re: Stanford and Cal?

Short term I agree with others who say Stanford just goes Independent. Long term I think ND is eventually forced into the Big 10 (unless they no longer want to compete at the highest level of college football) and once that happens ND and Stanford go to the Big 10.

Cal should just drop sports all together. The university as a whole doesn't seem to care about sports and their students/alumni seem to care less about sports. Heck even when I've traveled out to California you never see Cal fans. You'll see plenty of USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Arizona State fans. Heck you even see some Fresno State, Oregon State, UNLV, San Diego State and San Jose State fans. But you never see Cal fans.

Let's look at Cal from an athletics standpoint.

Football: Outside of a few good years under Jeff Tedford Cal has largely been a joke in football. If you want to go back to pre-World War II they do have some National Titles. Last one in 1937!!

Men's Basketball: One of the worst programs in the Power 5. Have one National Championship in 1959. Hasn't been to a final four since 1960.

Women's Basketball: Not much better. One Final Four in 2013. Not a single winning season since COVID. No National Titles.

Baseball: Not much of a factor. Two National Championships in 1947 and 1957. Only one CWS appearance in modern times (2011).

Softball: Outside of a stretch from 2002-2004 not much of a factor in a sport the West Coast dominated until the 2010's. One National Championship in 2002 and two runner up finishes in 2003 and 2004. UCLA and Stanford have had far better softball programs.

So to recap, last football National Title in 1937, last baseball National Title in 1957, last men's basketball National Title in 1960 and last softball National Title in 2002. What do they add on the sports front again?

TV markets don't matter that much at this point and you would still get the Bay Area market with Stanford.

Cal has done absolutely nothing to get a spot in one of the premiere conferences. Let them drop to a lower level.

My feeling is if Cal is smart they'll just drop football and move their other sports to the West Coast Conference. Honestly, it might be best just for Cal to drop sports altogether. Let UC-Berkeley focus on the academic side while UCLA becomes the athletic side of the UC system.