Derek thinks that the Big 10 and Pac 10 will face pressure to expand to 12. While I think that he’s right about the pressure, I hope that the Pac-10 resists it.
An expansion to 12 would wreak havoc on the basketball schedule. The Pac-10 has a balanced 18-game home and away conference schedule. A 22-game schedule has no leeway for out of conference games and a divisional split eliminates existing rivalries. It’s going to be ugly when the ACC announces their two division basketball schedule, and I don’t think the Pac-12 will learn anything from that.
And where will the extra 3 football games come from? Who will be willing to schedule trips up to Washington and Oregon to play WSU, OSU or OU? And where will WSU, OSU, OU, Cal and Stanford play their extra road games? I expect that they’ll end up playing non conference games against teams in the other division.
When it comes to 12, the Pac-10 should just say no.