The Arizona Daily Star and www.WeAreSC.com are reporting that USC Athletic Director Pat Haden has broken the silence, and stated that the Pac-12 divisions have been decided. The Arizona schools will join USC/UCLA and the two new conference members Colorado and Utah in one division. The Northern California, Oregon and Washington schools will make up the other division.
First, it is important to note that this has yet to be confirmed by the Pac-10 conference, or Arizona Athletic Director Greg Byrne. Second, this division split applies to football only.
If the report is true, the Pac-12 has thankfully decided to avoid the zipper-style conference alignment, ala the ACC. This also looks to be the most competitively balanced football setup. All four California schools will surely hate the alignment, but this is not only about keeping California happy. The Pac-12 needs to set itself to compete at a high level long term. More to come on this later, as more details emerge, and the story is confirmed by the conference officially.