The season is practically here, but the off-field drama of summer won't stop just because toe is about to hit leather. Here's a rundown on where things stand in realignment.
Cal and Stanford: According to multiple reports on Wednesday, the ACC is holding another round of serious talks about adding Cal, Stanford and SMU as its 15th, 16th, and 17th full-time members.
The calculus is simple for the Bay Area schools. The ACC is the last option to remain in a "Power 5" conference -- we use quotes because the term effectively becomes moot once the Playoff expands in 2024 -- and, equally important, stands as a suitable home for the Golden Bears' and Cardinal's robust Olympic sports. The schools are reportedly open to taking partial shares from the $39.4 million the ACC currently distributes to its schools. (The AAC distributes a reported $8.5 million, the Mountain West is around $6 million.)
As for SMU, the thinking is even clearer. Among the nine original Southwest Conference schools, only two are not currently in the SEC or the Big 12: SMU and Rice. With all due respect to the Owls, SMU takes football more seriously than Rice.
Instead of playing TCU, Baylor, Tech and the like, SMU is still playing Rice while adding foes like UTSA and North Texas (SMU is 35-6-1 all-time versus the Mean Green).
A group of SMU boosters has reportedly offered to cover the Mustangs' entire media payouts, meaning they'd come to the ACC for free for the first few years of membership.
Cal and Stanford came one vote shy of joining the ACC two weeks ago, and Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick -- who somehow gets a say, despite his school being a partial member and his career nearing its end -- has not given up on getting the Bears and the Cardinal into the club. “You can’t have two of the great academic institutions in the world not have a place to play,” he said on the Dan Patrick show today.
Oregon State and Washington State: The Beavers and the Cougars are not sitting around hoping to join hands with Cal and Stanford to rebuild the Pac-4.
As we covered last week, Washington State is putting its brand out on the market, and media consultant Jim Williams tweeted Wednesday that Oregon State plans to meet with the Mountain West on Thursday, with the American likely after.
Tomorrow Oregon State will meet with the Mountain West in the first of what is likely to be a - getting to know you meeting. OSU is not waiting for Stanford to decide what to do. They & WSU have to explore all of their options. Look for them to likely meet with the American soon
— Jim Williams (@JWMediaDC) August 23, 2023
The Mountain West is the closer of the two conferences, but the American pays more and puts its teams in New Year's Six bowl games more often. The American is also more distant. Would Temple want to travel to Corvallis? Would Oregon State want to visit South Florida?
Neither option is ideal. Then again, "ideal" left the building along with USC and UCLA.
At this point in the game, the strategy for the Pac-4 is about identifying the best bad idea on the table and making the most of it.