CFB columnist roasts Pac-12 on its steep downfall, struggling to stay intact in the recent wave of Big Ten and Big 12 expansion

The Pac-12 has been decimated by conference realignment as eight of the 12 schools have announced that they will leave the conference ahead of the 2024 season.

With less than a week remaining until the beginning of the final season of the conference as we know it, college football columnist John Canzano tweeted a poll, questioning:

"Most interesting final season? Game of Thrones: 4.9%, Breaking Bad: 26.8%, The Sopranos: 8.4%, Pac-12: 59.9%"

Check out John Canzano's tweeted poll, along with the results here.

The Pac-12 is on the verge of collapse as there will only be four programs remaining in the conference following the season. The California Bears, Oregon State Beavers, Stanford Cardinal and Washington State Cougars are the only schools that have not departed. However, the possibility remains that each school will leave the conference.

Cougars president Kirk Schulz recently discussed that possibility with Enrique Cerna, in comments shared by Brett McMurphy of The Action Network, who tweeted:

"Washington State president Kirk Schulz tells @enriquecerna, WSU has 3 options: join Mountain West, join AAC or rebuild Pac-12. 'The third option would be to sort of reconstitute or rebuild the Pac – I'll say Pac-X right now, there's 4 members left, but that could change literally w/in hours,' Schulz said. 'And so I think each of those we're pursuing in a parallel pathway & we want to evaluate what's going to be best for WSU.'"

Check out Brett McMurphy's tweet here.

How has conference realignment affected the Pac-12?

No conference has been more affected by realignment than the Pac-12, which has lost two-thirds of its member institutions, due, in large part, to its inability to secure a long-term media rights deal.

The UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans were the first to announce their departure as, in June 2022, both programs shared their plans to join the Big Ten in 2024.

Losing the Los Angeles media market did not help conference officials in their hopes of landing a long-term media rights deal. In July 2023, as it became clear they would be unable to do so, the Colorado Buffaloes announced that they would join the Big 12. Soon thereafter, the remaining nine schools were presented with a media rights offer that led to a mass exodus.

The Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies announced that they will join the Big Ten, while the Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State Sun Devils and Utah Utes will join the Big 12. As things stand, it is unclear if the four remaining programs will follow suit and leave ahead of the 2024 season.