Category: PAC-12

More than just bragging rights at stake for Pac-12 schools in Week 3

The two schools left behind by the Pac-12 falling apart will face old rivals in Week 3, hoping to each make a statement with a victory.

The annual rivalry matchups between the Oregon Ducks-Oregon State Beavers and the Washington Huskies-Washington State Cougars have always carried significantly more weight than your average conference game.

In-state supremacy and year-long bragging rights are huge factors in rivalry games all across the country, and the two Pacific Northwest rivalries are among the oldest – and fiercest – in all of college football.

There’s rarely anything civil about the Oregon-Oregon State matchup – long known as the Civil War – while the Apple Cup between the two Washington schools has a rich history of dividing the state down the middle.

This year, however, the two games are set to take place this Saturday – and take on a very different meaning for the four involved programs.

The demise of the 100+-year-old Pac-12 conference – which long hosted all four teams – resulted in the Ducks and Huskies departing for the Big Ten and left the Beavers and Cougars homeless, hung out to dry without a conference while the eight other programs landed either in the Big Ten, Big 12, or ACC.

To add insult to injury, Washington State’s Athletic Director, Pat Chung, took the same position across the state at Washington, while Oregon State saw their promising head coach, and former quarterback, Jonathan Smith leave unexpectedly to take the same job at Michigan State, leading to mass exodus of talent including quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei (Florida State) and running back Damien Martinez (Miami).

And you can bet those two programs are looking for revenge this weekend.

The Beavers are 2-0 after knocking off Idaho State at home in Week 1, 38-15, and blanking San Diego State on the road, 21-0, in Week 2. Oregon State is top 40 in both offense and defense at CBS Sports, showing plenty of promise under new coach Trent Bray.

This will be the 128th matchup between the Ducks and Beavers, and while Oregon remains a top-ten team, winning at Reser Stadium has eluded them since 2018.

Washington State is also 2-0 to start the season, blasting Portland State 70-30 in Week 1 and securing a big win over a Big 12 opponent in Texas Tech during Week 2. The Cougs will travel across the state to Seattle to face UW, who is 2-0 as well under new coach Jedd Fisch.

PNW fans will have to split screen if they want to watch both games, which start at 12:30 PM PT on Saturday. The Apple Cup will be on Peacock, while Oregon and Oregon State will be on FOX.

What could have been: Former Pac-12 programs off to 21-2 start

The former Pac-12 conference teams are a combined 21-2 to start the season, with four programs ranked in the AP Top 25.

The 12 college football programs that made up the last full iteration of the Pac-12 conference are off to an outstanding start to the season collectively, a brutal reminder to west coast football fans of what could have been.

The teams currently sit with a combined record of 21-2, with the only losses coming when Colorado got trounced by Nebraska in Week 2 and Stanford’s loss to TCU in Week 1.

The two remaining Pac-12 programs, Oregon State and Washington State, are a combined 4-0 with the Cougars securing a win over Big 12 opponent Texas Tech in Week 2. Those two teams will face their old rivals, Oregon and Washington, in Week 3 – matchups between four programs that are all 2-0 on the year.

Oregon didn’t make it look easy, only beating Idaho by 10 and needing a fourth quarter comeback to defeat Boise State, but they remain a legit player for a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff alongside the USC Trojans, who knocked off LSU in Week 1 before blowing out Utah State on Saturday.

Oregon and USC are two likely College Football Playoff contenders in the Big Ten, while the Utah Utes and Arizona Wildcats are both in the picture out of the Big 12. Those four teams are all ranked in the AP Top 25, with Washington (27) and Cal (3) picking up votes as well.

In the ACC, Cal picked up a quality win over SEC opponent Auburn in Week 2, establishing themselves as a legit player in the conference thanks to star running back Jaydn Ott and a strong defensive unit.

While many of the rivalry matchups will still take place this season, the college football world was robbed of an opportunity to see this group of teams compete against each other in 2024.

Pac-12, Mountain West fail to extend scheduling agreement, so now what?

Oregon State and Washington State did not extend a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West into 2025.

The Washington State Cougars and Oregon State Beavers each began the unprecedented 2024 college football season with a win on Saturday, but it wasn’t the big headline surrounding the two programs this weekend.

Rather, it was the lack of news.

Sunday, September 1 was the deadline to extend the football scheduling partnership with the Mountain West into the 2025 season, a deadline that passed without an agreement – although neither side felt any urgency to formalize plans.

“If there’s no agreement, that doesn’t mean we can’t still do something,” a source told Jon Wilner of the San Diego Union Tribune. “This is not a standoff situation.”

