Realignment stinks, but the Ducks are going to be all right

 

It's a shame all this had to happen, a hundred years of college football history destroyed, great traditions and stories laid to waste, all because university presidents were arrogant and greedy while hiring another over matched outsider without much understanding of football and a reputation for innovation and deal-making that wasn't worth a hill of beans.

You want something to work, it takes a vision and a sense of timing. The conference had a chance to be great and earn a seat at the table, but now it's on life support. Unless something miraculous happens in the next 48 hours, the PAC-12 is about to be a victim of poor planning, avarice, arrogance and greed.

It's a shame because the league has been the heart of some great football. It was the league of Marcus Mariota, LaMichael James, Reggie Bush, John Elway, Jim Plunkett, Pat Tillman. It was the league of Desert Swarm and Gang Green, electrifying offenses, great passers and receivers.

In what's likely to be the last year of PAC-12 football and a true West Coast conference it features four or five of the best quarterbacks in the nation. On the field Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, Michael Penix, Cam Rising and the rest are going to write a hell of a story, even if no one will stay up to watch it.

Next year, all those guys will move on to the NFL and the teams they were a part of will be scattered in four different directions. Nothing's been announced yet but UCLA and SC are leaving for the Big Ten, Colorado is on the way to the Big 12 and Utah and the Arizona schools would be fools not to join them. Washington and Oregon will try to make the best deal they can, which means Washington State and Oregon State could wind up in the Mountain West.

As a college football fan it's kind of sick to watch this happen. George Kliavkoff took two years to put a deal together, assuring everyone that something great was coming together, and all he could produce was a rotten arrangement that will require fans to shell out $99 a year to get the games on a streaming service. Die hards would do that, but casual football fans won't watch. The ratings will be miniscule and the return to the schools won't be competitive. West Coast football will be irrelevant, underfunded, and sad.

It's a shame. Two or three years ago they could have moved ahead and formed a strong conference with the best schools from the Big 12. Ten years ago they could have added Texas and Oklahoma, had a 16-team league and a massive television deal. Those opportunities were lost because of foolish sticking points and academic arrogance. You can be a great research institution even if some of your opponents are not. Football brings people together. It should have been about the tailgates and the games.

Change is inevitable but sometimes when things change, something important is lost. What's best for big money and greed isn't necessarily good for the game.

Even so, the Ducks are going to be all right. They remain an attractive brand with a great program, facilities and coaches. They'll find a place to play and keep recruiting great athletes. It didn't have to be this way, however, so fragmented and unrecognizable.