Did Oregon State, Washington State build a Pac-12 they're not good enough to compete in?

The easy thing for Oregon State and Washington State to do during the latest wave of conference realignment was a reverse merger with the Mountain West.

The Beavers and Cougars did not take the easy path.

Instead, Oregon State and Washington State is doing a skinny rebuild of the Pac-12, adding five of the 11 MW full-time members (SDSU, Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Utah State) plus the West Coast Conference's Gonzaga. And while I'm not against the plan — whether this was a smart move comes down to the media-rights contracts and final exit/poaching fees — I wonder if Oregon State and Washington State just built a conference it's not going to be competitive in.

While they rebuild the Pac-12 — at least one more football-playing member is required — the Beavers and Cougars parked most of their sports in the MW and WCC in the interim. We now almost have a full season's worth of data of those schools playing in what they dubbed to be lower-level leagues, as evidenced by the fact the Pac-2 snubbing its nose at a full merger with the MW.

So far, the results have not been great. They haven't been bad, either. They've mostly been mediocre. Below is a list of placements for Oregon State and Washington State in sports that have finished in 2024-25.

Football: Oregon State went 2-5 vs. MW; Washington State went 5-3 vs. MW

Men's basketball (11 teams in WCC): Oregon State finished fifth; Washington State sixth

Women's basketball (11 teams in WCC): Washington State finished third; Oregon State finished fourth

Men's soccer (nine teams in WCC): Oregon State finished third (Washington State does not sponsor sport)

Women's soccer (11 teams in WCC): Washington State finished fourth; Oregon State tied for fifth

Men's cross country (eight teams in WCC): Washington State finished third (Oregon State does not sponsor sport)

Women's cross country (11 teams in WCC): Washington State finished third; Oregon State finished fourth

Volleyball (11 teams in WCC): Washington State finished fourth; Oregon State tied for sixth

In football, Oregon State and Washington State went a combined 7-8 against the MW, a losing record that included defeats to Nevada (0-7 in MW); Wyoming (2-5 in MW): New Mexico (3-4 in MW); and Air Force (3-4 in MW). Toss in losses to San Jose State and UNLV and the Pac-2 went 2-6 against the MW teams it deemed itself too good for. That included five losses to the league's eight teams that finished below-.500 in league play.

Thing weren't much better in the other revenue sports, men's basketball, where Oregon State (10-8 in the WCC) and Washington State (8-10) finished fifth and sixth in the 11-team league below powerhouses San Francisco and Santa Clara. The Beavers and Cougars went a combined 20-20 in WCC games, the definition of mediocrity in a good-but-not-great basketball league (the WCC was ninth in NET as a conference).

In women's basketball, the results were better with Washington State (14-6 in the WCC) finishing third and Oregon State (12-8) fourth, although neither were close to winning the WCC title with the Cougars three games behind the league's co-champs and the Beavers five games back. Oregon State won the WCC Tournament as the No. 4 seed before losing in the NCAA Tournament's first round by 21 points to finish 19-15.

Volleyball wasn't great as Washington State placed fourth and Oregon State sixth with the teams a combined 19-17 in the WCC. And while the baseball season isn't over, Washington State ranks sixth out of eight teams in the MW standings (Oregon State baseball, a legitimate powerhouse, is playing an independent schedule).

In the seven completed sports Oregon State and Washington State competed in within the WCC, the Beavers and Cougars not only won zero regular-season titles. They didn't have a runner-up finish, either. Generally, the teams finished in the top half of the standings, but, again, this is against WCC competition, not the MW or even the new Pac-12. If you put a legitimate Pac-12 team in the WCC, it should dominate. Oregon State and Washington State did not. Not even close.

You can only draw so much information from a one-year sample size, but there's not much proof Oregon State and Washington State were too good for the MW, let alone the WCC, which is generally a step below the MW. Again, I don't blame Oregon State and Washington State for rebuilding the Pac-12 while leaving out the MW's less attractive schools if the finances pencil out, which we'll only know once the media-rights and exit-fee money is settled. But there's not much, if any, separation between the Washington State and Oregon State athletic departments and the WCC or MW. And those schools could have just built a new Pac-12 it won't be very competitive in with regard to winning regular conference championships.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.