The last Pac-12 game ends in a walkoff. Screengrab via ESPN.
By Awful Announcing Staff on

The Pac-12 is no more. After being founded in 1915, the “Conference of Champions” played its last official sporting event on Saturday night in the Pac-12 baseball tournament final between USC and Arizona. And in fitting fashion, the conference gave us one last “Pac-12 After Dark” memory for the road.

Arizona defeated USC 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth on a dramatic play at the plate as the Wildcats won the Pac-12 tournament title in walkoff fashion. Roxy Bernstein had the picture perfect call on ESPN of the conference’s grand finale.

After the game was over, Bernstein and broadcast partner Wes Clements paid tribute to the Pac-12, starting with their dominance over the years in college baseball with the various national championships won over the years. But given the widespread success of other teams in other sports, the conference certainly earned the moniker of the “conference of champions.”

Bernstein then gave the final sendoff for the Pac-12 as he did on the league network the night before. In his final words, Bernstein quoted broadcast partner and Pac-12 legend Bill Walton, was arguably the league’s greatest advocate, in saying “Thank you for my life.”

Oregon State and Washington State will move forward in some capacity as the final members of the conference not to join the exodus for greener pastures elsewhere, but the Pac-12 as we know it now belongs to the history books.

With schools leaving for the Big Ten, Big XII, and unbelievably the ACC, the college athletics landscape will never be the same. And given the Pac-12’s history, success, and rivalries, it’s impossible to say that college athletics will be better off for it. But that’s the true price of conference realignment when there are USC-Rutgers primetime football games to sell.