Time will tell if George Kliavkoff goes down in history as the Neville Chamberlain of college athletics, but it’s not looking good.

Only last August, Kliavkoff, the newly-minted commissioner of the Pac-12, entered into a handshake deal with the Big Ten and ACC to form an “alliance” after the SEC invaded the Big 12 and made off with Texas and Oklahoma. Asked why he didn’t at least get it in writing, Kliavkoff called it “an agreement among three gentlemen,” which was his first mistake.

As old Neville learned after attempting to appease Hitler, there are no gentlemen in war or college athletics.

The Big 12 is about to give George his second lesson.

Even as you’re reading this, maybe, Big 12 officials are reportedly meeting with representatives of Arizona State, Arizona, Colorado and Utah to discuss their annexation. There’s no time to waste. The Big Ten reportedly awaits a decision from Notre Dame, putting a hold on potential offers to Oregon and Washington/Stanford, depending on which accounts you believe.

The Big 12 must jump now, in the midst of the lull, while uncertainty looms over the Pac-12’s future, if not existence.

Maybe Kliavkoff can still pull his league out of the fire, but that is not the way to bet. Or at least that’s what Big 12 officials need to tell Utah, Colorado and the Arizona schools.

As for you, dear reader, forget for a moment that most realignment rumors don’t pan out. The moves that take are the ones you never hear about, like USC and UCLA. Next thing you knew, Big Ten presidents made it unanimous. When Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle broke the news last summer that Texas and OU were bound for the SEC, he should have won a Nobel Prize for cracking the code.

This time, though, the rumors have substance. What’s transpiring is probably the last great shift in our lifetime. Or mine, at least. Before the ground stops shaking, the Big Ten and SEC will have all the schools they want, save for Notre Dame.

Notwithstanding the ACC’s media deal, which guarantees grant of rights until 2036, the SEC will end up with Clemson and Florida State. Maybe Miami, if the Hurricanes don’t go to the Big Ten. North Carolina will get a Big Ten invite. As for the grant-of-rights penalty, it might not be as onerous as you’d think. They’ll make enough money in their new SEC and Big Ten deals to make up for it. Their new neighbors might even pitch in.

And without their big brands, the Pac-12 and ACC will be gutted, leaving the Big 12 to pick over the remains because of its unique position.

Bob Bowlsby left the league in good shape on his way out the door by adding BYU, Cincinnati, UCF and Houston. They were the best options on the table at the time. Now Bowlsby’s successor, Brett Yormark, has better inventory at his disposal.

Maybe you’re not as moved by the prospects of Arizona State, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. Except for Utah, which played in the Rose Bowl last season and has been on a nice run ever since Urban Meyer turned around the program, the quartet doesn’t exactly represent a football bonanza. Over the last 25 years, they’ve finished in the Top 25 a combined 19 times, and nine of those were by the Utes. Arizona State is an underachiever, and the sooner Herm Edwards gets the gate, the better. Arizona, on the other hand, is a basketball school, and Colorado is pretty much the same bunch that deserted the Big 12 in 2011, not that anyone noticed.

Still, here’s what those four schools represent: Two more top 20 TV markets and four large state schools with big alumni bases and healthy attendance figures. Because size matters in college sports.

In a 2020 analysis of football attendances figures from 2015-19, College Football News found that Arizona (45th), Colorado (44th), Utah (43rd) and Arizona State (40th) rank ahead of Kansas (80th), Houston (70th), Cincinnati (67th), UCF (61st), TCU (49th) and Baylor (48th). The only schools in front of Baylor that aren’t already pledged to the Big Ten, SEC or Big 12 are Georgia Tech (42nd), North Carolina (41st), Louisville (39th), Oregon (35th), Miami (34th), North Carolina State (29th), Virginia Tech (24th), Washington (20th), Florida State (19th), Notre Dame (15th) and Clemson (14th).

Bottom line: Unless the Big 12 wants to expand its reach to compete with the Big Ten’s coast-to-coast sprawl and make travel that much tougher for student-athletes in the process, there aren’t a lot of good expansion options left.

A Western Division of Baylor, Houston, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah, BYU, Arizona State and Arizona would give the new additions travel partners while preserving the proximity of the four Texas schools. In an Eastern Division, Colorado could rejoin its old Big 8 partners in Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State in addition to West Virginia, Cincinnati and UCF.

A 16-member entity would make the Big 12 the next-best thing after the Super 2 and give the league the kind of stability it’s never really had. Not just because of its sheer size, either.

For the first time in the Big 12’s existence, none of its members could big-time the rest. No Texas lording it over everyone else. No Texas A&M or Oklahoma or Nebraska threatening to take their brands elsewhere. Everyone would be in the same boat. One for all and all for one.

Just as soon as they pull George Kliavkoff’s league out from under him, that is. It’s a cruel world, Georgie.

Twitter: @KSherringtonDMN