LAS VEGAS — For a conference just about on its last legs, the Pac-12 is providing a heck of a final kick.
No. 3 Washington (12-0) and No. 5 Oregon (11-1) will meet Friday night in the Pac-12 title game at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, with the winner almost certain of a spot in the College Football Playoff. The Pac-12 has not placed a team in the four-team event since Washington made it in the 2016 season, with the Huskies routed by Alabama in the Peach Bowl semifinal that time.
That lack of success in the NCAA’s marquee sport, and the impact on media rights deals, is why 10 of the dozen programs currently in the league — Oregon State and Washington State are the exceptions — are heading to other conferences next year. Oregon and Washington will be Big Ten rivals, while their respective state rivals try to keep the Pac-12 going in some form with the help of an alliance with the Mountain West Conference.
The irony is the conference is breaking apart while having its best season in many years.
“It’s been a great year of football in the Pac-12,” Huskies second-year coach Kalen DeBoer said. “Multiple people who have been in the conference a long time in roles that would definitely know have said that it has never been stronger.”