Rumor: Pac-12 anticipated to pursue expansion very soon

Sportskeeda's Farouk Yusuf claimed that the Pac-12 is "anticipated to pursue expansion very soon" by adding schools from the Mountain West and AAC.

"Despite being reduced to just two remaining members, the Pac-12 appears poised to thrive in the college athletics landscape," Yusuf prefaced before saying, "The league is anticipated to pursue expansion very soon, marking another phase of the ongoing conference realignment waves.

"Numerous schools from the Group of Five conferences are expected to lobby for considerations in their quest to achieve Power Five status. The league is projected to primarily assess teams from the Mountain West Conference and the American Athletic Conference."

Not so fast, Pac-12 enjoyers...

Oregon State and Wazzu more likely to join Big 12 or ACC

Longtime college football radio host Greg Swaim implied that the Pac-2, Oregon State and Wazzu, will receive Big 12 invites at some point.

"Good news coming soon for those of us who believe that (Oregon State) and (Wazzu) belong in the Big 12," tweeted Swaim.

Meanwhile, PressBox DC's Jim Williams suggested that the ACC's contingency plan will be to add Memphis, Tulane, Wazzu, Oregon State, UConn, and USF to make up for the likely losses of Clemson, FSU, UNC, and whichever other schools leave the conference.

Both scenarios are simpler moves than resurrecting the Pac-12. The former Power conference would essentially be relegating itself to the G5 ranks by bringing on predominantly G5 schools, and that's not going to land the conference a better TV deal than the one that had USC, UCLA, Washington, Oregon, Utah, and the two Arizona schools (UA, ASU).

Unfortunately, those who loved the Pac-12 -- and there didn't seem to be too many of those given the TV ratings, though Pac-12 After Dark's memory will live on forever -- a return shouldn't be expected even if the leftover Pac-12 administration would probably like it to happen.