...the scheduling agreement with the MWC including that stupid "We won't poach MWC teams" clause, especially when everybody knew that they would want to go after the MWC teams.

They should have called Tom Holmoe to find out how he did it, and then put together any kind of a 12-game schedule that they could get by paying $$ to whatever crap schools were available for 2024, and then made it known to the MWC schools that they were open to membership discussions for 2025 and beyond.

Better to have one crappy year than to give most or all of their Pac-12 windfall money to the MWC and have a big legal fight on their hands.