College football insider has a devastating prediction for the Pac-12

Paul Finebaum sincerely doubts the Pac-12 is going to be around for all that much longer.

During Paul Finebaum’s weekly radio hit on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, he essentially kicked the utterly toothless Pac-12 while it was down and threw some dirt on it. Although the conference is still technically alive, it seems to be straight chilling in a freshly dug-out grave.

Finebaum does not believe the Pac-12 will survive and will be cooked as a conference by 2026. It has everything to do with atrocious leadership under former commissioner Larry Scott, as well as newish commissioner George Kliavkoff struggling to secure even the most basic of a media rights deal for a league that will soon be without USC and UCLA. They are leaving for the Big Ten in 2024.

Finebaum’s response to Greg McElroy’s question about the league’s overall long-term viability is certainly damning to say the least.

"“I don’t believe so. I don’t know how it can, Greg. Because it’s — the situation is so fragile right now. The leadership is better than it was. It’s still not very good. And, you know, I think you give the new commissioner, George Kliavkoff, a pass because maybe a year, a year and a half ago, his predecessor literally ran this thing into the ground. But he’s had enough time and I think, so far, you have to give him a failing grade.”"

He followed that up by saying he expects the Pac-12 to dissolve because mega conferences such as the Big Ten and now the Big 12 will be left with no choice but to acquire territory. The cream of the crop of the Pac-12 could be ripe for the picking if the media rights deal goes kaput.

"“And ultimately, as much as big conferences don’t really want to expand at the moment, I think they’ll be forced to take the cream of the crop out there, whether it’s the Big Ten going after the northwest schools, whether it’s Colorado or Arizona or somebody else just deciding to go to the Big 12 — I do not believe the Pac-12 can exist.”"

Here is the audio of Finebaum’s appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning discussing the 2024 SEC conference schedule and what is to become of the hobbled Pac-12 conference.

There are still many valuable pieces in the Pac-12, but it is going to be so hard for them to stay united without a competitive media rights deal and potentially better opportunities elsewhere.

Paul Finebaum believes the Pac-12 is no longer going to be with us by 2026

Of the 10 schools that will be left in the Pac-12 after USC and UCLA leave for the Big Ten in 2024, you can safely say upwards of eight could have real value in joining a new league. The six that are very obvious are Oregon and Washington, as well as the four Four Corner universities (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah). Academically speaking, Cal and Stanford do offer value as well.

And that leaves the likes of Oregon State and Washington State in no-man’s land. Frankly, the Beavers and the Cougars might be better served joining the likes of the Mountain West if their league does inevitably dissolve. Regardless, three Power Five leagues are thriving (Big Ten, Big 12, SEC), one is kind of treading water (ACC) and the other is drowning (Pac-12). Oh, this is madness!

While I have no idea how the nature of the mega league of major college football will shake out, it does seem as though like the expanded College Football Playoff format will do wonders for the sport. This is an ever-changing landscape, but one would have thought playoff expansion would have quelled any sort of realignment talks. Oh, we could not have been any more wrong on the subject…

For now, the Pac-12 still exists, but if major prognosticators like Finebaum are out on it, so are we.