THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Thinking about the new Pac-12 — yes, in July

I wonder what Jim Walden would have thought about the new Pac-12, which officially kicked off on Wednesday. 

When he was head football coach at Washington State, he said that nothing is more important to Cougar football than beating the Washington Huskies. 

Now, sadly, the Apple Cup is no longer even a conference game.  

No longer the final game of the regular season, sometimes with a berth in the Rose Bowl on the line. 

At least they’re still playing — for now. 

This year’s Apple Cup matchup is the season opener — Sept. 5 in Seattle. A Sunday afternoon, during Labor Day weekend. 

Next year, the game is scheduled for Week 3 in Pullman. 

As much as you might have wished the 10 schools that left the Pac-12 two years ago in search of literally greener pastures might eventually get tired of all that extra travel and want to come back ... good luck with that. 

So, who will become WSU’s new conference rival in football? 

Oregon State will always be a natural rival — old Pac-12 foes, and kindred spirits after they became the two schools were left behind by the other 10. 

I’m sure each school looked at the other on their schedule each year and thought, “OK, maybe we won’t beat USC or Oregon or the Huskies this year, but we can beat these guys.” 

But, as far as a game that will attract the most interest around here, I’m thinking it’s going to be Boise State. 

The teams, just 295 miles apart, have met seven times, all since 1997 — one year after BSU (and Idaho) — moved up from Division I-AA to Division I in football.  

WSU holds a 5-2 lead. 

Three of those have come in the last 10 seasons, two of them won by Washington State. In 2024, the Broncos rolled 45-24 in Boise. The Cougs won the 2017 matchup 47-44 in Pullman, one year after Boise State prevailed 31-28 on the blue turf. 

Boise State has ruled the Mountain West for years, and has plenty of signature wins over Power-5 schools. So the Broncos are probably looking at the new Pac-12 as a league they should be able to win as well. 

The first meeting between WSU and Boise State as conference foes is scheduled for Oct. 24 in Pullman. 

IN CASE you were wondering ... well, at least I was: 

The five Mountain West schools who are now in the Pac-12 were sprinkled throughout the Mountain West football standings in 2025. 

San Diego State and Boise State (6-2) were part of a four-way tie for first in the conference, with UNLV and New Mexico. 

Fresno State (5-3) was tied for fifth, Utah State (4-4) seventh, Colorado State (1-7) last in the 12-team league. 

(Is it too late to invite New Mexico, just to get Jason Eck into the Pac-12?) 

THE LOVABLES, of course, dominated the West Coast Conference in men’s basketball for most of this century. 

Now, the Zags will go against statistically better teams than they have played in the WCC. 

In last year’s final N.E.T. rankings, Gonzaga was No. 10, Saint Mary’s 24, Santa Clara 42, Pacific 114, San Francisco 121 and Seattle U. 119. 

Of the two Pac-12 teams left behind who rented space in the WCC the past two years, Washington State finished at 144, Oregon State 172. 

From the Mountain West, regular-season champion Utah State was 25, San Diego State 48, Boise State 60, Colorado State 88, Fresno State 151 (out of 365 teams). Four of those teams were among the top six in the conference in the N.E.T. 

New Mexico, which finished second, was 46; Nevada, which tied for fourth, was 67. 

The WCC was rounded out by LMU (182), Portland (223), San Diego (236) and Pepperdine (275). 

I always thought the WCC in men’s basketball would be WAY more interesting without the Zags — even though Gonzaga brought most of the notoriety to the league.  

Most conference teams are beaten by the Lovables before they even take the floor. Even though Saint Mary’s has emerged as Gonzaga’s foil in recent years, and posted its share of wins over the Zags, I don’t think other conference teams feared the Gaels like they did the Zags. 

Whether Saint Mary’s emerges as the favorite in the “new” WCC remains to be seen — especially since Randy Bennett, the reason Saint Mary’s emerged as Gonzaga’s main rival — left to coach Arizona State. 

Meanwhile, who will emerge as the Zags' new rival in the Pac-12? 

Maybe Boise State, coached Leon Rice, a former assistant under Mark Few at Gonzaga. 

They played regularly when both were in the Big Sky Conference in the early 1970s, but haven't met since 2001.

And I had to chuckle when the league announced the format for the Pac-12 basketball tournament — with double byes to the semifinals for the top two seeds — which looked just like the format the Zags pushed for in the WCC in recent years.

If nothing else, the new Pac-12 will be a curiosity this year, how all teams from different backgrounds compete against each other.

Who will step up, who will back down.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.