We mentioned in late July that if the Arizona schools left, the Pac-12 was toast.
We wrote that “If the Arizona schools leave and the Pac-12 cannot continue as a conference with at least 10 members and a somewhat robust football and basketball identity, that certainly feels like the beginning of the end.
“Oregon and Washington wanted to stay in a 12-team conference that was competitive and would fetch an appreciably large price point for media rights. It wasn’t the dream scenario for the Ducks and Huskies — not when USC and UCLA left for the Big Ten — but it would have been good enough.
“If the Arizona schools leave, Oregon and Washington are not going to stick around in an eight-team conference consisting of the Pacific Northwest schools, Stanford, Cal, Utah and San Diego State.”
Over the past weekend, following the official announcement that Arizona State was joining Arizona and Utah in moving to the Big 12, Arizona State President Michael Crow and athletic director Ray Anderson made statements that very transparently indicated how sad they are about the Pac-12’s demise and how unenthusiastic they are about the Big 12.
Let’s present the two statements — first by Anderson, then by Crow — and Big 12 fan reactions to these headline-generating remarks: