Oregon head coach Dan Lanning isn't going to miss Colorado when it leaves the Pac-12 for the Big 12 at the end of this season. To him, the Buffaloes aren't a significant subtraction.
Full quote from Dan Lanning on his reaction to Colorado leaving the conference:
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) July 31, 2023
"Not a big reaction. I'm trying to remember what they won to affect this conference and I don't remember. Do you remember them winning anything? I don't remember them winning anything." https://t.co/Kdtf9xgayo pic.twitter.com/XETU03B0Cj
His sharp, dismissive comments — while brutal — aren't inaccurate. Colorado is 48-94 (.338) overall since joining the Pac-12 and has only one season with more than three conference wins.
It is poor timing for the conference that Buffaloes are leaving after an offseason when they finally began trending upward. They have their highest profile since becoming a Pac-12 member thanks to having head coach Deion Sanders in the mix. Whether that leads to the program returning to respectability on the field remains to be seen.
The team's undergone unprecedented roster changes and there's no telling how long it will take for all the pieces to coalesce into a winner. It's probably going to take longer than one offseason for Sanders to fix the program, meaning Lanning might not see Colorado win much in its last year in the same conference as Oregon, either.
At one time, Colorado was a powerhouse in college football. From 1989-2002, it had six 10-win seasons, with a national title in 1990. But that was when it was a member of the Big 8 and Big 12, well before it joined the Pac-12 in 2011.
Its time with the conference was one to forget. Lanning already has.
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