The feather in the cap of a college football team’s season is a bowl victory at the end of the year, a victory that elevates the conference and galvanizes the fan base. But even sweeter is the pride and achievement of making and winning a College Football Playoff game.
Unfortunately, fans of the PAC-12 will not be represented in the final four again (or at least not for a painfully long time).
Why, you ask? Why, when the team has sent two programs to the playoff already? Why, when the conference consistently has teams ranked in the top 10 of the country? Why, despite talent spilling into the NFL from the PAC-12 every single draft? Why, when a Power Five conference should always be in a position to find a spot among the final four?
Because the Pac-12 conference has excelled at cannibalizing the top teams with the best chances of playoff glory, thanks to a potent concoction of top-level quarterback talent across the mediocre and bad teams of the PAC-12, creating a perilous gauntlet for those in pursuit of perfection.
What’s worse, the bad teams only get up for the cream of the PAC-12, leaving the strength of schedule for playoff contenders like the Oregon Ducks or Washington Huskies seemingly lopsided.
But take a look at some of these signal-callers: Justin Herbert (Oregon Ducks), Jacob Eason (Washington Huskies), Anthony Gordon (Washington State Cougars), K.J. Costello (Stanford Cardinal), Khalil Tate (Arizona Wildcats), the list goes on and on. Each worthy of a career after college. Each enjoying varying degrees of team success.
Great quarterbacks do make in-conference battles entertaining, but ultimately detrimental to the case some teams are trying to make.
For example, WSU was in the top 25 early in the season, but a loss to the UCLA Bruins derailed any case the program could make for even a late bowl bid. Familiar foes causing trouble for the top teams is a common occurrence in the PAC-12.
“Well, maybe you should beat the bad teams,” said some dumb football fan who doesn’t watch any game that starts after 6:30.
It is a lot easier to beat a Miami or a Tennessee (two of the many rudderless ships in the ACC and SEC) than it is to beat USC. Think about it: USC’s third-string QB (Matt Fink), tossed for over 300 yards against a ranked Utah Utes team.
Obviously, there are 21 other positions on the field outside of QB that need to step up to win a football game. But college football is brimming with receiving talent, bragging about that is like bragging about toes, everyone has them. And everyone outside of Ohio State has a secondary that quarterbacks can move the ball on, even if your program has only half an offensive line.
Let’s be honest, if you have a talented passer, you have won half the battle in college, and the PAC-12 keeps landing studs who are good for 300+ when they hit the turf.
This article is not about making excuses or even complaining. Every team for the past six years has earned a spot in the final four, just like the four that will make it this year.
The thing that is to the utter detriment of the PAC-12 is also why it is so fascinatingly entertaining: every Saturday, someone can tumble to anyone.
But it is worth remembering that the PAC-12 eats its own like no other conference. Ohio State has dogged teams like Northwestern and Nebraska for much of the year. Clemson’s conference slate is a joke. Even the SEC has a crop of real creampuffs at the bottom of the conference (I see you, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt). Not for the PAC-12. This is the conference where the middling teams are WSU or Stanford.
And that is to say nothing of the travel. What other conference would stick you in the mountains, before launching you into the heat of the desert, just to toss you into a Northwest rain storm all in a matter of weeks?
The PAC-12 has made itself a frightful bed, one that is not conducive to produce a college playoff resume, at least not the type sought by the committee.
Comments
Oh it can happen
All that needs to happen is for a team to lose one game. That’s happened a couple of times already. It won’t always be the case that there is parity around "good" to the degree that it prevents anyone from being great. College football cycles talent every year or two and things change. We will produce a one-loss team eventually and it will be in the playoff with one loss.
What we are missing is an anchor team, and that will always make us the red-headed stepchild of the power 5, each of whom has a strong, legitimate anchor program. So for us it’s always about whether one of the teams will find a way to get to one loss, and not which of the top couple of teams will. Harder for us because we have no one truly outstanding program, and that doesn’t seem like it will change for numerous reasons that have been discussed at nauseam here and elsewhere.
By Brendan Ross on 11.02.19 8:03am
How do the best Pac 12 teams do outside the conference?
If they dominate or even stay competitive with the Clemsons, Alabamas, and Ohio States of the world, then I think the conference is worthy of a playoff representative.
But my impression (and it’s just an impression — no statistical evidence) is that the Pac 12 just doesn’t put a very good football product out there. People who are more knowledgeable than I can tell us why, but honestly: over the past few years (since Washington made an appearance), have there been any Pac 12 teams you missed having in the playoff — a deserving squad that got access out because of the relative parity in the conference? I can’t think of any.
By g8tgod on 11.02.19 8:22am
Aced out -- not accesed
Typing on a phone sucks — as does the time limit for editing one’s post. What’s up with that?
By g8tgod on 11.02.19 8:25am
Agree With Brendan
An undefeated Pac 12 team gets in, as well as possibly a one loss team (depending on the loss, records of other conference champs, SOS, etc.). The problem is that many of the top Pac 12 teams (not you Washington) play some serious teams out of conference – risking losses that many top teams from other conferences pass on. A loss always trumps the SOS bump.
When was the last time a PAC 12 team UPSET (or frankly, just beat) a top 10 team from another conference? Like Notre Dame, it seems like we lose a lot of these games which makes it hard to build a case for inclusion absent perfection.
I am not sure that I subscribe to the uber parity of the Pac 12 and the cannibalization which results – as compared to other conferences. But the point about QBs is fair. There are players out there on lesser teams that can light it up.
By hoyaparanoia on 11.02.19 9:02am
Sorry, can't agree with this
But for a fourth quarter meltdown, Oregon would be a top 4 team. It can still get in this year if it wins out. SC is just a good head coach away from putting together a playoff team in the future. Notre Dame has gotten in and it recruits pretty much the same players as Stanford. (Stanford by the way, could have a playoff caliber offense next year, if Little, Sarell, and Hamilton return. The Card’s defense unfortunately is another story.)
The biggest obstacle to the PAC 12 ranking is ESPN. Once it signed a contract with the SEC, the football universe changed. Now you see mediocre teams in that conference over hyped so as to make the games broadcast on ESPN look like match ups between two ranked teams. I watched a bit of the Florida v. Georgia game today and Florida’s QB wouldn’t start on many Pac 12 teams. And the much ballyhooed Jake Fromme from Georgia isn’t all that much better.
Another problem is that high school recruits watch ESPN in part because it is ubiquitous. As is the BTN (Big Ten Network). The PAC 12 network is not on Direct TV or on many cable networks. If you can saturate the network with PAC 12 games, the schools will get more recruits.
By SU74 on 11.02.19 3:32pm
loled at the title of this article.
i agree that the pac 12 won’t be in the cfp anytime soon. but it’s not (just) because of cannibalization. it’s because the schools in the conference just aren’t that good. every major game against other conferences – losses.
i for one am happier seeing the pac 12 get left out of the playoffs, because all they do is get embarrassed when someone makes it in.
By hutre67 on 11.03.19 9:01pm