PULLMAN, Wash. — When the dust settled on Week 2 of the college football season, it was clear one conference stood above the rest.
From pandemonium in Pullman, WA where the Washington State Cougars upset the No. 22 ranked Wisconsin Badgers, to San Diego where UCLA held San Diego State to just 10 points, to Lubbock, Texas where Oregon held on for a tight road victory over Texas Tech, the Pac-12 is the undisputed best college football conference in the country - which makes their impending demise even more painful, argues Locked on Pac-12 host Spencer McLaughlin.
"It's literally, at this point in time, the best conference in the country, the deepest conference in the country, it's never been like this, it's wildly entertaining, and it's going to go away," McLaughlin said. "They made it crystal clear how badly leadership over the past 15 years or so have screwed this thing up."
The Pac-12 has eight teams ranked in the latest AP poll, becoming the only conference outside of the SEC to ever have eight or more schools in a single poll - a devastating reminder to west coast football fans at what they are losing starting in 2024-25.
Oregon State (No. 16) remained in the poll while Washington State (No. 23) climbed in after upsetting Wisconsin at home. The two schools are all that remain from the Pac-12 conference, and Cougars coach Jake Dickert lamented his team's unfortunate situation after the game.
“We belong in the Power Five,” Dickert told ESPN among a swarm of Cougars, who rushed the field in Pullman.
Whether the Pac-12 can keep their Power Five status remains to be seen, but what this conference has showed this season is nothing more than a stark reminder of how great this league can be, how sad it is that this is the final year, and the unfortunate reality of this situation for two schools that deserve to be in a Power-5 conference but are being left in the cold.