We have wandered to the end of August without resolution of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s appraisal of Stanford, California and SMU as new members. Friday morning, sources tell Sports Illustrated, our long national realignment nightmare should culminate in a formal vote for inclusion or an informal rejection. It’s go or no-go time.
The only proper way to end this thing is with the addition of those schools to the league.
Since the Pac-12 dissolved Aug. 4 in an acidic solution of competitor avarice, TV predation and lousy internal leadership, four schools have been left twisting. Faced with the extinction of their 108-year-old conference, Stanford, Cal, Washington State and Oregon State have varying chances for power-conference survival. The two Bay Area schools have far more attractive profiles and, thus, better options—or at least one good option.
