From a Big Ten board. It really is amazing how many of them seem to think this has anything to do with academics. What is that line from The Program..."I don't see 60,000 people showing up to watch a kid take a chemistry test"
If the Big10 still requires academic excellence for league admission, then the likely Pac12 candidates are UCLA, USC, Stanford and Berkeley. All of the rest are a substantial academic step down from the current Big10 schools, Nebraska excepted.
Nebraska is far worse than any other BIG10 or Pac12 school academically. Nebraska promised to improve during the talks to join. Ten years later, I think they are regarded even worse. All in favor of punting them for failure to meet league academic membership requirements? Hell, they even make Iowa academics look good.