North Carolina Officials Considered Merging With The PAC-12: REPORT

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North Carolina officials reportedly believed merging with the PAC-12 might protect the ACC's future.

Realignment has taken the college football world by storm, and as the Big Ten and SEC pull away from the rest of the country, conferences are left scrambling to survive.

The PAC-12 seems to be in the most trouble. If the B1G comes calling for more PAC-12 teams, the conference could collapse. However, it sounds like there was a time when the ACC and UNC officials felt like the conference was in trouble.

In fact, two high-ranking UNC officials briefly discussed whether or not a merger with the PAC-12 was in the conference's best interest, according to The News & Observer.

"Should we explore a partnership with the Big 12 or Pac 12," UNC AD Bubba Cunningham floated in a summer text exchange with chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, according to the same report.

"We could have a super conference both athletically and academicallyProbably would need to be called the Atlantic-Pacific Athletic Conference (APAC). Maybe that’s crazy, but if it would get us a better TV deal, it may be worth considering," Guskiewicz wrote in a text to back.

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Will UNC merge with the PAC-12? (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

What does the future hold for the ACC and UNC?

Despite the fact UNC apparently had at least one brief chat about possibly teaming up with the PAC-12, it's definitely not going to happen.

It's understandable why the ACC might have been scrambling over the summer. UCLA and USC choosing to join the Big Ten stunned and shocked people around the country.

Nobody saw it coming, and it is a total game changer. With the SEC and the Big Ten now running the show and picking off teams the conferences find desirable, the Big 12, ACC and PAC-12 should be nervous.

Will the ACC survive? (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

The good news for ACC and North Carolina fans is the conference seems to be in a stable place. Could that change in the future? Absolutely, but for now, all is calm for the ACC.