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Pac-12 Movie Moments: What Movies, Movie Star Alums and Movie Scenes Best Represent the Pac-12?

Some legendary movies have been shot on Pac-12 campuses.

Chris Graythen

One of the most culturally and geographically conferences in the country, the Pac-12 schools are loaded with notable alumni in pretty much all walks of life and breathtaking campuses. So it should be surprised that the Pac-12 schools are loaded with alumni that have went onto successful movie careers, well-known movies that were shot on their campus and general movie scenes that harkens to Pac-12 schools.

So who are the defining Pac-12 movie star alumni? Or the defining movies that were shot on Pac-12 campuses, are about Pac-12 schools, have characters that are said to be alumni of Pac-12 schools in them or are simply related to them in some way - anything is fair game.

Here are my takes, and I would love to see yours in the comments.

Arizona

Revenge of the Nerds - Animal House wasn't the only quintessential college comedy shot on a Pac-12 campus, as the first movie that seemed to portray nerds in a positive light (Maybe it was well ahead of its time?), was shot on Arizona's campus. Also, there is football players, and one of the main characters is played by a guy named Larry Scott.

Arizona State

Nick Nolte - Nolte was a versatile athlete who actually at one point ended up on the Sun Devils on a football scholarship before pursuing acting full-time. Nolte also delivered the best speech ever in a college sports movie ever in the press conference scene towards the end of Blue Chips that I think in a perfect world is what John Calipari would say after each time he wins a national championship.

Cal

Dr. Emmett Brown - Christopher Lloyd's legendary character from the Back to the Future series was said to have graduated from Cal, and if he was a real person he assuredly would be utilized to go back in time to find a way to avoid giving Jeff Tedford major extensions in the 2000s.

Colorado

Trey Parker & Matt Stone - They were also my choice for the Pac-12 Battle of the Bands, and the Colorado alums could probably make a hilarious musical comedy that makes light of how moribund the Buffs football program has become.

Oregon

Animal House - A no-brainer here. History's most legendary college movie was shot in Eugene on Oregon's campus and has forever been

Oregon State

Randy Couture - The UFC champion was working as a wrestling coach at Oregon State when he went into MMA and recently started debuting his acting chops in auteur cinema like The Expendables movies.

Stanford

Orange County - The Cardinal have an overwhelming wealth of great alumni to choose from (Roger Corman, Sigourney Weaver, Ray Dolby, Jennifer Connelly), but I'll go with the early-2000s quasi-comedy because Stanford is a major plot point in the movie and numerous scenes are supposed to take place there.

Honorable mention - It was claimed by Ace Ventura that he was a Stanford alum, but it was unclear if that was actually true.

UCLA

Blue Chips - Predictably, tons of alumni to choose from here (Francis Ford Coppola, James Dean, James Franco, Tim Robbins, Sean Astin, Jack Black), but I'm going to go with one of my favorite movies of all time, Blue Chips. Blue Chips obviously wasn't officially involved with UCLA or specifically based on UCLA basketball, but everything from locale to colors suggested that the Western University Dolphins were basically the UCLA Bruins.

USC

John Wayne & Will Ferrell - Have to go with a tie here with The Duke, who actually played football for USC, and Ferrell who is an alum and has been an incredibly entertaining fan for the Trojans for years now.

Utah

Orson Scott Card - A bit of a reach here, but Utah alum, Card wrote Enders Game, which will be a big time movie starring Harrison Ford that will be released this winter.

Washington

The Sixth Man - This Marlon Wayans-fronted comedy borrows a bit seriously is based around a basketball-playing ghost that turns the Huskies into national champions, and as ridiculous as that sounds, it's just about as plausible as any other situation I can imagine that would result in the Huskies cutting down the nets.

Washington State

Ivan Drago - The man who played one of the most bad ass characters in the history of sports movies, Dolph Lundgren, briefly attended Washington State on an exchange program.