Can the Buffs Ever Really Go Home Again?

A little over one year ago, I jumped on the speculation bandwagon about potential landing spots for the Colorado Buffaloes after the PAC-12 watched as the two huge founding schools, USC and UCLA, left the conference for the Big-10. Thirteen months later, the Buffs awaited news of a new PAC-12 contract, and that news never arrived. And while their final fate isn't official, the Colorado board of regents meet in a couple hours to vote on returning to the Big-12.

History recalls the Buffs joining the Big-6 to form the Big-7 way back in 1947, which then became the more familiar Big-8 Conference a decade later when Oklahoma State (or Oklahoma A&M at the time) signed up as well. The conference was a storied one with the likes of Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa State, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State with the aforementioned Buff and Okie State.

The Big-8 won 11-NCAA football National Titles during that time, six by Oklahoma, four by Colorado's arch rival Nebraska and one by the Buffs in 1990.

The age of mergers and super conferences jumped up a notch when the Big-8 grabbed 4 key schools from the Texas based Southwest Conference, including Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor) in 1996. A true power conference and what seemed like the forever home for the Buffs program took a turn when Texas decided they were more valuable than the rest of the conference and began negotiating for a bigger share of the pie.

Nebraska officially reached out to the Big-10, and shortly after that Colorado was willing to hear what the then PAC-10 had to say about expansion. By 2011, the Buffs were in new west coast digs and leaving a number of rivals back in the rear view mirror.

The Buffs did make money. Good money. That money built some beautiful additions to the stadium and for a number of athletic programs at the school. But Colorado football disappeared from the map, with only two winning seasons in their new conference. The basketball programs made some noise along the way, but in the world of college football, the Buffs had only aging glory days to hold on to.

If the vote at Colorado goes as expected today, the Buffs will return 'home' to the Big-12. It is rumored to be happening as soon as the 2024 fall season, which is lighting fast as far as moving from one conference to another goes.

Home looks a lot different since 2010. Only half of their old Big-8 buddies are still around, with KU, K-State, Okie State and Iowa State, and two more former Big-12 members Baylor and Texas Tech.

Buff fans will really need to read the program at Folsom Field to figure out the other schools now a part of the reformed Big-12. TCU and how Houston make a lot of sense as regional members, but then it starts to get a little weird. West Virginia jumped into the Big-12 after Texas A&M and Missouri found bigger bags of cash in the all-powerful SEC. Which of course, is also where Texas and Oklahoma are headed.

It gets weirder with Central Florida, Cincinnati and BYU as new potential rivals for Colorado.

As a fan of football on this side of the Mississippi, I kind of like the idea of CU-BYU games quite a bit.

The rumor mill is also just getting warmed up, most Big-12 pundits suggest the conference will soon be adding another team, possibly Arizona from the PAC-12, or perhaps should be renamed to the PAC-9 by the end of business today. 

Utah makes more sense to me, with their semi-bad blood with the Buffs and their arch rival Cougars already in the conference.

Who knows what will happen when the music stops in this game of conference musical chairs? 

Although there is one constant college fans can bank on -- and that constant is change in college conference football alignment.

The Buffs are going home. Sort of. 

And it really is the best move for them in the moment. The biggest key for the future of Colorado football is to start winning again. They do have eyes on the program again, thanks to Coach Prime. However, not much will change with this conference move if they don't get in the win column and back on the national stage.