David Hookstead
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Could the Oregon Ducks be on the move and follow Colorado to the Big 12?
After months of speculation, the Buffaloes have pulled the trigger on leaving the PAC-12 and returning to the Big 12, according to multiple reports.
An official announcement is expected at some point Thursday. The PAC-12’s inability to land a new media deal was finally hit with major consequences.
The Buffaloes are out, and that’s really bad news for the future of George Kliavkoff’s conference. Will Colorado be going alone or could the Ducks be joining?
Will Oregon leave the PAC-12?
It feels like college football fans are now living in a Cold War spy drama. Information is flooding in, and it’s unclear what should be trusted and what shouldn’t be.
What we know is the PAC-12 has been clinging to life by its teeth. Collapse has looked imminent many times, and it’s never been in worse condition than it is right now.
Oregon, the biggest brand in the PAC-12 outside of USC and UCLA, has no incentive to stay in a dying conference. Will the Ducks join Colorado?
247Sports reporter Jason Scheer, who has been correct on a lot of PAC-12 topics, tweeted Monday that “there’s another school in the Pac-12 beyond the rumored four corners that will surprise people and is seriously contemplating a jump to the Big 12.
Oregon alum and former NFL player Geoff Schwartz speculated Wednesday night that he believed the team Scheer was referring to had to be Oregon.
What will the Ducks do?
Nothing added fuel to the fire that something is going down in Eugene than when it was reported the school’s Executive, Audit and Governance Committee of the Board of Trustees scheduled a Thursday morning meeting on short notice.
Matt Prehm broke the news AFTER the news of Colorado going back to the Big 12 came out.
Now, it’s very possible the trustees are meeting to handle Dan Lanning’s contract. It’s very possible, but why would that be scheduled on short notice?
Why would word break shortly after Colorado pulled the trigger on leaving the PAC-12? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that all bets are off at this point.
Oregon desperately wants to be in the Big Ten, but there’s no Big Ten invite available right now.
Oregon is a national brand with the backing of Nike and Phil Knight. If the rush for the lifeboats is on – and it appears to be – it’d make sense for Oregon to be making a run for it. The PAC-12 has never been closer to collapse than it is right now. Is the next chip to fall Oregon? Are the Ducks the team Scheer was referring to? Buckle up because we’re officially in uncharted territory.
So, does this mean that, in addition to Oregon, we may see, at the very minimum, Washington along with some combination of Arizona, Arizona State and Utah? It could very well be that this UofO committee meeting could be mundane and have nothing to do with athletics, but they sure seemed to schedule that meeting quickly.
I was really surprised because I know there’s been a lot of talk about the B1G seemingly having interest in UofO/UDub, but the new B1G commissioner doesn’t seem as enthused about adding beyond USC/UCLA. I’m starting to think someone’s reading the writing on the wall in Eugene.
FWIW, UW Board of Regents next meeting is scheduled for mid-September. If the Regents happen to schedule an “ad hoc” meeting within the next week or two, then you might as well start the speculation about UW to Big 12. Arizona’s Board of Regens (which supervises UofA, ASU and Northern Arizona) don’t meet until late September, and Utah’s board of trustees are scheduled to meet August 8.