![]() The Pac-10 had a slight advantage on the national stage. ![]() Because there were more teams in the Big 12 at the time, two teams from the Pac-10 played twice against Big 12 teams. There was a "designated" four-day window for the main part of the series matchups and a few other matchups in November and late December. This series mirrored the ACC–Big Ten Challenge. Started in 2007 and concluding in 2010, it was primarily a way to guarantee top flight competition for both conferences and garner more recognition for the level of play of both leagues in basketball. “Making the conference work is always where my heart and my mind lay.The Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series was a four-year series of NCAA Division I men's college basketball games matching teams from the Big 12 Conference and the Pac-10 Conference. “Jumping from a conference was never the first option,” an Oregon State administrator mused to the Associated Press. So were, perhaps, two traditional rivalries: The “Apple Cup” between the Washington schools and the annual matchup - formerly known as the “Civil War” - between the Oregon schools. Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah agreed to shift to the Big 12.Īfter Cal and Stanford made their move this week, announcing a 2024 shift to the Atlantic Coast Conference, all hope for survival was lost. “While we are extremely surprised and disappointed by the news coming out of UCLA and USC today, we have a long and storied history in athletics, academics, and leadership in supporting student-athletes that we’re confident will continue to thrive and grow into the future,” conference officials said in a news release at the time.īut further struggles with a TV deal this summer prompted Oregon and Washington to join in the Big Ten exodus. A deal to partner with the Big Ten for the annual Rose Bowl game on New Year’s Day helped boost a national audience. Its reputation was burnished by the success of USC football and UCLA basketball, programs that won a string of national championships. In the decades that followed, the conference continued to grow in both prominence and size, thereby requiring further name changes. By 1950, membership had grown to 10.Ī “pay-for-play” scandal at USC, UCLA, California and Washington forced the PCC to disband in 1959, but it promptly reformed and, by 1968, had rebranded itself as the “Pacific-8.” The Pac-12 was born in 1915 when officials from four West Coast colleges met at the Imperial Hotel in Portland to form what they called the Pacific Coast Conference. “To think even remotely, five years ago, the Pac-12 would be in this position,” Washington State football coach Jake Dickert said, “it’s unthinkable to think that we’re here today.” Stanford and Cal have found new homes in the Atlantic Coast Conference, leaving just Washington State and Oregon State behind in the Pac-12. Sports Stanford, Cal and SMU join the ACC, potentially cementing the death of the Pac-12 That makes this new football season - normally a time of hope and optimism - more closely resemble a four-month-long memorial service, with fans slowly filing past the open casket, paying their respects. The Pac-12 is now survived by Oregon State and Washington State, the only schools that will be left after this year. Thursday was the final nail in the coffin, with California and Stanford heading for the door, agreeing to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. It was 108.Īuthorities have confirmed the cause of death as massive hemorrhaging, with 10 member schools announcing plans to depart in 2024. ![]() The deal never materialized and now, a few years later, the Pac-12 - known to sports fans as the “Conference of Champions” - has died. They could have become a behemoth, a powerhouse, the Pac-20. The Pac-12 had a chance to not just survive, but thrive.Ĭonference officials fielded interest in absorbing eight teams from the rival Big 12. It was the early days of college football’s great shake-up, with schools jumping from one conference to another, everyone looking for more money. ![]()
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