Meh.
This is more significant than you may realize. After this season, the PAC will be split into 3 pods of 4 teams. Divisions are going away and the top 2 will go to the title game. While we will lose a guaranteed game in Southern California each year, we should be the best team in the Mountain/Desert Pod.
Do we know the pods? Announcement or speculation? Is it UT/CO/AZ, CA, WA/OR?
That makes the most sense, so it probably won’t be the case.
True.
In any pod structure, you’d play the 3 in your pod (which also takes care of in-state/city rivals), then 3 from the other pods unless we go to 8 games, then it’s 2 from 1 and 3 from the other. With home and away, it’s possible to not only not play in SoCal, but also not play a SoCal team in some years (year when the CA opponents are Cal & Stanford). That’d be true for the Mountain/Desert or NW pods. It is the reality and would hurt recruiting a little bit, but there are other stronger factors that probably make more of a difference.
I don’t want to get too far out front, but this is truly an accomplishment.
With how young our roster is, and how Oregon is starting with a new HC, as is USC (which in their case will take a few years to get the lines solidified)… our brand has been able to escape many of the limitations we’ve had being a smaller school from the mountains.
Nothing last forever, and everyone in the conference is capable of rising up and biting anyone else, but… let’s just enjoy the ride.
Speculation, but a done deal.
