Forgive the pundits who woke up drunk and took another sip from the SEC’s spiked punch bowl. They missed the point. Also excuse those who still believe ESPN is still first a news agency and not the money-printing event company it has become.

Window dressing … the critics called it.

Arm waving … they termed it.

ESPN’s primary channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN News) didn’t bother to carry the live news conference that announced a groundbreaking alliance between the Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC on Tuesday. They left it to the Pac-12 Network, the ACC Network and the Big Ten Network. Wrap your head around that. Then sober up and consider that what we saw this week from 41 major universities was a punch back at those who are trying to run away with the keys to major college athletics.

We’ve seen up close and personal how a Power Five conference can quickly become irrelevant. I loved what I saw on Tuesday because it was proof of life from the Pac-12. Conference commissioner George Kliavkoff sat up straight alongside Kevin Warren of the Big Ten and the ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, and they basically talked about the SEC/ESPN without talking about the SEC/ESPN.

Those two entities are married now.

None of us were invited to the wedding. But it’s evident that the SEC and ESPN are in this together over the next decade, for better or — even better. The SEC and ESPN went to great lengths on Tuesday to pretend there was nothing to see here. But down deep, I think the happy couple knows they’ve fostered a troubling divide in college athletics. One the Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 apparently don’t have to live with.

I’m good with that. I’m also good with the fact that nothing was signed on Tuesday. No legal documents.

No binding contract between the trio of conferences. The thing doesn’t even have a name — although an old friend of mine quickly dubbed it: “The Rebel Alliance.”

Throuple, anyone?

The Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC say they’ll put their arms around each other and trust each other. They’ll lean into the alliance, especially when it comes to scheduling nonconference games. I suspect, too, they may have similar outlooks when it comes to the College Football Playoff expansion and important NCAA matters. They insist they won’t vote as a block, but they are definitely an alliance with common interests. A signed contract, as an attorney who works in college athletics pointed out, would invite immediate anti-trust scrutiny.

Lots of apologists out there today claiming the alliance doesn’t matter. That there’s nothing to it. But the three-headed alliance was a clear punch back, folks.

I think it landed, too.

The SEC is running away with college football. ESPN has a glaring conflict of interest in making sure its primary event partner gets showcased year-round. Be sure that the coverage will extend to Heisman hype, playoff run-up propaganda, and lots of shoulder coverage that touts the SEC’s brand. What’s good for the SEC is now good for ESPN. This alliance doesn’t fit that narrative, which is why it’s being brushed away as a non-factor.

We’re not like Alabama or Auburn, are we?

The Pac-12 isn’t Tennessee or LSU, either.

The stadiums in the Pac-12 Conference are mostly smaller, cozy joints. The fans aren’t as unhinged. That hurts when it comes to negotiating things like television contracts and buying up tickets for bowl games. But what we saw on Tuesday was three like-minded conferences coming together in an impactful way. This wasn’t a ship dropping anchor, struggling for stability. It was more like three deciding to draft through a choppy channel together instead of going it alone.

Wave your hands at it.

Dismiss it.

Call it a brief dalliance or pretend that it’s powerless.

But know you’re wrong when you do. The presidents and chancellors of the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 value academic membership, enjoy high-brow company, and view success on the university platform as more than simply winning national titles in football. Oh, they’d like one very much, thank you, but it’s not oxygen to them.

Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens said of the Pac-12/BigTen/ACC alliance, “I think it just opens up all kinds of doors … when you put all the brain power of those three in the room together.”

I asked Oregon State AD Scott Barnes if this meant Pac-12 teams would get all sorts of new and interesting nonconference matchups. He said: “No question about it.”

The alliance was an important strategic move. It lets the SEC and ESPN know they’re not all that matters in college athletics. It was a bold step in the right direction by three powerful entities that can now collectively out-vote the SEC. Absent on Tuesday was any hint of the NCAA. It’s lost clout. Make note of that. It’s a significant detail. But the Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 don’t want to go out the same way.