Could UC Davis and Sac State be headed to the Pac-12?

Is the Mountain West a viable option or should the Aggies stay put?

This is not a sports column.

This is about a great university weighing its options while a potential opportunity is taking shape.

Speak now or forever hold your peace? Or boldly and blindly plunge into the great unknown?

Okay, there is a sports element to this story. College football, specifically. But there will not be any scores or game reports noted here.

With prestigious institutions of higher learning suddenly switching conferences like trading cards, UC Davis may be presented with an opportunity to move along as well. The big question is whether it's smarter to stay put or to explore the possibility of spending untold millions to climb another rung on the college football ladder.

The Pacific Coast Conference started in a back room of the elegant Imperial Hotel in my hometown of Portland on December 2, 1915. Contrary to what some of my critics claim, I was not in attendance.

At the table were representatives of the University of California, the University of Washington, the University of Oregon and Oregon State University, OSU was known at the time as Oregon Agricultural College, much like UC Davis used to be the University Farm, where professors from Berkeley would come to the wide open valley and raise the tomatoes they couldn't grow in Strawberry Canyon.

Over the years, Stanford, Washington State, USC and UCLA joined the conference with its cookie-cutter rivalries of Washington-Washington State, Oregon-Oregon State, Cal-Stanford and USC-UCLA.

Later, that theme continued with the addition of Arizona and Arizona State, but the pattern was finally broken with the addition of Utah and Colorado, institutions relatively near each other, but in no way rivals of any kind.

What had been the Pacific Coast Conference became the Pac-10 and finally the Pac-12.

All seemed well and good for this historic conference for 105 years or so, other than a brief hiccup in the 1960s that's not worth mentioning.

But one day several years ago, USC and UCLA announced they were leaving the conference for the Big Ten, and a year or so later, Oregon and Washington joined them and the entire conference collapsed, literally overnight.

In short, the historic "Conference of Champions" had gone from being the Pac-12 to the Lack-12.

Washington State and Oregon State, proud institutions with agricultural roots similar to UC Davis, were left alone on an island not of their choosing, but they held onto the Pac-12 name and significant assets and set about to rebuild a conference that is now 109 years old.

The new commissioner of the two-team Pac-12 is Teresa Gould, who served a short stint as interim athletic director at UC Davis. Ah yes, there's always a local angle.

Teresa Gould

Gould has been working tirelessly for the past year with the presidents of WSU and OSU on a plan to rebuild the conference to at least eight teams, but perhaps more.

Late last week, lightning struck with the announcement that Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Colorado State were leaving the Mountain West Conference to join the Pac-12.

But Gould still needs two more teams.

Just today, Portland-based columnist John Canzano is reporting that the Pac-12 is eyeing both Memphis and Tulane, a geographic stretch, for sure.

It didn't take folks on the other side of the Yolo Causeway more than an hour to organize a committee cleverly called "SAC-12" to lobby Gould and those two Pacific Northwest presidents about Sacramento State becoming a Pac-12 member.

I think they're dreaming, but dreams sometimes come true.

While UC Davis doesn't have such a committee pushing its fortunes in the Pac-12's direction, it is Topic A all over campus as fall classes are set to begin next week.

Could our beloved Aggies compete at a higher level in college football? How much would a stadium expansion cost? What other expenses are involved? Would there be enthusiasm not only in Davis but in the greater Sacramento area for such a move?

I have been convinced for years that UC Davis could successfully make an upward move. I think enthusiasm would explode and proud alums would come out of the woodwork to support their alma mater's new venture. I have no doubt that over time UCD could compete at the next level in college football. If it can be done in Corvallis and Pullman, it can certainly be done in Davis.

If the Pac-12 seriously considers either UC Davis or Sac State, it's likely both would be invited.

Some folks might not realize that all other UC Davis sports already compete at the highest level, with Aggie football just one rung below the big boys.

Just the other day I watched the UCD women's soccer team beat LSU. Last week the men's soccer team overwhelmed Oregon State.

In recent years, the Aggie men's basketball team has thumped Cal and Oregon State and Washington State, while the women took down Oregon and Gonzaga and Kansas State.

UCD Chancellor Gary May has frequently referred to a strong sports program as the front porch to a great university. 

But forget the pie-in-the-sky dream of the Pac-12 for a moment and take a more realistic look at the now-decimated Mountain West Conference that is in full panic mode with the loss of its top four franchises.

With the possibility that two more Mountain West teams - UNLV and San Jose State perhaps - will be invited to join the Pac-12, the Mountain West will need new members in a hurry and will no doubt look favorably at UC Davis as well as other options, possibly including Sac State, Montana and Montana State.

The Mountain West competes at the top level of college football, but it's an easier and less risky transition for UC Davis than the Pac-12.

The remaining eight members of the Mountain West are Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada, UNLV, San Jose State, Utah State, Hawaii and the Air Force Academy.

Oddsmakers like to tell us how to bet on college football.

UC Davis to the Pac-12: 10-1 against.

UC Davis to the Mountain West: 50-50.

Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com