Eight-team Pac-12 Launches Conference Schedule With Strategic Flex Game Structure

Boise State is hot off its first win in the Pac-12, and what better group to have been in attendance than the 2007 Fiesta Bowl team to have been in attendance.

While commemorating an important historical Boise State moment was surely the highlight of the day for most of us, another important college football face was at Albertsons Stadium.

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Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould made the trip to Boise to see the first conference game since 2023. Gould gave her insights to the media on a number of Pac-12-related topics, but none as important as ‘what���s next’ for the league…

Pac-12 Flex Game

It’s no secret that the Pac-12 is small … uniquely small.

While just about every other conference has grown, the Pac-12 has shrunk since the mass exodus in 2023, only to swell back to eight football members in 2026.

This shrinkage has caused a shortage of games, as eight football programs in one conference can only play seven unique opponents, forcing the need for a flex game in Week 13.

“We’ve been very intentional early on in the building of this league around staying small,” Gould said. “And staying small, while it has some operational challenges, also has some incredible benefits, and one of them is having flexibility.”

If football games are in demand, the Pac-12 is short on its supply of teams. In Week 13, every conference member will play a rematch game that is yet to be determined.

This isn’t new information at this point in the year, but how those games will be “determined” is slowly becoming more and more clear.

“The whole idea behind it is that we have the flexibility to say ‘what matchups put us in a position to advance what we’re looking for?’ which is CFP access [and] as many teams as possible in polls”

During Gould’s visit to Boise State, she opened up about the importance of the College Football Playoff (CFP) and how the flex game can offer a unique solution, or even an advantage to Pac-12 members’ chances at making the cut.

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“Because getting a team into the CFP is an important metric for us, if we have a team in position to go to the CFP then we have the ability to create a matchup that supports that outcome.”

This would likely, but not certainly, mean that a Pac-12 program in CFP contention would play an easier conference opponent, assuming the CFP rankings show that program is the favorite to represent the Group of 6 (G6).

On the other hand, if a Pac-12 team is competing with an AAC program for that lone bid, scheduling a stronger opponent could bolster the résumé.

Outside of the playoff, Gould made clear that the extra rematch could help with bowl eligibility. 

“Same thing if we have a team, or teams, that need to get bowl eligible. That need another win to get bowl eligible,” Gould said.

Current NCAA rules require at least a 6-6 record to make a bowl game, so in theory, the flex game will allow fringe-bowl teams to get a favorable matchup that could push them over the edge.

We also know that the locations of the flex game have already been set.

Boise State is slated to play an away game in Week 13 and that will not change, meaning potential opponents for Boise State in Week 13 include Utah State, Washington State, Fresno State and Colorado State, as they are all slated for home games.

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The Pac-12 can wait until the week before the game to decide matchups.

“As the person who has to make those decisions, I’m certainly hoping that it can become clearer sooner than that.”

As for the conference championships, the Pac-12 has made a commitment to ensure schools do not play each other three times (once scheduled, once flex game and once Pac-12 championship)

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Pac-12 and the College Football Playoff

With recent discussions surrounding a potential 24-team CFP, G6 conferences are waiting to see what the Power 4 (P4) decides regarding seeding and guaranteed bids.

However, with any change to official rules and regulations comes the potential for the undoing of important amendments.

As it stands now, the official language states that each P4 conference champion receives an automatic bid, while the highest ranked team, not champion, from the G6 will get an automatic bid of their own.

“I battled in that room to make sure that that language stayed that way because I think that’s what's in the best interest of the playoff. To get the best team in there whether you’re a champion or not,” Gould said.

This language may affect Pac-12 programs the most. 

Suppose Boise State did beat Oregon this year, but then lost in the conference championship game. That lone loss would be an automatic disqualifier if it weren’t for this stipulation, even though the résumé would be immaculate.

If the language stays as is, it would allow a G6 program to go 8-0 in conference play, lose the championship game and still be considered for an automatic CFP bid. That distinction could be huge, considering at-large bids are next to impossible to attain for G6 programs.

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Something unique to the Pac-12 in its current iteration could be both a blessing and a curse: Every football member will play each other at least once, meaning only one program can go undefeated in conference play.

This is an important distinction.

In other conferences, multiple teams can go undefeated as long as the schedule allows for it. In an eight-team Pac-12, an 8-0 conference record will quite literally require total domination, something that could be a selling point when push comes to shove in CFP rankings.

It all sounds good in a vacuum, but this method does keep the door open for all 69 G6 programs to compete for one spot in the CFP, assuming that the amount of automatic bids remains the same.