Pacific - 12 Conference The Pacific - 12 Conference ( Pac - 12 ) is a college athletic conference that operates in the Western United States . It participates in the NCAA ' s Division I ; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision ( FBS ; formerly Division I - A ) , the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition . The conference ' s 12 members , which are primarily flagship research universities in their respective regions , well - regarded academically , and with relatively large student enrollment , compete in 22 NCAA sports . It was founded as the Pacific Coast Conference ( PCC ) , in 1915 , whose principal members founded the ( Athletic Association of Western Universities ) ( AAWU ) in 1959 , and went by the names Big Five , Big Six , Pacific - 8 , Pacific - 10 , becoming the Pacific - 12 in 2011 . The " Conference of Champions , " the Pac - 12 has won more NCAA National Team Championships than any other conference in history ; the three schools with the most NCAA team championships belong to the Pac - 12 ( UCLA , Stanford and USC , in that order ) . With Arizona State ' s softball title in 2011 , the conference won its 400th NCAA Championship . The current commissioner of the conference is Larry Scott who replaced Thomas C . Hansen , who retired in July 2009 after 26 years in that position . Prior to joining the Pac - 10 , Scott was Chairman and CEO of the Women ' s Tennis Association . Membership . Affiliate members . The San Diego State men ' s soccer program will leave the Pac - 12 for the Big West Conference in 2015 , two years after it rejoins that conference as a full member . Former members . No school has left the Pac - 12 since its founding as the AAWU in 1959 . Two members of the PCC never joined the AAWU . History . Pacific Coast Conference . The roots of the Pacific - 12 Conference go back to December 2 , 1915 , when the Pacific Coast Conference ( PCC ) was founded at a meeting at the Imperial Hotel in Portland , Oregon . Charter members were the University of California ( now University of California , Berkeley ) , the University of Washington , the University of Oregon , and Oregon Agricultural College ( now Oregon State University ) . The conference began play in 1916 . One year later , Washington State College ( now Washington State University ) joined the league , followed by Stanford University in 1918 . In 1922 , the PCC expanded to eight teams with the admission of USC and Idaho . Montana joined the Conference in 1924 , and in 1928 , the PCC grew to 10 members with the addition of UCLA . For many years , the conference split into two divisions for basketball ( and baseball ) — a Southern Division comprising the four California schools and a Northern Division comprising the six schools in the Pacific Northwest . In 1950 , Montana departed to join the Mountain States Conference . The PCC continued as a nine - team league through 1958 . AAWU ( Big Five and Big Six ) . Following a " pay - for - play " scandal at several PCC institutions ( specifically California , USC , UCLA and Washington ) , the PCC disbanded in 1959 . When those four and Stanford started talking about forming a new conference , retired Admiral Thomas J . Hamilton interceded and suggested the schools consider creating a " power conference . " Nicknamed the " Airplane Conference " , the five PCC schools would have played with other big schools including Army , Navy , Air Force , Notre Dame , Penn , Penn State , Duke , and Georgia Tech among others . The effort fell through when a Pentagon official vetoed the idea and the service academies backed out . On July 1 , 1959 the new Athletic Association of Western Universities was formed , with California , Stanford , UCLA , USC , and Washington as charter members . The conference also was popularly known as the Big Five from 1960 to 1962 ; when Washington State joined in 1962 , the conference was then informally known as the Big Six . Pacific - 8 . Oregon and Oregon State joined in 1964 . With the addition of the two Oregon schools , the conference became known unofficially as the Pacific - 8 ( as there already was a Big Eight Conference ) . Idaho was never invited to join the AAWU ; the Vandals were independent for four years until the formation of the Big Sky Conference in 1963 . In 1968 , the AAWU formally renamed itself the Pacific - 8 Conference , or Pac - 8 for short . The Pac - 8 did not allow a second bowl team from the conference until 1975 . Pacific - 10 . In 1978 , the conference added WAC schools Arizona and Arizona State , to create the Pacific - 10 Conference or Pac - 10 . In 1986 , the Pac - 10 began sponsoring women ' s athletics . Prior to this time members ' women ' s teams competed with other large universities on the Pacific coast in either the Northern Pacific Conference or the Western Collegiate Athletic Association . In the mid - 1990s the conference expressed interest in admitting the University of Colorado , as well as the University of Texas after the collapse of the Southwest Conference . Texas expressed an interest in joining a strong academic conference , but joined three fellow SWC schools ( Texas A & M , Texas Tech , and Baylor ) to combine with the Big Eight Conference to form the Big 12 Conference in 1996 . Colorado elected at the time to remain in the newly - formed Big 12 Conference . Before the addition of Colorado and Utah in 2011 , only one Division I conference , the Ivy League , had maintained its membership for a longer time than the Pac - 10 . Commissioner Larry Scott said on February 9 , 2010 , that the window for expansion by the conference was open for the next year as the conference began negotiations for a new television deal . Speaking on a conference call to introduce former Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg as his new deputy , Scott talked about possibly adding new teams to the conference and launching a new television network . Scott , the former head of the Women ’ s Tennis Association , took over the conference in July 2009 . In his first eight months on the job , he saw growing interest from the membership over the possibility of adding teams for the first time since Arizona and Arizona State joined the conference in 1978 . Pacific - 12 . In early June 2010 , there were reports that the