The winds of conference realignment discussions blew back and forth so much late Thursday and into early Friday that by the time UCLA head coach Chip Kelly finished fielding hypotheticals about the matter, things were reportedly settled – all in a matter of minutes.

Less than an hour after Kelly’s media session before practice, Yahoo Sports reported that Oregon and Washington informed Pac-12 presidents that they plan to accept an invitation to join UCLA and USC in the Big Ten. Five minutes later, The Athletic reported that the invite was officially extended.

It capped a whirlwind couple of hours, with the Pac-12 being pronounced dead to revived to dead again based on what Oregon and Washington and/or Arizona and Arizona State would decide to do. The Wildcats and Sun Devils were being courted by the Big 12.

But when asked earlier in the day about a hypothetical Big Ten West pod that included the likes of California, Oregon, Stanford and Washington, Kelly grinned before the question was finished.

“I would be in favor of a really good Friday,” Kelly said before the Bruins took the field for their third practice of camp. “I don’t care, I don’t have any say, no one asks me.”

But then he followed with a radical idea that just might work.

“I heard someone the other day say that they should have a Pac-12 pod and a Big Ten pod and at the end of the year they should play against each other, like maybe in the Rose Bowl,” Kelly said. “Like that would be a novel idea that we should try out, a new concept.

“It’s just what’s going on in collegiate sports nowadays, but we’re at a lot lower level than where those decisions are being made so we don’t weigh in. There’s too much to think about and I’m really concerned about trying to get first downs and stop people.”

One concept he would be in favor, though, is treating the sport like one giant league similar to what the NFL has in its geographical divisions and ending all the debate about travel and the logistics that go with it.

“Put 60 of us in the same division and do it like the NFL, where there’s NFC West, NFC North, NFC South where it’s the same thing and then we all get together,” Kelly said. “But I think we should all be in – there should be one conference in all of college football and just break it up like they do in the professional ranks.”

The latest news throws another wrench into the equation after the Big Ten already announced its scheduling model, with opponents and pairings, for the 2024 and 2025 seasons in early June.

However the next iteration shakes out, Kelly has a method to deal with body clocks and time zones stemming from his years in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.

“If you’re only there for less than 36 hours, there is no jet lag,” Kelly said. “You stay on your body clock.

“What we did when we were in San Francisco and we had to go play Carolina, it’s just a 10 a.m. start for us but we were on the field for practice at 10 a.m. So, it really wasn’t that much different. When we go to play an East Coast team in the Big Ten a year from now, they’ve told us we won’t play any games before 12:30 p.m. our time, so that would be a 3:30 kick for them.

“So, we’ll stay on our same time schedule because we would leave on Friday, play a game–which would be noon for us, 3 for them–on Saturday and then get on a plane and come back. It doesn’t affect you from that standpoint because you’re only there for a short time. So, you really try to stay on the same schedule that you’ve been on for the whole time.”

Linebackers Ale Kaho and JonJon Vaughns have yet to take part in individual drills, instead working off to the side and in the weight room for strength and conditioning work.

Kaho has been out since last season’s spring camp with a lower right leg injury, while Vaughns is getting his body ready after spending another spring playing for UCLA’s baseball team.

Kelly said at Pac-12 Media Day that Kaho would be cleared for fall camp.

“He’s doing things now,” Kelly said of Kaho before Friday’s practice, “and he’s out here running around. So, we’ll see how he progresses, but fingers crossed because we need Ale.

“Coming off of baseball, (Vaughns) wasn’t here during the summer training for the (Major League Baseball) draft. So, he’s just getting back into the swing of things. Gotta get back into football shape – football shape and baseball shape are two different things.”

In addition, offensive lineman Siale Taupaki is ahead of where Kaho is in the process, while running back Deshun Murrell is out and rehabilitating an injury, Kelly said.