Watching the success of The Pac 12 this season is a reminder of what an unfortunate and unnecessary turn of events realignment has been. In reality The Big 12 not the Pac 12 should be the conference that is currently facing extinction. It lacks both brand strength and national reach.
Hypothetically let's say the B1G took Texas and Kansas for athletics/academics, The SEC grabbed OU and TCU for football, and The PAC took Ok State, K State, Iowa State, and Texas Tech for football and the addition of a third time zone. That would leave The ACC to take WVU(no brainer) and Baylor Football/Basketball addition. Its not perfect by any means, but in reality it would have eliminated the most redundant conference and avoided s** t like Stanford in The ACC.