The current deal provides both Oregon State and Washington State with six games against Mountain West schools, three at home and three on the road, for the 2024 season.

The two schools plan to compete as a two-team conference for 2024 and 2025, and while the deadline has passed it does sound like the two sides could still agree to a similar, albeit restructured, scheduling agreement for 2025.

As of now, both Oregon State and Washington State already have six games scheduled for 2025. WSU will play North Texas, San Diego State, Idaho, Washington, Virginia, and Oregon State, while OSU will play Cal, Fresno State, Houston, Texas Tech, Oregon, and of course Washington State.

Former Stanford star Cameron Brink suffers torn ACL ahead of Olympic debut

Former Stanford Cardinal star Cameron Brink suffered a torn ACL and will miss the rest of her rookie season with the Los Angeles Sparks.

Los Angeles Sparks rookie and former Stanford basketball star Cameron Brink will miss the rest of the WNBA season after suffering a torn ACL in her left knee.

Brink was also set to represent the United States in the 2024 Olympic Games as a member of the 3×3 squad, but will be ruled out for that as well.

Brink went down in pain in the first quarter of LA’s loss to Connecticut on Tuesday and had to be helped off the floor, with the team confirming the worst case scenario on Wednesday.

Brink, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft behind Caitlin Clark, averaged 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks in her first 15 WNBA games.

Prior to that she starred at Stanford for four years, appearing in 135 games and making 122 starts for the program. Brink’s decorated collegiate career included an NCAA championship, three AP All-American nods, and three Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year awards.

As a senior in 2023-24, Brink averaged 17.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.7 blocks, and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 55.2% on two pointers and 30.4% from three – earning the Pac-12 Player of the Year Award. Stanford went 122-18 during Brink’s four year career.

As of now there is no timetable for Brink’s return, and Team USA has not announced a replacement for Brink on the 3×3 roster.

Jose Perez’s strange college basketball journey ends with him quitting on Arizona State

The Arizona State Sun Devils will compete in the Pac-12 Tournament without Jose Perez, who abruptly ended his college basketball career after the team’s win over USC.

We should have known Jose Perez’s college basketball career would end with one final confounding headline.

Perez dropped 25 points for Arizona State on Thursday in the loss to USC, and after participating in postgame activities he vanished – like a thief in the night – leaving the Sun Devils short handed in an eventual 59-47 loss to UCLA on Saturday.

‘Personal’ was the reason given by school officials, and Pac-12 Network broadcaster Cavan Malayter was told he is pursuing professional opportunities.

So ends the final season of Perez’s tumultuous college basketball career, which began back in 2018-19 at Gardner-Webb in the Big South – where he posted back-to-back 15 point per game seasons. That led to him spending one season at Marquette, where he only appeared in 10 games due to injury.

What followed was another transfer and an outstanding season at Manhattan (18.9 points per game) and then – you guessed it – another transfer, this time to West Virginia. He left Manhattan due to his coach getting let go, and despite the NCAA normally granting a waiver in these cases he was not, forcing him to sit for the 2022-23 season.

Perez planned to return to WVU and finally see the floor, even after coach Bob Huggins was fired, but a messy academic dispute resulted in Perez suddenly leaving the Mountaineers and ultimately ending up in Tempe with Arizona State in September.

The 6’5 guard finished his final collegiate season averaging 13.5 points for the Sun Devils – second on the team behind Frankie Collins – and some of his final words to the press came after the team’s surprise win over then No. 21 Washington State two weeks ago:

“We gotta go out with pride,” Perez said. “Our pride gotta get in the way. We go, win out, get the best seed possible and see the standings, who we match up with. It’s all about matchups in March.”

Arizona State earned the No. 11 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and will square off against No. 6 Utah on Wednesday – and they’ll have to make their run without their second leading scorer.

Washington softball blows out Wisconsin 9-1 in Florida

The Huskies only played one game on Saturday, but cruised to yet another victory to move to 6-1 on the season.

The Washington Huskies’ bats have gotten off to a hot start in the 2024 season and showed up again in the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational, helping coach Heather Tarr’s team cruise to a 9-1 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers in five innings.

Former top recruit Kinsey Fiedler went 3 for 3 on the day, driving in 2 runs and scoring twice, while Brooklyn Carter also notched 2 hit, an RBI, and a run scored. Rylee Holtorf’s RBI single in the 5th inning invoked the 8-run “run-ahead” rule.

Ruby Meylan earned the victory while throwing a complete game. The All-American allowed 1 earned run on 2 hits, walked 2 batters, and struck out 7. Even though Meylan excelled in the circle once again, her earned run average rose to 0.66 on the season.

