Time for Greg Sankey to let the Pac-6, wanna-be Pac-12 know to forget 'Power' status

Let me be clear that I have nothing against America's West Coast. It is home to some of the nation's most extraordinary landscapes. In college football's history, multiple West Coast teams have been national powerhouses.

For college football, what was and what is bear no resemblance. The former Pac-12 rejects Washington State and Oregon State (as in rejected by current Power conferences) have orchestrated a new Pac-6 for 2026. Four Mountain West teams; Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, and San Diego State will join the Pac-2 to create a new Power conference wanna-be.

Based on comments by Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould, and reported by Ross Dellenger, the Pac-12 brand will be continued, no matter how many teams. Gould stated "There’s a lot of interest in having a high-level conference rooted on the West Coast, There’s a lot of interest in our communities and fan bases. A lot of people care deeply about the Pac-12 and Pac-12 brand. There is a lot of nostalgia about the possibility of a rebuild."

Gould's statement was made before the four-team addition was announced. She and the future six schools cannot stop at six. Except for the current emergency for Washington State and Oregon State, a conference must have a minimum of eight member schools. There is little reason to doubt two more will be added. UNLV would be a good addition. San Jose State would be a good geographical fit.

It is possible that Stanford and Cal would like to return. The ACC's Grant of Rights deal will block an exit by the Cardinal and the Bears - at least for the near future. What might happen is the two schools and previously disgruntled ACC programs, as a majority of ACC teams, might force an exit the ACC cannot block.

Greg Sankey Role

More importantly than anything discussed above is what Greg Sankey must do. Sankey must slam the door in the face of the Pac-6, or Pac-8, or Pac-12 seeking a return to a Power Conference designation. The why is simple. It is all about the CFB Playoff and the already nonsensical rule that awards automatic bids to five conference champions. Brett McMurphy explained what reality should be in the tweet below.

As I opined a few days ago, the time to scrap the current CFB Playoff format is now. What now is actually a Power 2, plus two Power 'hangers-on' should never return to a Power 5. Instead of more more conference champion automatic qualifiers, there should be none. Sankey would need some Big Ten help to cleanse the current Playoff structure of auto-qualifiers, but college football's top commissioner can bluntly demand the new 'Pac' not be gifted Power status.

The current Playoff has five auto-qualifiers, a compromise to make room for a Group of Five team. The worst possible result would be for the Pac-12 growth to push the Playoff to six auto-qualifiers, even if the Pac 12 is never designated as a Power Conference.