The Pac-4 schools are in limbo. The Mountain West is open for additions. The American Athletic Conference is interested in growing and on-guard for being poached.

The Atlantic Coast Conference can’t reach a consensus on expansion, and the Big Ten seems to be done adding West Coast schools — but we have heard that before.

While talking with the ACC, Stanford and Cal were still exhausting options to convince the Big Ten to add two more West Coast schools to go along with Southern California, UCLA, Oregon and Washington.

The Bay Area rivals have been unsuccessful so far. Could minds be changed? Never underestimate the power and influence of Stanford graduates, but for now it appears unlikely.

Stanford and Cal’s inability to land in a Power Five conference keeps alive hopes that they, along with Oregon State and Washington State, could rebuild the Pac-whatever by luring a few of the top Group of Five schools into a smaller league that conceivably would be more valuable going forward than the ones they are currently in.

“We continue to believe that preserving the Pac-12 is in the best interests of OSU student-athletes and the remaining universities, and so we are doing everything in our control to stabilize and rebuild the conference,” Oregon State President Jayathi Murth said in a statement Friday.There are myriad obstacles, starting with multimillion dollar exit fees in the Mountain West and AAC and the lack of a media rights deal for the Pac-12.

“They’re not going to have a war chest to rebuild with,” Tom Burman, athletic director at Mountain West school Wyoming, said in an interview with Pokescast.

Football independence and an Olympic sport agreement with a Western conference — maybe the West Coast Conference and its strong basketball? — could be an option for Stanford and Cal.

Probably more so for Stanford, which doesn’t have Cal’s athletic budget issues.

As for Oregon State and Washington State, the choices seem to be figure something out with Stanford and Cal or join the Mountain West or AAC.

“We’re going to be OK,” Washington State athletic director Pat Chun said this week. “The reality is, realignment is not done.”