After a two-day conference in San Fransisco last week, Pac-10 athletic directors still haven’t decided on how to split its two new divisions for the 2011-2012 season, but are close to reaching a compromise, sources told ESPN’s Ted Miller.
At this point, a north-south split appears to be imminent over the zipper model, which would have split the conference from east to west. The question that remains, however, is where to place rivals Cal and Stanford.
Playing in California is a big recruiting tactic for the Pac-10’s northern programs and moving the Bay Area schools into the South division could mean a trip to California only once every two years.
On the flip side, the California schools (including the aforementioned Cal and Stanford) would rather stay in the same division -- the South -- with Arizona and Arizona State.
A compromise likely means Cal and Stanford would be moved to the North division and new Pac-12 members Utah and Colorado would be placed in the South division, although nothing has been decided upon.
Pac-10 commish Larry Scott has insisted that the conference will maintain a nine-game schedule with room for four crossover games to maintain rivalries.