Pac - 10 would be considering adding up to six teams to the conference , including Texas Tech University , University of Texas at Austin , University of Oklahoma , Oklahoma State University , University of Colorado at Boulder , or possibly Baylor University and Texas A & M University . On June 10 , 2010 , the University of Colorado at Boulder officially accepted an invitation to join the Pac - 10 Conference , effective in the 2012 – 2013 academic year . The school later announced it would join the conference a year earlier than previously announced , in the 2011 - 2012 academic year . On June 15 , 2010 , a deal was reached between Texas and the Big 12 Conference to keep Texas , Texas Tech , Texas A & M , Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in the Big 12 . Following Texas ' decision , the other Big 12 schools that had been rumored candidates to join the Pac - 10 announced they would remain in the Big 12 . This deal effectively ended the Pac - 10 ' s ambition to potentially become a sixteen - team conference . On June 17 , 2010 , the University of Utah officially accepted an invitation to join the Pac - 10 Conference , effective in the 2011 – 2012 school year . Utah was a member of the WAC with Arizona and Arizona State before those two left for the Pac - 10 . The Utes joined from the Mountain West Conference . Utah is also the first " BCS Buster " to join a BCS conference , having played in ( and won ) two BCS games beforehand , and one of the first to leave the MWC , of which Utah was a charter member . On July 27 , 2010 , the conference unveiled a new logo and announced that the Pac - 10 would be renamed to the Pac - 12 when two new universities would join the conference . On October 21 , 2010 the Pac - 12 announced that it would be divided into two divisions for purposes of football , with the North Division consisting of the schools in Oregon , Washington , and Northern California and the South Division consisting of Colorado , Utah , and the schools in Arizona and Southern California . On July 1 , 2011 the Pac - 12 assumed its current alignment when both Colorado and Utah officially joined as full members . To this day , the Pac - 12 claims the PCC ' s history as its own . It inherited the PCC ' s berth in the Rose Bowl , and the eight largest schools in the old PCC all eventually joined the new league . However , the older league had a separate charter . The Pac - 12 is one of the founding members of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation , a conference organized to provide competition in non - revenue Olympic sports . All Pac - 12 members participate in at least one MPSF sport ( men ' s and women ' s indoor track and field both actually have enough participating Pac - 12 schools for the conference to sponsor a championship , but the Pac - 12 has opted not to do so ) , and for certain sports , the Pac - 12 admits certain schools as Associate Members . Membership timeline . NCAA national titles . These totals do not include football national championships , which the NCAA does not officially declare at the FBS level . Various polls , formulas , and other third - party systems have been used to determine national championships , not all of which are universally accepted . USC claims 11 national football championships , California claims 5 , Washington claims 2 , and Colorado , Stanford , and UCLA each claim 1 . Football . Each of the 10 schools that were conference members before 2011 has its own in - state , conference rivalry . One is an intracity rivalry ( UCLA - USC ) , and another is within the same metropolitan area ( California - Stanford ) . The two schools that joined in 2011 were historic rivals in the Rocky Mountain region . These rivalries ( and the name given to the football forms ) are : The two newest members , Colorado and Utah , have a football rivalry as well that had been dormant since 1962 - both were conference rivals previously in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference ( now a Division II conference ) , and later the now - defunct Mountain States Conference ( also known as the Skyline Conference ) . Even after Colorado joined what became the Big 12 in 1948 ( the conference was then known popularly as the Big 7 Conference ) , the two schools continued their football rivalry for over a decade before ending it after the 1962 season . With the two schools being placed in the same division for football starting in 2011 , the rivalry was revived with their 58th meeting during the 2011 Pac - 12 season . Colorado leads the series 31 – 24 – 3 . There are other notable football rivalries within the Pac - 12 . All of the California schools consider each other major rivals , due to the culture clash between Northern and Southern California . For USC , the big game is UCLA . For Stanford , their big game is California . But for both Stanford and California , their second biggest game is USC . California and UCLA have a rivalry rooted in their shared history as the top programs within the University of California system . Stanford and USC have a rivalry rooted in their shared history as the only private schools in the Pac - 12 . California and USC also have a long history , having played each other every year in football since 1916 . Oregon , Oregon State , Washington , and Washington State all consider each other major rivals due to the proximity and long history . The Oregon - Washington rivalry is sometimes referred to as the Border War . Arizona and New Mexico have a recently renewed rivalry game , based upon when they were both members of the WAC and both states were longtime territories before being admitted as states in 1912 . They played for the Kit Carson Rifle trophy , which was no longer used starting with their meeting in the 1997 Insight Bowl . USC and Notre Dame have an intersectional rivalry ( See Notre Dame – USC rivalry ) . The games in odd - numbered years in Indiana are played in mid - October , while the games in even - numbered years in Los Angeles are usually played in late November . The isolated rural campuses of Washington State and Idaho are eight miles ( 13 km ) apart on the Palouse , creating a natural border war . Idaho rejoined FBS in 1996 ; the football rivalry has been dubbed Battle of the Palouse . Utah and BYU have a fierce