San Diego State security C.J. Baskerville kisses the Defensive MVP trophy after successful the award after the group’s 38-24 win over UTSA within the Frisco Bowl NCAA school soccer sport Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Picture/Sam Hodde) AP
Utah hosted San Diego State late Saturday night time within the Utes’ last nonconference sport earlier than kicking off Pac-12 play subsequent week at Arizona State.
However when the Utes and Aztecs compete sooner or later, may these video games be Pac-12 contests?
How about Utah vs. San Diego State — Pac-12 After Darkish?
May the 2 applications be convention rivals once more?
Utah and SDSU performed on a yearly foundation when each had been members of the Western Athletic Convention and the Mountain West Convention, and in terms of Pac-12 growth, San Diego State has been a college continuously talked about.
The Pac-12 — which will probably be dropping USC and UCLA in 2024 — has reportedly proven curiosity in San Diego State. For starters, the Aztecs would offer the convention a foothold in Southern California after the departures of the Trojans and Bruins.
When requested this week if SDSU can be a very good match for the Pac-12, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham declined to remark, saying that’s a query for Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff.
However many within the media have been extolling SDSU’s virtues.
“San Diego State makes plenty of sense for the Pac-12,” wrote Pac-12 insider John Canzano. “It has a sturdy media market (1.1 million tv households) and nice geography.”
Doug Haller of The Athletic wrote that SDSU is taken into account a chief goal for the Pac-12.
“The Athletic requested a few trade sources about Pac-12 growth candidates, and each began right here. The Pac-12 has by no means appeared to take San Diego State severely, largely as a result of it operates within the California State College system, but it surely’s time to provide the Mountain West faculty a robust look,” Haller wrote.
“San Diego has the twenty eighth largest tv market, which isn't splendid, however including the Aztecs would give the Pac-12 a presence in some a part of Southern California. This can't be ignored. Athletically, San Diego State just lately has outperformed many Pac-12 colleges in soccer and males’s basketball, in order that’s not a problem. The soccer program has posted 5 seasons of 10-plus wins over the previous seven years. The boys’s basketball group has made the NCAA Event 9 instances for the reason that 2009-10 season.
“Most vital, the Aztecs have confirmed a dedication to taking the subsequent step. This fall, they're scheduled to open the $310 million Snapdragon Stadium as their subsequent soccer residence. There’s some momentum right here.”
And Pac-12 insider Jon Wilner, who broke the USC/UCLA-to-the-Massive Ten information final June, has made a case for SDSU to hitch to the Pac-12.
“Admittedly, we don’t have a very good deal with on San Diego State’s Olympic sports activities, but it surely doesn’t matter. Realignment is about soccer, males’s basketball, and soccer. Additionally, soccer. On the sphere, the Aztecs are 6-1 towards the Pac-12 since 2017, with wins over Utah, ASU, UCLA, Stanford and Arizona,” Wilner wrote.
“They've gained not less than 10 video games in 5 of the previous six seasons (excluding 2020) and had been ranked within the end-of-year AP ballot in 2016 and 2021. Whereas SDSU hasn’t reached the identical stage of success as Cincinnati — or Boise State beneath Chris Petersen — this system is on the subsequent tier. Add the sources and cache that may include Pac-12 membership, and the Aztecs would greater than maintain their very own on a weekly foundation.
“In the meantime, the lads’s basketball program is loads worthy of an invite, having certified for the NCAAs in 9 of the previous 12 years. (Had COVID not intervened, the Aztecs would have been a No. 1 or 2 seed within the 2020 match.) Additionally, have you ever seen the state of Pac-12 basketball recently? SDSU would improve the general product.”
In keeping with Wilner, the Pac-12 ought to leap on the probability so as to add the Aztecs.
“The Pac-12 desperately wants SDSU as a way to keep a presence within the higher Southern California area, each for media publicity and a recruiting foothold. Put one other means: With out the Aztecs, the convention gained’t have a campus inside 300 miles of the expertise pool that fuels its roster constructing — all whereas the Massive Ten could have higher entry as soon as USC and UCLA start play in 2024.
“In that case, the Pac-12 would possibly as properly be the Massive 12 ... Backside line: Faculty soccer is remodeling at warp velocity. Are the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors good sufficient to simply accept the brand new actuality and rethink longstanding biases? They've by no means deemed colleges within the CSU system worthy of membership. To that line of pondering, we are saying: Evolve, or die. Run the numbers and sketch the long run nonetheless you need. Within the aftermath of the L.A. thunderbolt, the Pac-12 wants San Diego State.”