In August, Washington became one of 10 schools to flee the Pac-12. The university then spearheaded the legal defense for departing programs in a lawsuit over control of the soon-to-be-defunct conference.

But now, UW is being universally celebrated as the title game representative for the conference it helped destroy.

The Pac-12 has not been represented in the national championship since Oregon lost to Ohio State following the 2014 season, and the conference has not produced a champion since USC in 2004. If the Huskies upset Michigan, they could very likely be the conference’s last College Football Playoff national champion.

Commissioner George Kliavkoff has barely said a word since the conference broke up this summer, and he did not even attend the in-person hearings over the Pac-12’s future this fall. But he finally spoke up after Washington beat Texas in the Sugar Bowl on Monday, telling Yahoo Sports: “Happy for the kids. They don’t deserve all the nonsense going on around them.” He added: “If some of our schools would have been a little more patient, it would have paid off.”