The thought of USC and UCLA kicking the Pac-12 to the curb and rushing to the Big Ten initially stunned, like being doused with a bucket of Antarctic ice water.

Then again, should it really be such a central-nervous-system shocker?

This is the bold, brash and berserk new world of major college athletics. Big 12 anchors Oklahoma and Texas packed bags for the SEC. Name, Image and Likeness has put millions into the pockets of teenagers. The transfer portal is busier than O’Hare Airport.

Up is down. Black is white. History only matters until the next big check gains ink.

The Pac-12’s Los Angeles anchors announced they will join the Big Ten in 2024, signaling football’s Power 5 truly has become the Power 2.

In San Diego, the first thought is whether the seismic shuffling could boot open the door for the Aztecs to escape the Mountain West and leap onto a bigger stage. The viability of a conference gutted in its bell cow city, with a media-rights deal embarrassingly behind the big boys and girls, should raise eyebrows.

Still, it would be a massive leap for San Diego State. The university should be attractive to the Pac-12, as it picks up the pieces. The Aztecs would deliver, though not fully replace, Southern California eyeballs while offering a shiny new stadium. The Aztecs, in turn, could recruit far more effectively in Los Angeles, even as the Big Ten plucks away talent in droves.

The Pac-12 could choose to raid or join the Big 12 — and vice versa.

The most critical thing for San Diego State: Get left behind in realignment and wholesale major-college athletics change at your significant peril.

“San Diego State is positioning ourselves best for whatever the next iteration of the NCAA might be,” said Aztecs Athletic Director J.D. Wicker, walking the fine line of not besmirching the Mountain West while hinting the university has in no way been caught flat-footed.

“… Obviously, this opens up a hole in Southern California.”

Wicker talked about $310 million Snapdragon Stadium, set to open this fall. He pointed out that San Diego is the eighth largest city in the U.S. (though the 28th largest television market). He pushed competitive and academic success.

It was a sales pitch camouflaged as happy-where-we’re-at diplomacy.

Wicker told the Union-Tribune he has not had formal conversations with the Pac-12 or Big 12 about the Aztecs jumping to one of those conferences since assuming the reins on Montezuma Mesa. He added that neither he nor representatives from those groups had reached out Thursday.

It’s a sure bet, however, that Wicker has been selling the merits of San Diego State in those types of circles at each and every turn.

“I’m sure the Pac-12 is going to be very aggressive in trying to figure out what they need to do to shore up what the Pac-12 is, especially with TV negotiations ongoing,” Wicker said of the conference’s current deal, which expires in 2024 and offers perfect timing for USC and UCLA to dodge hefty buyouts.

“We’ll continue to survey the marketplace.”

Some will make cases for Boise State, along with UNLV and rising sports giant Las Vegas. Someone might want to pour Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson a stiff drink. He’s going to need it.

It’s mind-boggling to consider the Big Ten stretching from New Jersey to the California coast. Matchups between Rutgers and UCLA, more than 2,400 miles apart, hardly will make national fans swoon. And imagine USC’s wake-up call, traveling to Purdue in the frigid dead of a Midwestern winter.

That’s not what this is about, though.

It’s about money … money … and more money. The Big Ten more than doubled the media-rights haul of the Pac-12 in the 2021 fiscal year, according to the Los Angeles Times. As the Big Ten negotiates a new deal while lassoing L.A., a $1 billion annual windfall seems to be a layup.

It’s also about asserting control over football and, to a lesser degree, basketball. The NCAA is hemorrhaging relevancy by the second as realignment seems positioned to morph into a full-scale breakaway.

“Nothing surprises me anymore,” Wicker said.

A sobering thought lingers, though. If the Aztecs cannot make a jump now, as multiple conferences scramble to regain solid footing, will it ever happen?

When the Big 12 had a chance to consider a program like San Diego State, it opted for BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston. It’s not a secret that many of the kingmakers thumb noses at the majority of California State University system programs.

One highly placed executive with ties to the trio of Power 5 conferences impacted by the massive waves speculated that Fox was a likely catalyst in the Big Ten scooping up USC and UCLA to make its television marriage national.

No matter the seeds that blossomed into colossal college sports change, one thing has become abundantly clear amid a giant and growing gap between haves and have-nots:

San Diego State cannot risk being left without a seat at a bigger table.

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