Today on the show Mac Engel made a comment along the lines of, “If the BigXII had known they could get ASU, U of A, Colorado, and Utah, they probably wouldn’t have invited UH, Cincinnati, UCF and BYU.”
My first thought was yeah, take that Cougs, but then I realized had they not taken those four schools we’re looking at a completely different scenario. But for them taking those four schools, the Pac poaches enough BigXII schools to stay together and the BigXII either falls apart or they are a much weaker P5 reacting. The fact they were proactive is a major factor in what made the Pac become irrelevant.
Had USC and UCLA left a year earlier and Texas/OU switched and left a year later, we’re looking at a Pac that survives, and UCF, BYU, Houston, Cincinnati along with possibly WVU, ISU are on the outside looking in instead of WSU, OSU, Cal and Stanford.
So I disagree the BigXII was not in a position to not invite the four G5 schools, and they are lucky they did.
I’ll miss the Pac, but not Larry Scott, GK, and to a certain degree USC/UCLA. Oregon and Washington get a pass in my mind, they were stuck looking out for their best interest, as were the four corner schools. Sad the Pac jacked this up so much.