Canzano: The college football world is still fun
Oregon State beat a Big Ten opponent on Saturday.
CORVALLIS — My pal Jerry Palm and his wife Vicki are huge Purdue University fans. They marched in the school band when they were students there. And so they traveled from the Midwest this week to visit the Pacific Northwest and see the Boilers play a non-conference game at Oregon State.
The Palms visited Multnomah Falls.
They drove to the coast and toured a lighthouse.
Then, on Saturday at Reser Stadium, they watched the Beavers beat Purdue 38-21.
Late in the second half, Jerry announced: “We stink.”
Good trip, then?
The victory improved Oregon State’s record to 3-1. It was the second straight week that OSU played a Big Ten opponent at home. And that oddity only begins to explain how blasted weird this college football season feels.
USC lost its Big Ten opener to Michigan, which won despite only 32 passing yards on Saturday. Cal dropped its first ACC game, a loss at Florida State. And Colorado beat Baylor in a rainy overtime thriller in the Big 12.
Memphis and Tulane to the Pac-12? How about South Florida, too? And the University of Texas-San Antonio and/or UNLV? College football turned itself into an unorthodox game of Survivor. Anything goes. So why not?
A reader asked me on Saturday if it was worth squatting on the trademarks for Pac-6, Pac-8, and Pac-10. Answer: Don’t waste the money. Conference leadership appears to be married to the Pac-12 brand. But we’ll soon know how many schools will join and from which time zones.
As one of the six Pac-12 athletic directors told me on Friday afternoon, “I can’t imagine it’s going to take long.”