Sep. 24—Two-Pac, six-Pac, red-Pac, UConn-in-the-Pac?
Are you confused yet?
Monday featured a stream of conference realignment news, the details of which will likely have changed by the time you read this. So that we’re on the same page, here is what happened.
The Pac-12 Conference, spearheaded by Washington State and Oregon State with four new members from the Mountain West in tow, asked a slew of schools if they wanted to join the league, and the vast majority of those schools said no. One said yes. Others are considering.
As of 9:02 p.m. Pacific on Monday, the Pac-12 Conference, which was reduced to two members when 10 schools bolted for other conferences within the last two years, has grown to seven schools — one short of the required eight football-supporting institutions required to be considered a conference by the NCAA in 2026 and beyond.
Four Mountain West pillars — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State — announced last week their intention to join the Pac-12 beginning in 2026.
Another MW school, Utah State, reportedly accepted an invitation to join on Monday.
The Pac-12 reportedly targeted the biggest brands in the American Athletic Conference:
Memphis, Tulane, University of Texas San Antonio and South Florida.
Those four schools rejected the Pac-12 and announced their commitment to the AAC in a joint statement in which they acknowledged the fact that they considered leaving.
“While we acknowledge receiving interest in our institutions from other conferences, we firmly believe that it is in our individual and collective best interests to uphold our commitment to each other,” the four schools wrote in a joint statement Monday.
In the wake of this rejection, the Mountain West reportedly made a so-far successful effort to keep Air Force, UNLV and San Jose State.
There are even reports that…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/sam-taylor-commentary-making-sense-121600660.html
Author : Lewiston Tribune, Idaho
Publish date : 2024-09-24 12:16:00
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