It took a week for the decision to be made, but the Pac-12 Conference is now down to Washington State and Oregon State following the news that the ACC will add Cal, Stanford, and SMU starting in 2024. It has been a great ride for the Conference of Champions, but it may now be officially over.
The Pac-12 has been around for more than 100 years, and this season may be among one of the best we have seen in years. Teams are stacked with talent. There are a lot of returning quarterbacks including Cam Rising in Utah and Bo Nix from Oregon. Washington has Michael Penix, Jr. and then there’s that kid from USC. The rankings reflect five Pac-12 teams as the season started.
Enjoy it fans!
The Pac-12 Conference will lose Cal, Stanford to ACC
A bad game of musical chairs that began last year with USC and UCLA departing for the Big Ten has now led to there being just two chairs remaining in the circle, and Washington State and Oregon State occupy them — for now.
SMU, Stanford, and California on Friday were invited to join the ACC. The center of the football universe is television revenue, which came to a head last year as USC and UCLA departed for the Big Ten. Fast forward to today and just the Beavers and Cougars remain. It is expected that both Cal and Stanford will be eligible for a 30 percent share of ACC media rights payouts from day one. SMU is entering the ACC without any payouts for the entire nine years that remain on their current media contract. In some cases, being part of a larger conference is better than being left behind.
Notre Dame is a member of the ACC, but is currently independent in football. Could this move swing the pendulum for the Fighting Irish to make a shift on the gridiron? Time will tell. It would make it more interesting for sure.
Back to the Pac-2. What do they do? They have one season left in the current configuration and what a year it will be. It is rumored that Washington State and Oregon State could be scooped up by the Mountain West Conference as a consolation prize.
One thing is certain. When the Oregon Ducks departed for the Pac-12, there was an agreement that they would continue to work to play Oregon State across all sports moving forward. Both teams know the importance of that connection for the state of the sport, as well as the in-state rivalry aspect. If there is any sort of silver lining in this situation, that is it.
The coming months will tell the story of the Conference of Champions. Do they try and rebuild, or will the fall into oblivion? My guess is unfortunately the latter.