Tag: Pac-12 championship

The Pac-12 commissioner had a sobering joke about drinking at the media event’s open bar

Got to have an open bar when your conference has just two teams left in it.

To say it’s been a rough year for the Pac-12 is an understatement.

It’s more like the Pac-2 with just Washington State and Oregon State left thanks to schools bolting for other conferences, so when commissioner Teresa Gould held a media day, she could only joke about all that.

Per reporters in attendance, she had this to say about the open bar on Wednesday night: “We are drinking tonight. If anyone has earned the right to drink, it is the Pac-12.”

That is both very funny and very sad. That and the photos of the two mascots on stage just made it quite rough:

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The Pac-12 comes to an end on Arizona baseball’s electrifying walk-off in the conference’s likely final event

If this is it for the Pac-12, the conference went out with a bang.

We’ve known since last summer that the 2023-24 season of sports would likely be the last for the Pac-12, as realignment absolutely rocked the conference, leaving it with just two remaining teams.

I’m not sure it actually felt real until now, though.

On Saturday, USC and Arizona played in the Pac-12 conference baseball tournament final, and it was the last athletic event remaining on the conference calendar. Barring some unforeseen expansion, it’ll be the last ever.

If it does end up as the last Pac-12 athletic event, the conference went out with a bang — and after dark, in true Pac-12 fashion.

Arizona beat USC on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning. The crowd was electric and so was the call.

The season isn’t completely over for every team, as there’s still a College World Series to play for. But conference play between teams in this historic league is likely over for good. And that had the conference trying to get rid of all the merchandise it had left.

 

With Pac-12 championship win, Dana Altman and the Ducks are going dancing

Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks won the Pac-12 championship game on Saturday night, clinching a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

His name is Dana Altman, and he aligns Rubix Cubes.

After a disappointing season that seemed poised for a third straight NIT bid, the Oregon Ducks completed a miraculous run in the Pac-12 Tournament on Saturday night with a win over the Colorado Buffaloes in the championship game. The victory earned the Ducks the conference’s automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament.

Oregon’s N’Faly Dante was the best player on the floor by far, finishing with 25 points and 9 rebounds on 12-for-12 shooting.

This is the first time since the 2020-21 season the Ducks have made it to March Madness.

The Ducks were forced to go through the Pac-12 Tournament with just eight  scholarship players healthy after Keeshawn Barthelemy, Nate Bittle, Jessie Zarzuela and Mookie Cook went down with injuries this year. They almost lost Dante on Friday when the big man took a hard fall early in the game against Arizona.

The Ducks will learn their fate when the matchups are revealed on Selection Sunday.

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USC Pac-12 championship hopes receive fatal blow, but Trojans still 2nd in the conference

If you had been told before the season USC would finish 2nd in the Pac-12, you probably would have been elated.

The USC Trojans’ Pac-12 women’s basketball championship hopes lasted about 42 hours. From the end of the Colorado game late Friday night to the end of Sunday afternoon’s loss to Utah, USC harbored realistic aspirations of being able to win a share of the last Pac-12 regular season title in women’s hoops. That dream died with the 74-68 defeat dealt by the Utes in a hard-fought game in the Galen Center.

Is the immediate result disappointing? No question. Yet, the larger picture is that USC made a great run at a conference championship which seemed out of the question for a good portion of the season. Let’s gain some perspective on the current balance of power in the Pac-12, but also on the journey USC took to get to this point:

Pac-12 mascots giving each other a final hug goodbye will make you surprisingly emotional

Poor mascots! Poor mascots. 

With the Pac-12 coming to an end as we’re used to it, the conference’s many notable mascots all had to bid farewell to each other on Friday at the Pac-12 title game before they all scattered about in new conferences.

In what’s surely going to be one of the most bittersweet sights in the college football postseason, all of the Pac-12 mascots got together while at the Washington-Oregon game and hugged each other to say goodbye.

This was away from the stage, per college sports reporter Rodger Sherman, meaning that these mascots could’ve broken character if they wanted to.

In this moment, they did not. Forgive us for getting a little misty.

If that’s not the saddest college football thing you’ve seen all week, you might want to get your heart checked. Poor mascots! Poor mascots.

Most all of Pac-12 mascots might all be headed elsewhere next season, but they’ll alway have the conference (and mascot antics) as they knew it.

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Allegiant Stadium said goodbye to the Pac-12 by blasting Green Day’s Good Riddance after everyone left

The Pac-12 championship DJ understood the assignment

Ask any millennial what Green Day’s “Good Riddance” is about, and they’ll be the first to tell you it’s one of the best break up songs ever written.

Dripping in contempt and passive aggressiveness, the lyrics reflect a relationship’s bitter end. Sure, the song has morphed into an anthem for high school and college graduates, as well as the final night of summer camp each year, but at it’s core it’s still punk rock.