The Huskies’ afternoon matchup with No. 12 LSU was canceled due to inclement weather. They will return to the field on Sunday morning to finish off the tournament with a matchup against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Breaking: Pac-12 to mutually part ways with commissioner George Kliavkoff

George Kliavkoff is officially out as of the end of the month.

In a not-so-shocking development, the Pac-12 Board of Directors announced on Friday that the conference and commissioner George Kliavkoff have mutually agreed to part ways. According to the release, Kliavkoff will officially end his run as commissioner on Feb. 29, 2024.

Kliavkoff joined the conference to succeed outgoing commissioner Larry Scott on May 13, 2021, and officially took over on Jul. 1, 2021. He was tasked with finding a new media rights deal for the conference, which ultimately led to his undoing. Ten of the remaining 12 members decided to leave for the ACC, Big 12, and Big Ten starting on Jul. 1, 2024.

This left the conference with just two schools, Oregon State and Washington State University.

As the release indicated, the Pac-12 will announce more details about the new leadership the following week.

The Pac-12 has been involved in legal battles over the financials with the two remaining schools fighting to maintain control of the assets despite the 10 other teams leaving for greener pastures. Kliavkoff sealed his fate when he sat idle as the college football world were busy making moves to strengthen their conferences, while the Pac-12 imploded.

College Sports Wire will continue to provide updates as they are made available in regards to the Pac-12 and its future.

UCLA dispatches Boise State for hometown win in LA Bowl

Boise State came into Saturday’s game with a four-game win streak and took a two-score lead early, but the Bruins surged back to win.

UCLA got to play a bowl game right in its own backyard this season, and while Boise State jumped out to an early lead, the Bruins roared back for a 35-22 victory in the Starco Brands LA Bowl.

The Broncos had been riding an eyebrow-raising hot streak, winning their final four games culminating in a Mountain West Conference Championship victory over UNLV. Boise State kept the momentum in the first half, kicking three field goals before a short touchdown run by running back George Holani to make the halftime lead 16-7.

The Bruins would not be embarrassed on their home turf, however. Junior quarterback Ethan Garbers entered the game in the second half and jolted the UCLA offense back to life. He completed nine of his 12 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns, including a 5-yard score to wideout Kyle Ford early in the third quarter to pull the Bruins within two points. After a pair of rushing touchdowns from TJ Harden, Garbers connected with J. Michael Sturdivant for a 40-yard touchdown.

The result of UCLA’s offensive avalanche, spurred on by Ethan Garbers, was 28 unanswered points and a 35-16 lead for the hometown team. A late touchdown for the Broncos didn’t lead to a full comeback,

Here are the best pictures from UCLA’s victory.

Mountain West reveals Oregon State and Washington State games for 2024

All 12 members of the Mountain West will play a game against either Oregon State or Washington State as the last two members of the Pac-12 fill out their 2024 schedules.

The Mountain West Conference revealed the 2024 opponents for each member of the conference, including the matchups for Oregon State and Washington State, on Thursday.

The final remnants of the Pac-12 announced a partnership with the Mountain West conference on Dec. 1 to fill out their schedules since the rest of their conference scattered to the Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC.

All 12 members of the Mountain West will play one game against either the Beavers or the Cougars. Games against Oregon State and Washington State won’t count toward any Mountain West team’s conference record, and neither the Beavers nor the Cougars will be eligible for the Mountain West Conference Championship game.

Oregon State will host Colorado State, San Jose State, and UNLV. The Beavers will travel to Air Force, Nevada, and San Diego State.

Washington State will welcome Hawaii, Utah State, and Wyoming into its home stadium in Pullman. The Cougars will play Boise State, Fresno State, and New Mexico on the road.

Washington secures perfect season and Pac-12 title with a win over Oregon

The Huskies moved to 13-0 and effectively clinched a spot in the College Football Playoff with their Friday victory over Oregon.

Washington came into the Pac-12 title game as underdogs despite a perfect 12-0 season. They left Las Vegas as the last champion in the conference’s illustrious history.

Washington jumped out to a 20-3 lead with a dominant first half. The Huskies held the ball for 10 of the first 11 minutes, and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. offered up a sterling first half with 196 passing yards.

The Ducks roared back with 21 unanswered points to take the lead again, but Penix orchestrated two more touchdown drives in the fourth quarter to put Washington ahead for good. He salted the game away with a clutch third-down conversion on the final drive to keep Oregon’s offense off the field.

The Huskies, who entered the game No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings, all but assured themselves a spot in the four-team playoff at the end of the year.

Here are the best images from the last Pac-12 conference championship.