Last Hurrah For Pac-12 Conference As Washington/Oregon Makes History In Las Vegas (Naturally)
Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
It was history Friday night.
And naturally, it happened in Las Vegas.
It was the final game in the storied legacy of the Pac-12 Conference, a league of upper-echelon universities vaporized because this pillar of college sports for more than a century failed to nail down a bigtime lucrative media deal.
National powerhouses Washington and Oregon, two Top 5 teams, gave college sports a terrific final act before an announced attended crowd of 61,195.
The Huskies jumped out to a 20-3 lead, Oregon responded with three touchdowns to lead 24-20 and then Washington bounced back with 14 straight points to assume a commanding 34-24 lead with less than three minutes left in the game.
Oregon scored on a long pass by Heisman hopeful Bo Nix to make the score, Washington 34 Oregon 31.
Two first downs later and the Washington Huskies were singing, “We are the champions,” and barking up a storm.
Washington won all of its 13 games, including two over Oregon, and is undoubtedly heading to college football’s national semifinals.
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Las Vegas is on a roll in hosting nationally-significant sports events.
After the inaugural Formula One race that drew lots of attention for good and bad, Las Vegas is now prepping for an NFL Super Bowl in this same stadium Feb. 11.
In the meantime, the NBA’s in-season tournament culminates at T-Mobile Arena with semifinals Thursday and finals Saturday with the National Finals Rodeo coming to town for its annual cowboy bonanza at Thomas & Mack Center Dec. 7-16.
