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Greetings from "Can't Wait For Saturday," your morning morsel of college football, courtesy of longtime Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter and Heisman state rep Bob Asmussen. He'll give you his views each day on the game he loves
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Bill Walton's beloved "Conference of Champions" Pac-12 is winding down. There are still basketball teams playing and the spring sports to complete, but the league that gave us John Wooden and Student Body Left will soon be no more.
The Big Ten started it by taking Southern California and UCLA ,,, and later Oregon and Washington. But the conference was in trouble before the Big Ten got involved. Pac-12 schools were unhappy about the TV rights deals they were looking at and pursued other options. Can't blame them. It is the ugly side of conference expansion.
Most of the confernce is now split between the Big Ten and Big 12. And the ACC added Stanford and Cal.
The greatest disappointment had to be in Pullman, Wash, and Corvallis, Ore., where Washington State and Oregon State survived as the second-fiddles to Washington and Oregon.
Now, the are basically left without a home, though they wll play a schedule against Mountain West teas in 2024 Not sure if that arrangement will become permanent or the Cougars and Beavers try something else.
Regardless, it is a sad part of the changes in college sports.
