if the conference decided it valued its affiliation with the Rose Bowl over the Playoffs. I say that because one of the reasons the Big Ten chose to align with the Rose Bowl during the BCA Era is because the conference valued playing games (including bowl games) in California for recruiting purposes. My point is the Big Ten may still want to have better access to CA recruits which is the same motive as Notre Dame (who alternates its final regular season game @Stanford or @USC). A case could be made that Michigan's back-to-back Rose Bowl appearance against UDub in '91 and '92) helped them sign Tom Brady (who is from San Mateo, CA).

I don't disagree that the PAC-12 has serious problems in addition to Larry Scott's lack of leadership. Personally, I think the time zones may be a bigger problem for the PAC-12 than Larry Scott. Regardless of whomever is Commissioner of the PAC-12, the conference will always be essentially 3 hours behind the most important TV market (aka the East Coast). Even if the PAC-12 had gotten into bed with ESPN, it would still play second fiddle to the SEC and maybe even the ACC which could mean no increase in the number of game televised during prime time. The PAC-12 might have seen a slight increase in the number of prime time games if it aligned with Fox, the conference would still play second fiddle to the Big Ten and maybe even the Big XII.