Whoever was in charge of playing music at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday night seemed to understand that, too. Because once the teams left the field after Washington’s victory over Oregon, and all the fans exited the building, “Good Riddance” started blaring throughout the place.

What better way to roll credits on Pac-12 football?

There’s no one out there who is excited about the destruction of this conference except for a few TV executives — who don’t really count anyways.

All year long the Pac-12 has given us incredible action and drama. From numerous Heisman Trophy contenders, two legitimate College Football Playoff contenders, Colorado’s incredible September and Arizona’s resurgence, there was no shortage of reasons to tune into the Conference of Champions this season.

It’s an absolute shame it’s coming to an end.

Hopefully the powers in charge of it all had the time of their lives while the Pac-12 was around.

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Social media reacts to Washington vs Oregon in the Pac-12 title

Oregon probably won’t be in the playoff after its second loss.

The No. 5 Oregon Ducks were improperly rated. No. 3 Washington send brought them back to reality in a second defeat of Oregon this season.

We noted this week that teams that cannot beat elite competition probably don’t deserve a chance to play elite competition in the College Football Playoff. Oregon is now 0-2 against teams with a better than 8-4 record.

Washington proved itself as a legitimate title contender in the game. Many are of the belief that its difficult to beat a good team twice. The Huskies made it happen defeating the No. 5 team two times in 2023.

Oregon’s loss likely moves Texas up to No. 6 pending Saturday’s results. A win over Oklahoma State should vault Texas to No. 5, and a Florida State loss would likely put the Longhorns into the playoff.

Here’s how social media took in the game.

It’s time to watch Mike Leach determine which Pac-12 mascot would win a mascot fight

As the Pac-12 conference comes to an end, it’s time to watch legendary coach Mike Leach break down which mascot would win a battle royale.

Legendary college coach Mike Leach, who put together a 158-107 record over 21 years for Texas Tech, Washington State, and Mississippi State, was one of the most original offensive thinkers — and thinkers overall — of his era. Leach, who passed away on December 12, 2022, could go off-subject at any time and with the slightest provocation with the media, and as the Pac-12 conference will come to an end after Friday’s Pac-12 Championship game between Oregon and Washington, it’s a good time to take a trip in the wayback machine to a time when Leach broke down in great detail which conference mascot would win a mascot fight.

His answer was legendary.

R.I.P., Pac-12, and R.I.P., Coach Leach.

Raiders home stadium plays host to 2 of top NFL draft QB prospects for Pac-12 Championship

2 of this year’s top QB draft prospects face off in Raiders home stadium Friday night for Pac-12 Championship

The talk surrounding the quarterback talent in this year’s draft has been going on since this time last year. Three have emerged atop this year’s Heisman Trophy race as we head for bowl season. Two of them are playing in Las Vegas tonight in the Pac-12 Championship.

Oregon’s Bo Nix is the Heisman favorite right now. His Ducks will face off against the Washington Huskies led by Heisman candidate Michael Penix Jr.

This game could go a long way in deciding if either Nix can clinch the award or if Penix can overtake him and LSU’s Jayden Daniels to take home the most prestigious award in college football.

Also potentially riding on their performance on this big stage is their place in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Among those teams who will be in the market for a QB come April’s draft are the Raiders who, should they wish to get an up close and personal look at Nix and Penix in this game, need only head down the street to their home stadium.

The draft’s top two quarterbacks are USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye. They are currently expected to go in the top three, and potentially the top two.

Currently the Raiders hold a 5-7 record, which has them in line to draft outside the top ten. Therefore Williams and Maye would be out of reach barring a big trade up.

But the likes of Nix or Penix could absolutely be in play at the Raiders do end up drafting. So, some in-person scouting tonight will likely be in order.

Bama vs. Georgia, Washington vs. Oregon and more Championship Weekend Predictions

Championship weekend is finally here in college football, so let’s take a look at how we think it will play out.

While the Oklahoma Sooners finished their regular season at 10-2, they did not make it to the [autotag]Big 12 Championship[/autotag]. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t games that matter to the Sooners this weekend.

For instance, the [autotag]SMU Mustangs[/autotag], a team Oklahoma beat, will take on the [autotag]Tulane Green Wave[/autotag]. That matters because if SMU wins, they most likely will be ranked and represent the Group of Five in a New Year’s Six bowl game. That would go down as a ranked win for Oklahoma and boost their resume.

Also, if the Texas Longhorns win and then make the College Football Playoff, that could also boost Oklahoma’s resume and maybe get them into a New Year’s Six game as well. So, there is still a lot for Oklahoma fans to keep an eye on and cheer for this weekend.

So, let’s take a look at how I think the games will play out, and we’ll go in the order of when they will be played.