How the “Pac-2” will live on with Oregon State and Washington State

Image Courtesy: FBS Schedules

In the summer of 2022, UCLA and USC continued the conference realignment that Oklahoma and Texas began (who announced their move to the SEC) when the Bruins and Trojans announced they were leaving the Pac-12 for the the Big Ten. A year later, Colorado led their fellow “four corner schools”, namely Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah to join them in dropping the Pac-12 too. In late July and early August of 2023, the Buffaloes, Wildcats, Sun Devils, and Utes will head to the Big 12 for the 2024-2025 athletic season. Just a few weeks later, the Big Ten finally announced the additions of Oregon and Washington to the conference. California and Stanford may not have joined the Big Ten like their old Pac-12 North rivals, but they accepted an invite to the ACC! Two northern California schools in Atlantic Coast Conference! Conference regionality has completely gone out of the window with this realignment cycle. In retrospect, the Pac-12 died in a single year because of commissioner George Kliavkoff’s inability to extend the conference’s media rights deal ESPN or find a new media partner. But, not all of the members found new homes. Oregon State and Washington State are making it in the Pac-2 with an alliance with the Mountain West in football. Each Mountain West squad will play Oregon State and Washington State as a nonconference game in football during the upcoming 2024-2025 season. The “Pac-2” will live on for one more athletic season and then this is what will happen with the Beavers’ and Cougars’ football programs:

Here are the Beavers’ and Cougars’ football schedules for the upcoming 2024 season:
Oregon State
8/31 Idaho State
9/7 @ San Diego State
9/14 Oregon
9/21 Purdue
9/28 Off
10/5 Colorado State
10/12 @ Nevada
10/19 UNLV
10/26 @ California
11/2 Off
11/9 San José State
11/16 @ Air Force
11/23 Washington State
11/30 @ Boise State

Oregon State will face former Pac-12 foes Oregon and California in 2024. The Beavers will also host California on August 30, 2025 and travel to Eugene to face Oregon on September 20, 2025.

Washington State
8/31 Portland State
9/7 Texas Tech
9/14 Washington (Seattle; Lumen Field)
9/21 San José State
9/28 @ Boise State
10/5 Off
10/12 @ Fresno State
10/19 Hawaii
10/26 San Diego State
11/2 Off
11/9 Utah State
11/16 @ New Mexico
11/23 @ Oregon State
11/30 Wyoming

The Cougars are set to face rival Washington every season through the fall of 2028.

In early December, CBS Sports College Basketball analyst Jon Rothstein, the Mountain West is in discussions with Oregon State and Washington State to join the league for the 2024-25 basketball season. Two weeks later, the Athletic made a conflicting report. The Athletic reporter Nicole Auerbach confirmed that the West Coast Conference announced plans to vote on adding the Beavers and the Cougars to the league in all non-football sports, namely basketball. On December 22, the conference officially announced them as affiliation members in twelve sports in 2024-2025.