Colorado Announces Return to Big 12

As officially announced by the University of Colorado on Thursday, the Buffaloes will be headed back to the Big 12 Conference for the 2024 season and beyond.

Naturally, that means Colorado will be departing the Pac-12 after just 12 years. In terms of football, the Buffs were not able to win a title in their current conference, but they did qualify for the Pac-12 Conference Championship Game once (2016), losing to the Washington Huskies at Levi's Stadium -- Boulder ended that season as the No. 9 team in the nation.

For the upcoming year, the Buffaloes are a major long shot to win their first/only Pac-12 title in football. FanDuel Sportsbook currently has them priced at +15000 odds (second-worst) to win the 2023 Pac-12 Championship Game. Oddly enough, the buzzy CU squad had yielded the most bets in the market (at FanDuel) early in the preseason.

Of course, Colorado has already been pervasive in the headlines over the recent offseason. With the addition of NFL Hall-of-Famer Deion Sanders at head coach (along with several talented players from Jackson State, including his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders), there has been perpetual excitement in Boulder.

The news of Colorado's conference change comes in the midst of an era where UCLA and USC have already announced plans to join the Big Ten in 2024, as well as moves from Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC.

Colorado originally departed from the Big 12 for the Pac-12 in 2011 (along with rival Nebraska, who aligned with the Big Ten) after rumors of the former conference's dissolution. Ironically, television revenue distribution was a hotly debated topic for the Big 12 at the time.

Fast-forward to now, and many of the same media distribution issues are facing the Pac-12.

So, it will officially be just one season of Coach Prime in the Pac-12. This will also be Sanders' first year leading a Power 5 school. In his previous two campaigns at Jackson State, Sanders compiled a 23-3 overall record, including a combined 16-0 in SWAC play.

By this time next year, Colorado will be back in the conference they were a member of when they won their lone national championship (1990) -- it will be quite interesting to see the shape of the Golden Buffaloes five years from now.

For reference, Colorado currently has a 27-76 (.262) record in conference play through 11 football seasons as a Pac-12 member. Upon returning to the Big 12 in 2024, Colorado will be in a conference without at least one of rivals Utah, Nebraska, or Colorado State for the first time since 1910.

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