The Pac-12 exodus grew tenfold on Friday. USC and UCLA led the charge when they made an agreement to join the Big Ten in the summer of 2022. A couple of weeks ago, Colorado was the next domino to fall after they agreed to join the Big 12. Soon thereafter, Arizona followed suit. But the next biggest domino dropped after Oregon and Washington agreed to join the Big Ten alongside USC and UCLA. Soon thereafter, Arizona State and Utah agreed to join the Big 12, leaving only four teams in what remains of the Pac-12: Oregon State, Washington State, Cal-Berkeley, and Stanford.

The two biggest losers in this ever-changing college landscape are Washington State and Oregon State. Much like how Rice and Houston were left to dry after the Southwestern Conference disintegrated in the 1990s, these two teams are without a home and could be without a rival. The Apple Cup (Washington vs Washington State) and Civil War (Oregon vs Oregon State) were two of the most fierce rivalries in all of college football. Now each of those four teams are at risk of never playing their respective rivals again for quite a long time.

At least for Washington and Oregon though, they are joining a conference rich with football history. And with the Rose Bowl showcasing the champions from the Big Ten and Pac-12 conference every year, there has been history where these two pacific northwest schools have played against the Big Ten in games with very high stakes. There are two matchups in particular that have occurred in the past that could mark the next marquee rivalry game for Washington and Oregon.

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New Rivalry 1) Washington Huskies vs Michigan Wolverines

Since 1923, the Washington Huskies have appeared in the Rose Bowl 15 times. Of those 15 appearances, four of those have come against the Michigan Wolverines. The Huskies have also already made the trek to the Big House in their program's history, beating Michigan 20-11 in 1984. Washington was the national runner ups that season, finishing second in the polls behind eventual national champions BYU. But in 1991, the Huskies were able to reach the upper echelon. They finished first in the coaches poll and were named national champions after a 34-14 Rose Bowl victory against… the Michigan Wolverines. There may not be a ton of history between these two programs in terms of number of matchups against each other; these teams have 13 total head-to-head matchups and Michigan is 8-5 in those tilts. But the stakes don't get any higher than a national championship, and Washington can always hold that up against a new conference foe. Sounds like there can be grounds for a new rivalry there.

New Rivalry 2) Ohio State Buckeyes vs Oregon Ducks

Similar to a potential Washington-Michigan rivalry, Ohio State and Oregon haven't played each other all that often. These two programs have squared off nine times, and Ohio State has won all nine of them. The saying goes that it isn't a rivalry if one team wins all the time. That is true, but both of these programs are always at the top of college football. In fact, they've squared off against each other for the literal top of college football. The last time these teams played each other was in 2015 in the National Championship to cap the first-ever college football playoff. Ohio State won 42-21 in what might be forever known as the Ezekiel Elliott game.

Unlike the Washington-Michigan 1991 Rose Bowl game, this game is fresh. This happened only eight years ago. Now that these teams will play each other more frequently, this game could be used as a springboard to jumpstart a new potential rivalry in the Big Ten.

Moving Forward

Conference realignment has taken a blow torch to a lot of the tradition and pageantry of college football. The biggest loser of that has been rivalry games; games that happen every year between schools that flat-out hate each other. The Apple Cup and Civil War appear next in line of rivalry games that could get put on standby. Hopefully, those matchups don't go away. There won't be replacing those rivalry games for any program involved. But at least for Oregon and Washington, there's enough history with the Big Ten that finding new rivals (in addition to USC and UCLA) shouldn't be too daunting a task.