rivalry that goes back to 1896 that until recently was an inter - conference rivalry nicknamed the Holy War . With the NCAA permanently approving 12 - game schedules in college football beginning in 2006 , the Pac - 10 — alone among major conferences in doing so — went to a full nine - game conference schedule . Previously , the schools did not play one non - rival opponent , resulting in an eight - game conference schedule ( four home games and four away ) . In 2010 , the last season before the arrival of Colorado and Utah , the only other BCS conference that played a round - robin schedule was the Big East . The schedule consisted of one home and away game against the two schools in each region , plus the game against the primary rival . Divisions . On October 21 , 2010 the Pacific - 10 announced the football divisions to be used when Utah and Colorado move from the Mountain West Conference and Big 12 Conference respectively , forming the new Pac - 12 effective July 1 , 2011 . Divided into " North " and " South " divisions , each has the following schools in the divisions only for football - - a North Division comprising the Pacific Northwest and Bay Area schools , and a South Division comprising the Mountain Time Zone and Southern California schools . However , the four California schools ( gray background below ) will still play each other every season . A nine - game conference schedule is being maintained , with five matches within the assigned division and four matches from the opposite division . The four California teams will play each other every season . Thus , the four non - California teams in each division will only play one of the two California teams from the opposite division each year , facing the same school every other year on average . The Pacific - 12 Football Championship Game features the North Division Champion against the South Division Champion . The divisional champions are determined based on record in all conference games ( both divisional and cross - divisional ) . The Championship Game is played at the home stadium of the divisional champion with the best record in all conference games " ( both divisional and cross - divisional ) " . Bowl games . The following is the current bowl selection order and the teams involved in each bowl : Rivalries in other sports . All of the intra - conference rivalries in football are carried over into other sports . During the 1970s , UCLA and Notre Dame had an intense men ' s basketball rivalry . For several years , it was one of a small number of non - conference games in Division I basketball that was played twice a season ( home - and - away ) . The most famous game in the rivalry was on January 19 , 1974 , when Notre Dame scored the last 12 points of the game to nip UCLA and end the Bruins ' record 88 - game winning streak . This rivalry is now dormant , partly because Notre Dame is no longer independent in sports other than football ( Big East ) . In baseball , there are intense rivalries between the four southern schools . Arizona , Arizona State , and USC have long and successful histories in baseball and all have won national titles in the sport . The most intense series is widely regarded to be the " Basebrawl " series between USC and Arizona State in 1990 . Arizona State swept the series and in the final game a bench clearing brawl spread quickly to the stands and made national headlines . Several were injured and riot police were called to end the fracas . Washington and California have a longstanding rivalry in men ' s crew as the two traditionally dominant programs on the West Coast . Due to the unique geographic nature of the Pac - 12 teams , the teams travel in pairs for road basketball games . For example , on Thursday , February 28 , 2008 , USC played Arizona and UCLA played Arizona State . Two nights later the teams switched and USC played Arizona State and UCLA played Arizona . The teams are paired as follows : USC and UCLA ( the L . A . teams ) , Arizona and Arizona State ( the Arizona teams ) , California and Stanford ( the Bay Area teams ) , Washington and Washington State ( the Washington teams ) , Oregon and Oregon State ( the Oregon teams ) , and Colorado and Utah ( the Rocky Mountain teams ) . Usually , the games are played on Thursdays and Saturdays with a game or occasionally two on Sundays for television purposes . This pairing formula is also used in women ' s volleyball . To make scheduling simpler for men and women ' s basketball ( a sport in which each conference member uses a single venue for both teams ' home games ) , the schedule for women ' s basketball is the opposite of the men ' s schedule . For example , when the Oregon schools are hosting the men ' s teams from the Arizona schools , the Arizona schools host the women ' s teams from Oregon schools the same weekend . This formula has made a tradition in conference play to keep track of how a team does against a particular region ; and stats are kept at to how successful a team is against , for example , " the Bay Area schools " at home or away . Effective in the 2011 - 12 season , with the expansion into 12 teams , a 10 - year rotation model has been developed to maintain the existing 18 - game conference schedule . Teams remained paired with their regional rival . Each school plays its regional rival and six other teams both home and away , and the other four teams once - two at home and two away . The newest members , Colorado and Utah , are paired with each other . The single play opponents rotate every two years . Academics . Eight of the twelve member schools are members of the Association of American Universities ( AAU ) : The only FBS conference with more AAU members is the Big Ten with 11 out of 12 member institutions having AAU membership . Additionally , these member schools are also highly ranked nationally and globally by various groups , including the Academic Ranking of World Universities ( ARWR ) and QS World University Rankings ( QS ) . As of 2011 , four Pac - 12 institutions are ranked in the top 20 universities in the world , the most out of all conferences outside the Ivy League with Stanford ranked 2nd , UC Berkeley ranked 4th ( the highest ranking of any public university ) , UCLA ranked 12th , and the University of Washington ranked at 16th .