The demise of the Pacific-12 Conference has been well explored here, as the Conference of (real NCAA) Champions heads into the void of the unknown soon. Despite pending legal situations, the Oregon State Beavers and the Washington State Cougars are headed into that dark place, too, left behind as unwanted by the Big XII (oddly), the B1G (predictably), and even the ACC (logically). How do we know? Yesterday’s news.

First came the news that Michigan State hired Beavers Head Coach Jonathan Smith: he clearly saw the writing on the wall, and he took the best job available to him. Smith did a very commendable job turning the Oregon State program around from a 1-11 season in 2017 before he arrived to a team that went 18-7 in 2022-2023 combined, while notching victories over rival Oregon in 2020 and 2022, as well. That’s a coach.

The Beavers, like the Cougars, were never high on anyone’s recruiting list, so Smith’s ability to take what he could get and make those players better is something that is reminiscent of former MSU leader Mark Dantonio. But the fact Smith was willing to leave Corvallis says volumes: he played quarterback there in Oregon State’s best season, and he probably would have stayed for life if the school had a real future ahead.

Second? Washington State’s complete collapse with the Apple Cup on the line in Seattle against the Washington Huskies last night. The Cougars—who had lost three games prior this season when they had the ball with a chance to tie or win in the final minutes—did it again, reaching the Washington 41-yard line late in a tie game before imploding, and giving away the game to the Huskies on the final play. Typical WSU.

If the Cougars had held on for the upset, they would have finished 6-6 and reached a bowl game again, sending the message that the WSU program had life and pride left in it. But now, like Oregon State, there will be a mass exodus of any decent players on both rosters, guys with NFL aspirations who want to play for a Power Conference team for maximum exposure. Smith will take some guys with him to MSU, for sure.

Meanwhile, the WSU players will just leave; if they’d beaten Washington, perhaps they would have stayed and been able to keep some momentum going. But again, in different ways, both schools just waved the white flag on their football futures. We know the corruption and greed in college sports is pretty obvious, and these two schools are the just the most-recent victims of the problems the NCAA has lost control of.