The End of an Era: CU Buffs Bid Farewell to Pac-12 in Last UCLA Game

2023-10-29 00:54:13

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 28: Head Coach Deion Sanders turns around following talking with his player during warmups as they get ready to take on the UCLA Bruins at Rose Bowl Stadium on October 28, 2023 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

PASADENA, Calif. — Bruce Bailey wore a Prime-worthy, wide-brimmed CU hat. Upon closer examination, he had a black UCLA sweatshirt tucked under his arm. Just in case.

“This might be the last UCLA-Colorado game we go to as a family,” Bruce explained, nodding at wife, Teri, and son, Colin, as they prepared to enter the Forever Buffs pregame tailgate a few holes away from the Rose Bowl late Saturday followingnoon.

“I’m so heartbroken to have the Pac-12 break apart.”

To paraphrase Coach Prime, Buffs-Bruins was personal — especially for the SoCal locals. UCLA-CU is the last Buffs football game, to date, scheduled in Los Angeles while both are members of the same conference. The Buffs are leaving the Pac-12 for the Big 12 next summer, while the Bruins are joining the Big Ten.

The elder Bailey grew up a Bruins fan and sent Colin — raised in the L.A. suburb of Chatsworth, Calif. — to CU.

“He’s now an official Coloradoan,” Dad said proudly.

CU headed into Saturday night’s tilt with an 0-6 mark at the Rose Bowl as a member of the Pac-12. The Buffs do not have any future nonconference games slated to be played in California through at least 2038, but there might be windows — the program may have to replace a handful of previously scheduled games with the likes of Oklahoma State (2036, ’37) and Kansas State (2027, ’28), two schools that will soon be Big 12 brethren.

While many older Buffs alums who grew up in the Big Eight and Big 12 eras were glad to see CU return to its brisket-and-barbecue roots, for the Baileys, it felt as if the school was shutting the door on a chunk of alumni and fans. And the stats back it up: Recent surveys of the CU undergraduate population have shown that roughly 1 in every 10 or 11 Buffs enrolled hails from the Golden State.

“I’m only 23, but I still grew up watching the Pac-12,” Colin Bailey said. “And on a weekly basis in the fall, I’ll watch a Washington State-Oregon State game. I’ll watch Cal-Arizona, because I love watching those Pac-12 games. And since CU is moving to the Big 12, I’ll tell you this: I don’t get excited regarding Kansas-Iowa State. I don’t get excited regarding Baylor-Texas Tech. I just don’t have the connection.”

Bailey wasn’t the only Angeleno near the Rose Bowl Saturday who didn’t give a mouse’s patootie regarding the goings-on in Lawrence, Kan., and Ames, Iowa.

“It’s trash,” offered Geovany Sanchez, a CU fan from Inglewood, Calif. “The Pac-12 is really good this year. (Almost) everyone is ranked. UCLA, they were up there. Utah is really great. The Pac-12 is the best it’s going to get this year and it’s gone — just like that.

“But I don’t blame them, because they’re just chasing the money. It’s all regarding money at the end of the day. It’s always going to come to that.”

Sanchez might have attended a “Forever Buffs” event, but, full disclosure, he may not be a “Forever Buff.” He joked that he only began following CU football when the school hired Deion Sanders to run the program last December.

Head coach Deion Sanders stops and talks with his son Shedeur Sanders (2) during warmups before taking on the UCLA Bruins at Rose Bowl Stadium on October 28, 2023 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

“And when they leave, I’m outta here,” he laughed. “If Shedeur (Sanders) stays another year, I’m here another year. If Deion stays, (I’m down) for as long as he’s going to stay. Maybe he won’t leave. Who knows? But I’ll stay (with CU) as long as he does.”

The Baileys, to their credit, are in it for the long haul. Even if the temperature at game time late Saturday followingnoon in Pasadena (71 degrees) was 34 degrees warmer than the chilly 37 degrees with wintery mix in Manhattan, Kan., home of new (and old) Buffs rival Kansas State.

“Anyone can beat anyone in (the Pac-12), and that’s what’s fun,” Bruce Bailey sighed. “You look at some of these conferences — Alabama, they just crush people. Come on! We go to see good football. …

“Do you know how good the Pac-12 is? College football is all regarding regional rivalries. … Come on! Pac-12 After Dark is the greatest event. I don’t care if the East Coast stayed up to watch it. It’s heartbreaking.”

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