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One aspect of the Pac-12 will remain intact well beyond its official breakup in early August: All 12 schools are locked into bowl games that have been affiliated with the conference.
Well, most of the bowl games.
The Rose Bowl is no longer tied to either the Pac-12 or Big Ten. Instead, the Granddaddy's allegiance is shifting to the 12-team College Football Playoff, where it will host quarterfinal and semifinal matchups determined by the selection committee.
But the Alamo, Las Vegas, Holiday, Sun, LA and Independence bowls — and the game selected by ESPN — will continue to partner with both the remaining Pac-12 members, Washington State and Oregon State, and the 10 outbound schools.
(As always, teams must win at least six games to be eligible for the postseason.)
The news, long expected, became official Friday morning when the conference announced the retention of its lineup, which ensures postseason opportunities for the Cougars and Beavers as they compete as a two-team conference.
"We are thrilled to ensure Oregon State and Washington State student-athletes will continue to have opportunities to participate in the same level of premier postseason events as in years past," Pac-12 football operations chief Merton Hanks said in a statement released by the conference.
"From the College Football Playoff to our esteemed bowl partners, we are thankful for the cooperation among multiple parties, including our colleagues across each participating conference, to secure these events."
The reasons for placing the outbound schools in the legacy Pac-12 bowl games: contracts and logistics.
Prior to the pandemic, the Pac-12 agreed to a six-year contract cycle with the aforementioned bowls that runs through the 2025 season.
Continuing those partnerships into the new world order prevented the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten from having to rework their postseason lineups.
With the Pac-12 teams now scattered across four conferences, the standings from a single league could not determine the pecking order for bowl placement.
The bowl games will continue to deploy the "agreed upon selection process among current and former Pac-12 football teams," according to the conference.
However, the bowls are expected to take steps to avoid rematches of conference games, if possible.
The dates for the Pac-12 bowls are as follows:
- Dec. 18: LA Bowl
- Dec. 27: Las Vegas Bowl
- Dec. 28: Alamo and Independence bowls
- Dec. 31: Sun Bowl
- (The Holiday Bowl has not announced its date.)
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Jon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP Top 25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree. You can follow him on Twitter @WilnerHotline or send an email at jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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