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Boise is a given, but people will cry on the Aggies. They are solid in all the major sports and competitive. But the naysayers about Utah State said the same about the Utah Utes coming into the Pac-10.
Two things will happen. The PAC 12 will die in two years or the Big12 will save them.
The bottom line is this, if one more school leaves the PAC 12, this conference is over. The greatest conference in the history of college sports will be done and commissioner George Kliakov has to do something. Now.
The P12 cannot be mad. The brass and participants backed all of this. They backed Larry Scott for over a decade, and they watched him destroy this conference. There is some institutional culpability in this.
The trick is how is George Kliakov going to save this conference. And quite frankly, that has been the MO for the PAC12 for the last two decades, bad leadership.
There is only one way to save it and that is to add two teams and partner with the B12 to bail them out. Be a part of the creation of a super conference.
The Pac-10 will not survive alone. The Mountain West will ultimately be the new Power 5 participant from the west.
But are things happening with Kliakov and the P12. Are they currently working a deal with ESPN as we speak? Are they setting up a merger with the Big 12? Or are they just inviting Boise State and flipping the bird to the two LA schools as they leave and try to make a go of it as the Pac12? There are a ton of questions, we just have to find the answers.
The commissioner has his work cut out for him and he must do something now. There is only one clear-cut answer to save the PAC 12. That is to add two teams and partner with the Big 12.
Most people will disagree but the only schools that you can bring in to replace the two LA schools from a competitive and real athletic standpoint are Boise State and Utah State.
Obviously, you can't replace the Los Angeles college sports market, but the Broncos and Aggies will make it competitive.
San Diego State has a brand-new high school football stadium, but there is no Power 5 revenue there so that won’t work. Fresno State is a competitive issue
Boise State is a shoe-in. But USU is a question. They are a little out of the way and not a media hub, but so was Corvalis, Oregon years ago.
Some of my colleagues raised their brows at UCF and Cincinnati in the Big 12. Moreover, Houston, but it is a very good move.
There are all kinds of opinions and views on this situation but there are not a lot of options. Again, Larry Scott created this disaster the P12 is on the verge of being destroyed for good. If the PAC 12 goes down, college sports will change forever.
Kliakov had to have an idea or some sort of sign that USC and UCLA were going to move to the PAC 10. I know he wants the best for the conference to survive, but we are talking about a casino guy running the PAC 12. We had a tennis-playing attorney that tried to strong-arm everybody through broadcast issues.
The Pac12 commissioner needs to play nice but be aggressive to save this conference.
Big 12 and the PAC 10, which is what it will be called after both LA schools leave, would make a great super conference to help combat the monopoly that is the Southeastern Conference. Granted, football will not be its forte. But that would be one hell of a conference and the best basketball, and baseball conference in the country.
Is Kliakov waiting to do something, playing things out? Not really. They are in some comprehensive discussions and a possible merger. If not, more teams will leave.