As the ritualistic tour de force we call conference Media Days finally wrapped up a three-week stretch of coach speak, awkward poses, inflatable fowl, and sports information directors slamming antacids in anticipation of athletes or coaches saying something wrong, one storyline was buried in the proverbial bushes amidst the narrative of the Auto Four conferences.
Like a single red thread intertwined in the white cloak of college football, a representation of the blood spilled lawlessly last summer in what looks like could be the beginning of a new college football ritual sacrifice, the PAC-12 was nowhere to be found yet remained everywhere all at once.
A Cocktail Party For Two As the Pac-12 Media Days Stand Alone in the College Football Hierarchy
Sure, the remaining members held a small “After Hours” media session in Las Vegas, resembling more of a wake than a traditional media day event, complete with an open bar and Butch T Cougar in a velvet smoking jacket. While it may have been the thought that counts, most of the little attention the night received was not exactly positive.
Meanwhile, former conference members were showing off and showing out across the country.
Utah was selected as the preseason favorite to win the Big 12. Oregon was selected to finish second behind a truly loaded Ohio State team, which arguably has the most talented roster in the country. Cal landed in the middle of the ACC pack, and Stanford…well, maybe not every former member showed up.
USC and Washington being picked to finish sixth and tenth respectively in the new Big Ten may feel like a slight, except with 18 members and the current National Champion belt holder as part of the roster there’s an argument, albeit a wobbly one, to say the selections are respectable.
Arizona rolled into the Big 12 a respectable fifth, and while there’s not much love in the direction of Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, and Stanford, most of that is due to the unknown status of each program’s rebuild.
On top of the media selections, a simple thought exercise exploring the what-if scenarios had the conference not been on life support the entirety of the 2023 season is fascinating.
Kalen DeBoer likely still leaves for Alabama…but maybe he doesn’t. Jedd Fisch stays at Arizona, Jonathan Smith is still at Oregon State, and suddenly, the picture of the Pac-12 is vivid and colorful instead of grey and lifeless.
The potential of what the conference could have been had they put the pieces back together somehow is salivating, to say the least.
Utah poised to right the ship with Captain Cam Rising at the helm. The Ducks sailing into battle with a new boat aimed to avenge a double shot of defeat dosed out by the Washington Huskies, who are reloading after a national championship appearance.
Arizona Rising. SC post Caleb. Colorado Round Two. Aiden Chiles busting through the dam at Oregon State. Cal’s inevitable struggle for relevance in the face of inconsistent competence. Kenny Dillingham with an actual quarterback in Tempe. The storylines are all there, top to bottom, like a blockbuster sequel shelved due to financial constraints.
If we truly are judged by how we treat the lowest among us, allow for one final eulogy for the Pac-12, even if this may not be the end.
In a day and age where the internet has buried and since resurrected Nickleback, anything truly is possible. For remaining members Washington State and Oregon State, hope and a pile of cash are what they’ll cling to in memory of a conference that disintegrated in front of them.
For now, the Pac-12 shield sits more like a warning sign than a memorial, three scarlet letters on the bosom of college athletics signaling change is not coming but here.
Of the two teams who stayed, one certainly will be crowned a defacto champion, just not of the conference that could have been the most interesting and entertaining of the 2024 season.
It’s a sign that others should effectively take note as the conference carousel continues to spin into the 2024 season because if it can happen to the Conference of Champions, it can certainly happen again.
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