![Pac-12]()
The Pac-12 conference could really use a name change. Not that most powerhouse conferences in college sports are numerically accurate anyway. It's one thing to have, say, 18 teams like the Big Ten does, but I'd rather have more teams in actuality than is in my namesake, were I a conference commissioner. Alas, the Pac-12 has dwindled all the way down to two teams: Oregon State and Washington State.
A massive realignment has shaken up the landscape, and let's face it, the big moneymaker at the collegiate level is football. Although Washington State continues to be a respected program and Oregon State is building something promising in recent years, the Pac-12 itself is in dire straits.
No wonder commish Teresa Gould put up an open bar for Wednesday evening's "After Dark" media event, with a fantastic quote to sum up the conference's plight.
https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/status/1811212269369630914
It really will be a shame not to have the traditional "Pac-12 After Dark" showcase of games anymore. I get that superconferences were inevitable at some point, yet there was something fun about stumbling upon a hella late game that kicked off at like 11 p.m. ET, and you could just get in on the action for betting or mere entertainment purposes. "After Dark" served as a Twilight Zone of sorts to tide football junkies over between the prime-time SEC games and NFL Sundays.
I'm sure when Pac-12 defectors like Oregon and USC host games in 2024 and beyond, they'll have them a
little later, but not push too far outside the prime-time windows unless they're playing an out-of-conference West Coast team. To cite a specific example of this, I'll never forget randomly catching the UCLA-Fresno State game from a while back. Bulldogs/current Saints quarterback Jake Haener was basically peeing blood and staple-removing his pancaked, 5% animated corpse from off the turf to will Fresno to a win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz7PEbut2mI
Fresno State has never been in the Pac-12. Obviously it was UCLA. Just underscoring the point that these uber-late games rock, and it's a bummer that they'll be much fewer and farther between amid the massively changed NCAA football landscape.
Anyway, not to stray too far from the Pac-12 or what it once was. Irony alert from elsewhere in the proceedings: Notoriously sober ex-Wazzu QB Ryan Leaf was a prominent featured guest for this Pac-12 media event in Sin City.
https://twitter.com/pac12/status/1811269698186833996
https://twitter.com/Shonna_Brown/status/1811234003925799338
Leaf was an infamous NFL bust — picked right after Peyton Manning, even bigger ouch — in large part because he couldn't stay clean off the field. Now, he's open about his story and his struggles to help others. It's not like he was going to be tempted to suddenly race over to the bar to get his drink on. Nevertheless, something about the Pac-12 hosting an open bar with Leaf felt a little strange. He was cool about it, of course.
https://twitter.com/dennisdoddcbs/status/1811217477365608815
Shout out to Steven Jackson, too. Poor guy was trapped on those bad St. Louis Rams teams as an absolute stud of a running back in the days before the return to LA, and the arrivals of Sean McVay and Aaron Donald.
https://twitter.com/Pac12fan10/status/1811223983825854839
Pac-2 Media Day was a success in Vegas. I really feel for these mascots, however.
https://twitter.com/dennisdoddcbs/status/1811210853972410622
It's the real-life equivalent of that Will Smith In The Empty House meme. Salutes and RIP to the Pac-12's prior glory.
