. If this follows through, the only sport joining would be football. Although basketball is also a main athletic focus for UConn, joining the Pac-12 would be advantageous.  

When leaving the AAC early, UConn paid $17 million due to the football team’s poor performance. This leads to the question: if the team failed to compete, why join another conference? The answer is simple enough, UConn has since demonstrated a high level of play. Seeing familiar faces in this year’s schedule from the AAC, the Huskies already took out Florida Atlantic in a 48-14 win. UConn also plays Rice, who they beat in the past, alongside Temple and UAB. 

Additionally, a couple of the teams joining the Pac-12 clashed against UConn in the past. In the 2022-2023 season, the Huskies lost to Utah State but kept the score below 11 points, keeping them in the game. In 2021, Fresno State crushed the Huskies in a 45-0 loss. One year later, Connecticut pulled an upset and beat Fresno while they ranked No. 24 best team in the nation. Under Head Coach Mora, competing and winning in the Pac-12 is a no-brainer, the talent is there, and the team has proved it several times already. 

 Before the Pac-12, there was the conversation about joining the Big 12 conference. Conversations paused, not granting Connecticut an invitation. The football team’s past performance in the AAC possibly influenced their reasoning.  

Taking the opportunity and joining the Pac-12 alone could benefit the university down the road. Unlike the Big 12’s deal of leaving the Big East entirely, nothing would change except the football team playing in a different conference. If the team exceeds expectations, the conversations of joining the Big 12 resuming are likely. 

Mora took questions about conference realignment and told CT Insider, 

“I mean, I see some headlines every once in a while, but I don’t know. I grew up a Pac-12 guy, obviously. But, yeah, I’ve got enough to take care of. Right here. I don’t spend a lot of time on that. If I were to spend time thinking about conference realignment, I wouldn’t have time to think about anything else because it’s all over the news and who knows what’s going on,” he said.  

The beginning is just starting and if conversations continue, the results and effects on the team and university should be interesting.