College football realignment: Insider suggests surprising fate for Stanford, Cal

College football realignment might end up seeing Stanford and Cal joining the ACC of all places.

The latest wave of college football realignment has left us with only four Pac-12 schools: The academic Bay Area powers of Cal and Stanford, and the Pacific Northwest Step Brothers known as Oregon State and Washington State.

While not even Dr. Doback wants Oregon State or Washington State, there does seem to be some perceived interest in most definitely Stanford, maybe even Cal? ESPN’s Pete Thamel appeared on Monday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show to explain what the hell is going on after Friday’s death sentence of the Pac-12. He suggested that the ACC could have interest in adding Cal and Stanford.

Keep in mind that Stanford has an amazing athletic department, especially with its Olympic sports.

Thamel also mentioned that the four Pac-12 holdovers are planning to stick together until the dying conference’s bitter end … or until its survival is not happening under any circumstances.

As for Oregon State and Washington State, they could potentially dominate a new Mountain West.

College football realignment rumors: Stanford, Cal could be heading to the ACC

Academically, it could work out well for Cal and Stanford in the ACC. However, there is a lot of tentpoles and financial mumbo jumbo Thamel tried to explain to McAfee that us fellow sports stooges cannot even remotely comprehend. As best as I can explain it, if the Pac-12 wanted to get back to nine teams, the remaining four would have to pay over $150M to smooth out the buyouts.

Frankly, I think all four schools need to catch the life preserver the Mountain West is sure to throw their way and form a pretty interesting 16-team league. Not to say adding the Beavers, Cardinal, Cougars and Golden Bears will get an expanded Mountain West to something akin to Power Five prestige, but it would make for a dam fine football conference that could land an automatic bid.

See, for as much as Cal and Stanford love non-revenue producing sports, the cashola comes from football, basketball and baseball/softball at some schools. It may be a step down in competition for the four Pac-12 holdovers, but it might stand as a better ticket into the expanded College Football Playoff. This change of guard helps mid-major leagues like the AAC and the Sun Belt, too.

An ACC/Pac-12 merger is so ridiculous, but Argo not only won Oscars, it also helped save lives.