SEATTLE — The text came through early, well before Dave Zeeck woke up.
Blurry eyed, he rolled over toward his phone, glanced at it and did a double take. The sender, Washington president Ana Mari Cauce, had written a few short words to Zeeck, the chair of the university’s board of regents. Three of them stuck out.
Oregon is in.
Zeeck immediately knew what that meant: Washington and Oregon’s move to the Big Ten was complete. On the morning of Aug. 4, the duo’s decision landed like a combination punch, leaving the Pac-12 crippled — the latest blow to a conference sent staggering after, first, a left hook from USC and UCLA in July 2022 and then a gut-punch from Colorado just a week prior.