The death of the Pac-12 was assigned to the Colorado football program by Deadpsin’s Sean Beckwith, who lashed out at Coach Prime’s comments about being glad not to be in the Pac-12 any longer on October 12; a day before a historic 46-43 double-overtime comeback victory for Stanford at the Buffs’ expense at Folsom Field.
“Real classy, coach,” Beckwith prefaced in a response to Deion Sanders’ “Thank god we’re not going to be in this conference” comments on October 11 before saying, “Colorado’s decision might’ve prompted the dissolution of a 108-year-old conference, but sure, take a cheap shot.”
The beginning of the end for the Pac-12 was when USC and UCLA bolted for the Big Ten in the summer of 2022. But was Colorado responsible for the Pac-12’s not-yet-official conclusion as a conference?
Oregon and Washington truly to blame for end of Pac-12, though Colorado football was nail in the coffin
In truth, Oregon and Washington’s plan to follow the Los Angeles teams to the Big Ten was the true impetus for the Pac-12’s death. That Coach Prime’s Colorado football program broke ground on a pipeline to the Big 12 from the Pac-12 only buried the conference further.
While CU was the first to announce a Big 12 jump, the Oregon/Washington jumps were in the works for far longer. Certainly, though, the hottest team with the brightest lights in college football didn’t help anything for the Pac-12’s cause.
Had they not lost the rest of the teams they did to the Big 12, including Utah, ASU, and Arizona, there could’ve still been a respectable Power Five conference with a few jumps from the AAC and Mountain West.
Now, though, the ACC has picked the bones with Stanford and Cal, and Wazzu and Oregon State face an uncertain future with a conference that won’t be close to their standards.
All bad news, but not at all Colorado’s fault.