We spoke with a dozen people involved in the discussions and no one sees an easy move, making it hard to predict realignment resolution.

The blueprint for the Pac-12's plan to add the top football programs from the Mountain West had been collecting dust in a filing cabinet.

Cancel that bulk order of beet juice. San Diego State’s basketball team religiously drinks the nitrate-rich concoction in the days before games in high altitude, believing it enhances oxygen delivery to muscles that becomes more difficult for sea-level athletes venturing into the Rockies.

Welcome to Until Saturday, the five-star college football newsletter: How the Pac-12 expansion came together and what’s next.

You can’t say the Pac-12 is making a comeback because it never really went away. The Conference of Champions was certainly in critical condition, but the remaining members Oregon State and Washington State vowed to keep it alive if a power conference invite didn’t come.

"I think at the end of the day for Lobo basketball, if we continue to get 15,000 (fans) a game, and we continue to get the support that we're getting,

UTEP and Texas State are options for the Mountain West Conference after Boise State, others left for the Pac-12 in another expansion move.