The Pac-12, which a week ago was just the Pac-2 consisting of Oregon State and Washington State, opted for the power play.
The goal was to surgically add the best of the rest of the country’s football programs. That would position it as the most competitive conference outside of the big four — the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. It would therefore be in prime position to absorb any remaining media revenue and have an advantage in securing a bid to the College Football Playoff most, if not all, years.
But he missed the fatal shot.
On Wednesday night, UNLV announced it was rejecting a proposal from the Pac-12 to remain in the Mountain West. It was the key decision that ensured the viability of the Mountain West and leaves the Pac-12 scrambling to find a plan B or C or whatever it can cobble together.
It’s a major setback for the Pac-12 and its grand visions, but it’s a good thing for the overall health of college sports, which didn’t need further conference consolidation.
To recap, and there’s a lot to recap here, Oregon State and Washington State needed to rebuild the Pac-12 after being left to fend for themselves when 10 other schools in the league left for greener pastures — or pastures with greener.
USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington went to the Big Ten. Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah headed to the Big 12. Cal and Stanford took their performances all the way to the ACC.
Last week, the Pac-12 began by adding four Mountain West teams: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State. It then tried to head east and attract Memphis, Tulane and South Florida from the American Athletic Conference (AAC), but was rebuffed.
Now, in the midst of the struggle, the Pac-12 has turned to Mountain West members Utah State and UNLV. Utah State accepted the invitation. UNLV decided to stay. So did the Air Force Academy, which will remain in the Mountain West rather than joining the Army and Navy academies in the AAC.
Do you understand? It’s not easy.
The result is that the AAC has not changed. The Mountain West has been reduced to seven members, but it is still alive, legitimate and functional, although it needs an eighth team to reach the NCAA minimum for a conference.
The Pac-12 is also stuck at seven, and struggling to find its eighth team as well.
If you want to know how absurd this has all become… UTEP, which has averaged 3.2 wins over the past nine seasons and is currently 0-4, could now be fielding multiple offers to leave Conference USA.
That’s not how the Pac-12 had planned it, but it got a little greedy and then got shut out by the Mountain West, which is using the exit fees paid by the four departing teams to sweeten the deal and keep UNLV and the others. Sources say the Rebels will get $25 million, among other concessions, to stay.
If you’re a fan of college football in general, the conference affiliation of Utah State, San Jose State, or New Mexico probably doesn’t matter too much. However, the fact that they can play at the FCS level should matter to you.
Teams that know each other are going to play at the highest levels of the sport, the championships. Everyone wants to see Georgia at Alabama on Saturday night, for example. Nothing the Mountain West does changes that, nor does anything Ohio State, LSU, Michigan, Clemson, Texas and the rest of them do.
But the sport has 134 teams in its top division, and that absurdity is part of the appeal. Every Saturday is a cacophony of chaos, with games everywhere, at all hours. You don’t have to aspire to a national title to have traditions, history and quirky fun.
It’s college football. It’s designed to be ridiculous, with a rich and deep group of teams that generate excitement and entertainment away from the ruthless pursuit of championships.
It’s two sports in one. It’s fantastic.
Strengthening the Pac-12 at the expense of what would have been a shattered AAC and Mountain West serves no one but accountants and television executives. And even then, it does little.
Instead, it’s better to have six relatively healthy non-powerhouse conferences (add the Sun Belt, Conference USA and Mid-American to the list) than further separation. This is especially true with the new, expanded playoff system that offers an automatic bid to the best of the rest.
It’s also far better to make sure that a place like Wyoming, despite its lack of media markets or proximity to big cities, can make the most of what it has and field an often highly competitive team. Not everything should be determined by a marketing executive’s spreadsheet.
The most exciting game of this season so far was Baylor at Colorado, a sort of Hail Mary finale that left fans everywhere cheering (and CU students storming the field (twice), even if neither team has a realistic chance of winning it all).
That’s how it should be.
So the Pac-12 was unable to pull off its big move. Instead, the Mountain West was basically split in two, but both teams will survive somehow. The AAC, meanwhile, avoided a potential incursion.
College football will continue, weird and awkward and confusing, just the way we like it.