A timeline of the Pac-12’s astoundingly bad 2017-18 in both football and basketball
The conference had the worst football postseason ever, but somehow topped it in hoops.
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
So here’s an incomplete timeline of the defeats, indignities, and self-owns sustained by the Pac-12 in the two major revenue sports, football and men’s basketball, since the start of the most recent football season:
August
- The Pac-12 loses the very first FBS game of the season, a game in which Oregon State uses a Crying Jordan on its play call sign and immediately has a very Crying Jordan result.
September
- Loses two football games to mid-major San Diego State, along with fellow mid-majors Houston and Memphis. And the Crying Jordan game was to mid-major Colorado State.
- Conference play will save the day! Oops, Playoff hopeful USC loses at Washington State with a banged-up offensive line on a short-week road trip during a 12-week stretch without a bye.
October
- Oregon State’s football coach announces he’d rather leave $12 million on the table than keep trying to win at Oregon State.
- ESPN spends a Saturday roasting Washington’s schedule, for some reason.
- Playoff hopeful Washington responds by losing at Arizona State.
- Pac-12 Playoff hopes end after Notre Dame torches USC, followed by ...
November
- ... Washington losing at Stanford in yet another short-week Pac-12 road trip, a game that was delayed by FS1 because of a NASCAR truck race.
- UCLA basketball’s association with the Ball family literally becomes an international incident.
- Chip Kelly’s return to the conference overshadowed by Arizona State hiring dormant NFL coach Herm Edwards.
December
- After one year, Oregon loses head coach Willie Taggart to Florida State.
- The Pac-12 football title game again happens in dreaded Santa Clara, with about 20,000 or so fewer fans in attendance than any other Power 5 title game.
- The Pac-12 misses the Playoff so wildly, arguments on which teams should get the No. 4 spot focus on a team that didn’t win its division, a team that got blown out twice, a mid-major, and THEN Pac-12 champ USC.
- Pac-12 basketball has losing seasons against the AAC, ACC, Big 12, Big East, and Big Ten.
- The Pac-12 Network remains unseen, but just in case anyone happens to find a feed, it offers basically no coverage of the Early Signing Period, the new most important day in college football recruiting.
- The Pac-12 peels off the worst bowl season by a power conference ever, with eight losses and only a win over West Virginia’s backup QB.
January
- Navy’s SID declares the Pac-12 a mid-major conference. The claim goes undisputed.
February
- Arizona and USC become prominent names in the FBI’s hoops story, costing the Wildcats not only their attention spans, but also a commitment from Shaquille O’Neal’s son.
March
- The Pac-12’s basketball title game has fewer viewers than not only every power-conference title game, but also three mid-major games and non-PPV boxing.
- On Selection Sunday, the NCAA seemingly screws the teams featured in the FBI thing, with Pac-12 champ Zona a four seed and runner-up USC down in the NIT. (USC has its vengeance by being taken to NIT overtime against Big South semifinalist UNC-Asheville.)
- Due to UCLA and Arizona State losing in the “First Four” side quest, the Pac-12 begins the first day of actual March Madness with exactly one team in the field of 64. The A-10, Big South, and SWAC currently have more wins.
- Arizona, the conference’s last hope, gets hurled over the top rope by 13 seed Buffalo.
- The Pac-12 Network remains unseen.
And that’s not even everything!
On the bright side, the Pac-12 started a splendid 5-0 in the NIT, Stanford remains excellent at sports that aren’t on TV, and Herm hasn’t blown anything up yet.
See More:
