Pac-12-related 30 For 30 ideas

30s for 30s are one of the unquestioned best things about ESPN but as a Pac-12 fan, I do feel like topics that have anything to do with the conference have yet to be featured. I would love to see the series do some Pac-12-related topics (in any way at all) and I have some ideas for ones that would be amazing.

Some of these are direct Pac-12 stories, some just connected to the Pac-12 because they involve alumni, but they all contain the Pac-12 somehow.

I know that there are a ton of other ideas out there, so please put any other ideas in the comments.

1. "The Price of Destiny"

This story would have broken the Internet "Lenay Kekua" style if it happened now. Mike Price got hired away from Pullman and into one of the biggest positions in college sports, but blew it before he even coached a game in a super bizarre and racy incident surrounding a strip club, hookers and a lot of booze. The story has every human emotion imaginable and could also tie in how Price's exit also fed into the downfall of the Washington State program.

2. "Scoreboard, Baby"

This one has excellent source material, the book Scoreboard Baby, which tells the unbelievable story of the 2000 Washington Huskies Rose Bowl team. The season was a tear-jerking fairy tale on the surface with an underdog team winning the Pac-12 and Rose Bowl with miraculous comeback after miraculous comeback, upsetting an all-time great Miami team and honoring a teammate who would be mortally injured in a game mid-season. However, peeling away the surface revealed that the team was full of stories that were far from family friendly and whose damage ultimately ended up playing a part in destroying the program.

This could also head into the direction of how Hope Solo and unfortunate former Husky Jerramy Stevens to create a couple that every Cougar and Duck fan should appoint as the spokes couple for Washington.

3. "O"

Similar to "The U," this would tell the story of how Oregon and Phil Knight took a college football program that had almost nothing going for it and turned it into a perennial powerhouse and name brand. From Knight and Nike's involvement, the Rich Brooks to the Mike Bellotti to the Chip Kelly years and Oregon's ultimate ascension this 30 for 30 would we loaded with flash, intrigue and a little bit of the controversy that has surrounded the program the past 15 years.

4. "The David Kopay Story"

An All-American running back at Washington, Kopay was one of the very first professional athletes to ever come out as gay. This would chronicle Kopay's years playing sports while closeted along with his eventual coming out, his struggles to break into football coaching due to what he believes was a bias against his sexuality and his eventual donation to the "Q" center at Washington.

5. "The Play"

College football's most replayed play, simply known as "The Play" which we all have seen a million times doesn't even need to be explained here. The Play has been chronicled a lot, but I feel like with the crazy nature of the play, the numerous people involved and the controversy there are a lot of inventive ways that it could be approached.

6. "Returning the Heisman"

This would chronicle USC's majestic return to epic success under Pete Carroll in the 2000s and its ultimate demise and embarrassment due to the Reggie Bush scandal.

7. "The Tillman Tunnel"

The Pat Tillman story seems like a no brainer for a 30 For 30 or an American Sniper-style biopic, but the fact that neither has happened makes me assume that the Tillman family might not be interested. If it is possible, Tillman's story is more than deserving of a 30 For 30 treatment.

8. "A Dozen"

Maybe this isn't quite as harrowing as I imagine it or maybe it would just be about conference expansion in general, but I would love a behind-the-scenes-type 30 For 30 that tells the true story of how the Pac-10 became the Pac-12. At one point it looked like the Big 12 and Pac-12 were going to form a super conference, at one point there would be no expansion - how did this all play out and end with Colorado and Utah added to the conference?

9. "Coug It"

Maybe this isn't as big outside of Washington, but the fact that a programs ability to snatch failure from the jaws of victory has been so consistent it has drawn its own term is worthy of a Pac-12 30 For 30.

10. "Bear Down"

These two words printed on Arizona's field have long confused Pac-12 fans. It is essentially the West Coast version of "Win One For The Gipper" and its story needs to be told.

11. "The Wooden Pyramid"

Pretty easy to explain, the best coach in the history of sports who put together arguably the greatest dynasty of sports all-time who also created numerous life principles and philosophies that have spread outside of the world of sports.

12. "The Fifth Down"

How does Colorado football go from winning a national championship to becoming one of the worst programs in a major conference in less than 20 years?