Former Oregon football coach has surprising advice for Pac-12

With Washington and Oregon bolting for the Big Ten, following hot on the heels of USC and UCLA, what was once known as the Pac-12, the conference of champions, is all but dead.

With four schools now remaining in Stanford, Cal, Washington State and Oregon State, it remains to be seen what the remnants of the once-proud conference do. One has to imagine that there is one idea to remain a conference. After all, the Pac-12 has been around 1915. Adding Mountain West schools like San Diego State University, UNLV, or Boise State may not be as sexy as the SEC adding Oklahoma and Texas, but it at least keeps the Pac-12 together.

There is another option on the table, which is to merge with an expanding conference like the Big 12. It makes sense geography-wise. And according to former Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich, a 20-team Big 12 would be able to stand toe-to-toe with the SEC and Big Ten.

"Yeah, I mean, I’m hoping there’s one more wildcard in the Big 12,” Helfrich recently told Colin Cowherd (h/t On3). “Two 10 team divisions in the Big 12. They have 16, now add those four at Stanford, Cal, Washington State, Oregon State and be the first Super Conference. Play a nine-game schedule on each side. Have a champion and that’s your unique fit. You’re gonna protect all those people with playoff access, that’s a huge thing all this too is this."

This would, of course, spell doom for the 100-plus-year-old Pac-12, but it would allow Stanford, Cal, Washington State and Oregon State to stay relevant while preserving their ability to potentially make the College Football Playoff in the future.

After all, that's what this recent wave of realignment is setting up. Per Helfirch, either you're in with the cool kids at the cool table, or you're on the outside looking in.

If the remaining Pac-12 schools can protect their spot amongst schools playing for the CFP, that at the very least would be a win in an otherwise dire situation.

“This split of the haves and have nots, this is going to lead to less access to what in theory was an expanded playoff, a 12-team playoff. I think that’s going to be you know, Big Ten, SEC and everybody else. But to protect that part of it would be big," Helfrich said.