The Apocalypse Arrives

Growing up in Michigan, I was the son of Wolverine alumni. As big as the Ohio State finale was, the gold at the end of the rainbow was winning the Big 10 and playing in the Rose Bowl. The glittering venue would offer the Pacific Coast’s best squad as a more-than-worthy opponent. A great bowl at an unsurpassed venue befitting two great conferences.

RIP to the Pacific 12 Conference. Yesterday’s death at 108 years old was as needless as a traffic fatality involving a drunk driver. Just as tragic car accidents can leave orphans, the implosion of the Pac 12 has left 4 orphans: Stanford, Cal, Washington State and Oregon State. While the Bay Area schools might deserve their fate due to indifferent fan interest, Wazzu and Oregon State are well-supported schools that happen to be located in rural locales. In 2023, Fox and ESPN thumb their noses at schools that are not located in major markets.

RIP to any more Big 10-Pac 10 Rose Bowls. The Rose Bowl is now an active participant in a playoff system that has greatly cheapened other bowls.

Undoubtedly, the certainty of an undisputed national champion certain has its attraction. However, the collateral damage has been considerable. For the majority of schools that are in football’s highest division, being crowned national champ is an impossibility. Such reality has served to diminish the brands of many schools as well as the Group of 5 conferences.

That the demise of the Pac 12 actually happened will always be extremely hard to fathom. In 2011, the Conference adopted the ill-fated Pac 12 Network that had difficulty getting in sufficient households. In 2018, ESPN offered to take the Pac 12 Network off its hands. Nope! Both decisions lay at the doorstep of the worst commissioner ever, Larry Scott.

The relative lack of primetime exposure on ESPN and Fox to eyeballs in more Easterly time zones resulted in many prominent California preps heading to colleges back East. One can easily lose count of the number of heralded prep QBs from California who became “reverse” Lewis and Clarks.

Scott’s successor, Gene Kliavkoff, did not prove to be Ivy League material either! A modern-day Nero, he fiddled as the Pac 12 burned. Among his black marks:  His refusal to timely expand and more aggressively pursue a contract with a “linear” TV partner left the conference more vulnerable to being poached.

The Odyssey weeps. One of the bedrocks of a great sport is no more.