From Pac to Big

With the Pac-12 being dismantled this summer (officially Aug 2, 2024), my duties for Uni-Watch.com are evolving. 

They used to include tracking and making the Pac-12 uniform graphic each week in the fall, as well as the standalone Ducktracker graphic and blog that I will continue. But I am migrating (Duck pun intended) over to tracking the Big-10 since 4 of the 18 teams are former Pac teams including my Oregon Ducks.

The Big-10 are having their media days in Indianapolis this week and Oregon made a big splash already. 

So if you are interested in seeing the 4 former Pac-12 teams in the Big-10 flock over there with me!

https://big10uniwatch.blogspot.com/

New Beaver uniform

Eventhough my role as Pac-12 tracker has pretty much ridden off into the sunset, there are still 2 teams left in the Pac-12 and being a Duck fan, I have a special place in my heart for Oregon State.

The Beavers  announced new uniforms and my buddy Phil at Uni-watch did such a great job I'm going to just post his link here and call it good! Thanks Phil!

 

https://uni-watch.com/2024/07/12/nice-beaver-oregon-state-football-unveils-new-uniforms-for-2024/

It's not a radical rethink of their sets, but they did get rid of the off-white uniform (bright white is much better) and ditched the wood grain pattern on numbers (which I liked). Anthracite was added for some reason and the striping was simplified. Number font appears to be the same and the shades of color look the same.

Bowl Games 2023-24

The Pac-12 had eight teams play in bowl games which must be a record number. (I have not done the research to verify) 

It's easy to group them into two camps: the pre-New Years and then the 2024 games. The six who played before New Years all had matchups against higher-ranked teams so mostly wearing white. (USC was lower ranked but wore red since—I think—the Holiday bowl alternates home teams, and Oregon was away last year) The results were mixed with the LA schools and Arizona winning and the oither three looking pretty weak.

Jan 1 provided a much better result for the top two teams in the Pac: Oregon and Washington. Both winning and looking good and colorful doing it! 

In the "natty" (Thanks Oregon's Cliff Harris for the term) #2 UW was the road team by one ranking point to Michigan #1, so wore all white to the Wolverines totally all blue.

Pac 12 Championship Game: Dec. 1, 2023

The LAST Pac-12 Championship Game, and the last Pac-8/10/12 game ever? 

If so, it was a doozy—arguably one of the most consequential conference games in living memory:  #3 vs. #5; winner Washington will most likely end up in the last 4-team playoff; and both QB will be invited to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Not to mention these two teams jet off to be instant heavyweights in the new Big-10 next season.

Oregon's  green-white-white was the standard road uniform during the early 2000s, but relatively uncommon since. Washington went mono-purple.

Week 13: November 24-25, 2023

The second half of Rivalry Week and the last regular season Pac-12 games ever! My last week tracking regular season Pac 12! I'm not sure what this blog becomes come January 2024?

Stanford wore their first-ever cardinal helmet with white script logo vs. Notre Dame. WSU also pulled out its script logo on their helmet for the Apple Cup. The Civil War was the only color-on-color matchup this weekend. Colorado pulled out its shiny road whites and Utah went with its almost balckout set.

Week 12: November 18, 2023

The California schools played their rivals this weekend. UCLA-USC was color on color as is tradition of late. Cal wore its kinda-sorta throwback Roth C logo helmet with normal road combo. IMHO, Rivalry Week should be color-on-color in most PAC-12 matchups. and Cal-Stanford has a good color combo so it's a shame Cal went for white jerseys. 

Arizona wore its annual military appreciation uniform with gray camo numbers and shoulder panels and played like the #2-3 team in the Pac-12! ASU also went for military appreciation, but much more subtle with camo Pat Tillman logo and stripe on the helmet, in looking like the bottom of the Pac.

In the final Pac-12 games in OSU's Reser Stadium and WSU's Martin Stadium, both teams went dark and brooding. Washington State—in a winning battle for the bottom of the Pac— vs. Colorado opted for all-anthracite gray with special WAZZU wordmark helmet. Colorado went mono-white. Oregon State—in a HUGE top-10 game—vs. Washignton wore all black.

Week 11: November 11, 2023

Being Veterans' Day, it is surprising that more teams did not display military pride or flags as they have in the past. Colorado inserted a flag into their logo and wore all gray and black. Oregon State inserted gray camo into their numbers and beaver logo. Arizona teased a military look early in the season but are saving it for next week's home game. Utah went with their well-worn throwback uniforms for the 3rd time this season.