This latest round of conference realignment has turned into a struggle for College Football Playoff access primacy. The current Mountain West is regarded as the best of the Group of Five conference and its champion would likely earn an automatic CFP bid in most years under the current format.

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 poaching penalty that was written into the 2024 scheduling agreement between the Pac-12 and Mountain West and equates to $43 million for the four schools combined. In all, the Pac-12 and its new members are staring at approximately $115 million, or $28.8 million per school.

Just one year ago, the two conferences seemed like a perfect match. The post It’s Complicated: How the Mountain West–Pac-12 Relationship Crumbled appeared first on Front Office Sports.