East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State’s 2,346-mile trip out west this weekend signals the start of a new era of Big Ten football for the Spartans. For the first time ever, Michigan State and Oregon will play a football game as conference opponents. 

Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA all joined the Big Ten conference this offseason, while Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Utah joined the Big 12. Stanford and Cal, meanwhile, moved across the country to join the ACC.

That left Washington State and Oregon State to clean up the rubble. While both schools remain legal members of the Pac-12 conference, the Huskies and Beavers each signed one-year scheduling agreements with the Mountain West conference, allowing them six games against Mountain West opponents for the 2024 season. 

Oregon State’s former coach, Jonathan Smith, moved to Michigan State following the collapse of the Pac-12. Smith grew up with the conference in Pasadena, Calif. He played four seasons at Oregon State before making coaching stops at Washington and his alma mater. 

Now on the cusp of making his first trip back to the west coast, Smith looks back at the Pac-12 with fond memories.

“That conference was a historical conference, the Conference of Champions,” Smith said. “That’s painful when that kind of goes away. There is some pride and grit to the two great places that are still there, Washington State and Oregon State. They play at a high level. Shoot, they are playing at a high level this year. So I think a lot of us – not regret, but do remember how great that conference was and know how good those two universities are.”

The Pac-12’s fate isn’t entirely sealed, though. On Sept. 12, the two-team Pac-12 announced that it had reached an agreement with four Mountain West programs to join the conference ahead of the 2026-27 athletic year: Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State. Then, on Sept. 24, the conference announced the addition of Utah State. 

“I look at those teams, those teams have played really good football,” Smith said. “Those guys have beaten multiple teams through the years. I coached at Boise State. Those are good football teams.”

According to NCAA rules, the conference needs to add at least one more team before 2026 – the end of the NCAA’s two-year grace period granted to Oregon State and Washington State – to become eligible for national championships and other postseason accolades. 

While the future of the Pac-12 looks more promising than before, it’s unlikely the new iteration of the conference will ever reach the heights of the previous one. Smith still holds a soft spot for that version of the conference – the one he grew up around – but he doesn’t plan on letting that, or his return to Oregon, affect his approach to Friday’s game.

“Once the thing’s kicked off, your approach as a coach is preparing the guys,” Smith said. “You get locked in on the game. And it’s not just myself, we have some other guys with connections to the place and all that. Once it’s kicked off, it’s a college football game. You kind of emotionally approach it the same.”

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