Since August, when the breakup of the Pac-12 took place, denizens of Beaver Nation have been in the midst of a nightmare. They can’t wake up.

In June of 2022, UCLA and Southern Cal announce they are leaving the conference, but there are still 10 teams. In late July of 2023, Colorado pulls out. The other nine members pledge to stick together. One for all; all for one. Add San Diego State, perhaps, and it becomes the Pac-10 again.

A week later, Oregon and Washington flee to the Big Ten, and the exodus begins. Boom!

The Ducks and Huskies are promised 50 percent in Big Ten media rights, plus a $1 million annual escalator, just half of the roughly $60 million take by the other Big Ten schools. (Oregon and UW are promised full shares when the next TV deal is signed several years in the future.) Four other Pac-12 schools announce they are heading to the Big 12.

Finally, Stanford and California leave for the ACC for no media rights. Zippo.

The wisdom of such moves is negligible. Bad on you, Pac-12 presidents, for so many reasons.

Oregon State and Washington State remain. It doesn’t look good for either school. It appears the only avenue available will be to join with the Mountain West in some capacity. As the season starts, I write that freshman QB sensation Aiden Chiles didn’t come to Oregon State to play in the Mountain West. I’m also wondering if Coach Jonathan Smith will remain aboard what looks like a sinking ship.

Behind the scenes, we learn later, Smith makes a “four-month” pledge with his players to concentrate solely on the season, to control what they can control. The Beavers are good, too, running up an 8-2 record and a No. 10 national ranking before sellout crowds at revamped Reser Stadium, with the student section jammed every game.

In November, Oregon State and Washington win a court case, gaining a preliminary injunction to give the two schools the sole voting rights and potential access to more than $400 million in Pac-12 properties. Though a higher court subsequently overturned the injunction — OSU and Wazzu’s side has appealed the overturn — there is optimism in Beaver Nation that the schools will ultimately win, allowing them to continue to fully fund their programs for a two-year period during which they can maintain the Pac-12 brand and add schools to make it whole again.

Maybe there will be a silver lining to all of this, Beaver fans think. At least we still have Coach Smith.

The Beavers lose a close one, 22-20, to No. 5-ranked Washington and begin preparation for a Civil War matchup with No. 6 Oregon. During the week, it is reported Smith is the No. 1 candidate for the vacant Michigan State job. Asked about by media, Smith doesn’t do what Oregon coach Dan Lanning has done — state emphatically that he’s not interested in leaving his school.

“I’ve got an agent who has a job,” Smith says. “He best be finding out what is out there, and people calling.”

Uh oh.

Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes attempts to assuage the fears of the Beaver faithful, issuing a statement that he and the coach had been having “ongoing conversations for more than a month regarding his future at Oregon State and our path forward for football. … he has embraced our short- and long-term plans. My No. 1 priority is providing him with a new contract and guaranteed compensation that will help continue the success of the football program … we have also discussed our commitment to extending assistant coaches’ contracts and increasing the salary pool for his staff.” Right.

Two days later, rumors are rampant that Smith will accept the job at Michigan State. In Eugene, Oregon buries the Beavers 31-7. After the game, when asked by media if he has interviews for the job with the Spartans, Smith deflects it by saying “a decision hasn’t been made” on his future.

The next morning, he leaves on a chartered flight from Corvallis with more than half of his coaching staff bound for East Lansing. Bye bye, Beavers. Bam!

At the same post-game conference, quarterback DJ Uiagalelei is asked if he will participate in Oregon State’s bowl game, whatever that should be.

“Right now, yeah,” DJ nods, adding to the theme he has sung to all season, “I want to go out there and finish it out with my brothers on the team.”

Two days later, Uiagalelei is one of the first to hit the transfer portal. Pow!

Beaver fans want desperately for Chiles to stay. Some of them donate to the collective “Dam Nation” in his honor. They are encouraged when Chiles takes part in the first practice for the bowl game.

On Monday, he enters the portal, no doubt headed for Michigan State. Bop!

It appears Oregon State is bound for the Holiday Bowl, perhaps to play Clemson. It’s a game and a city (San Diego) Beaver Nation is excited about. Then comes word the Beavers will play in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, against Notre Dame. Ouch!

At least their running game will be by led by two-time all-conference back Damien Martinez, right? Wrong. Martinez is ruled out of the bowl game after a DUII arrest. Doh! Also choosing not to play is All-America tackle Taliese Fuaga, projected to be a first-round draft pick, and receiver Anthony Gould, who says he is going to prepare for the NFL (Come on, Anthony!)

Meanwhile, after he arrives in East Lansing, Smith is asked by a reporter when he knew he was going to come to Michigan State. “In my mind, it’s been a long time,” he says.

