My "guess" is as the PAC's leading reporting working out of the bay area, that he's married to the idea of Stanford and CAL in the PAC as it stands to keep his livelihood pat where it stands. If 6 teams bail to go to the Big 12, we haven't heard a thing about CAL or Stanford going anywhere so as a San Jose based reporter, he likely has his own preference (1)
Ultimately if ND is going to play the long game, it makes sense for Oregon and UW to go where the money is the best. UW has been really quiet on this entire matter and Oregon's biggest voice obviously doesn't like either solution so if you are Utah, Colorado or the Arizona schools knowing Oregon is gonna bounce at the first chance, why would you stick around not knowing what the landscape will look like in 2 years unless there is a play to try and grab Baylor, BYU, TTU and OSU, Kansas and maybe another I can't see the PAC around in 3 years. I also don't know if there is one viable expansion possibility for the PAC that allows them to maintain there prestigious academic requirements/standards for entry.