No, you wouldn't have. This is my point. You might have walked away from the deal entirely, but you weren't going to get USC without UCLA. It didn't happen because it was never going to happen.
You've already said you don't want USC either, which is fine. You would not have been able to negotiate any deal other than what the B1G did.
This is categorically false.
I thought I explained this here before, but I will do it again.
My BIL is a USC alum and Stanford alum, a very prominent attorney and a booster for both schools.
His father, also a prominent attorney, played for USC, including a Rose Bowl against Northwestern (I shook his hand many of time, and he proudly wore that Rose Bowl ring until his dying day).
My BIL went to USC for undergrad, and then Stanford for his law degree.
The truth (long story short):
USC wanted Stanford. USC figured they could get UCLA as an OOC game whenever they wanted.
Stanford said "no" when it came to joining the B1G Academic Alliance and the B1G Presidents in turn said "no" to Stanford.
UCLA was the USC backup plan and UCLA was agreeable to joining the Alliance. For some reason the wonks in Rosemont allowed UCLA to join. This is known as the last failure of former Commissioner Kevin Warren.
I hope this clears things up for everyone.
https://btaa.org/about/member-universities