In Smith’s introductory session to the Michigan State media, he is asked how much of a factor the Pac-12 breakup was in him leaving Oregon State.

“Not a major factor,” he said. Slap!

I’m pretty sure I saw Smith’s nose grow as he was talking.

Those who know him well say the conference situation was 100 percent Smith’s reason for leaving.

As I wrote last week, he had a stable program, a brand-new stadium and good facilities, was living in a city in which his children could be raised in a safe and comfortable environment.

Smith did a terrific job building Oregon State’s program from the ground up over his six years there. He was respected by his coaches and players and revered by Beaver Nation. I’m sure he is grateful for his time in Corvallis. When lobbed a softball question by an East Lansing scribe about how difficult it must have been to leave his alma mater, instead of quickly changing the subject, how hard would it have been to say something like this:

“It really was tough to go. I loved my time at Oregon State. It’s where I went to school, played football, became a man, learned the principles that made me what I am today. If not for what happened to the conference, I wouldn’t have left. We had a good thing going.”

I understand the situation Smith was in this fall. The uncertainty of everything — the court case, the conference, the 2024 schedule — made it impossible to recruit. He knew he would lose some players at season’s end. A schedule had to be in place before the Civil War game, but it wasn’t. It still hasn’t been released. I don’t blame him for leaving. I would have liked, however, to see him do it more gracefully, instead of fleeing town like Robert Irsay backing the truck up in Baltimore and taking his Colts to Indianapolis in the middle of the night.

Over the past quarter-century, Oregon State has come out of the abyss with a respectable Power Five football program after an unthinkable stretch of 28 straight losing seasons. Through no fault of its own, the strong foundation has quickly become a House of Cards.

Trent Bray to the rescue? He is no miracle worker, but I’m betting he will do a good job with what he has.

For now, he is focused on re-recruiting his players, recruiting high school and JC kids and scouring the transfer portal for help. He wishes he knew more about the future, as do all of his supporters.

There is an irony in all of this. During the season, I told friends that if Ben Gulbranson is patient, he could wind up as Oregon State’s quarterback in 2024. I didn’t expect the redshirt sophomore to be the Beavers’ signal-caller in the bowl game, though. (I had to look up whom his backup might be — either Travis Throckmorton or Dom Montiel, both redshirt freshmen.)

Bray will surely bring in a quarterback through the portal, but I hope Gulbranson — who already has his bachelor’s degree and is wrapping up his master’s in public health this fall — returns next season. Medical school can wait at least another year. You only get to play college football once. He’s a great kid who has plenty to offer any program.

I was on the sidelines in the waning moments of Oregon State’s 62-17 rout of Stanford at Reser Stadium on Nov. 11. Gulbranson — who went 7-1 as a starter in 2022 — hadn’t played all season. I was watching Smith, wondering if he was going to insert Gulbranson in the game. I saw the coach walk over and whisper something to him. Smith was asking him if he wanted to go in, giving a respected veteran the chance to pass if he felt it was beneath him. Gulbranson said sure, and played the final series of the blowout. It was something I was glad to see.

Who Gulbranson has around him in the Sun Bowl remains to be seen. In recent days, the likes of tight end Jack Velling, linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold and Akili Arnold have entered the portal. Only three coaches from the 2023 staff — Kefense Hanson, Anthony Perkins and Jake Cookus — will be coaching in El Paso along with a slew of grad assistants and analysts. Wake me up, please!

Whether you want to call it a solar-plexus shot, or a kick to the nuts, the fallout of the demise of the Pac-12 has changed the course of Oregon State football and the school’s athletic program as a whole. It’s hard to accept that there is not going to be a top-25 ranking or a major bowl game next season, but it’s a reality. Budget cuts are inevitable. The quality of athlete in most sports will suffer.

Perhaps in a few years things will swing back Oregon State’s way. I think the ACC is doomed. Within a couple of years, we’ll see three of the Power Five conference still standing — Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC. It’s very possible we’ll also see a football super conference, with perhaps 50 to 60 schools — OSU could be one of them — and more regional competition in the other sports. It makes almost too much sense, doesn’t it?

Life goes on, and Beaver athletics will endure. That doesn’t change the sadness and pain that has been experienced from a nightmare Beaver fans would like to shake out of. But they can’t wake up.

► ◄

Readers: what are your thoughts? I would love to hear them in the comments below. On the comments entry screen, only your name is required, your email address and website are optional, and may be left blank.

Follow me on X (formerly Twitter).

Like me on Facebook.

Find me on Instagram.

Be sure to sign up for my emails.