Can the PAC 12 ditch their Playoff misery

Or do they knock each other out of contention?

The PAC 12 as a collective whole has played maybe the best football in the county this season. Seven teams are currently ranked in the Top 25 and three are in the Top 10. In the past the PAC 12 has been an after thought to the SEC, Big 10 and ACC’s stranglehold on the college football playoffs. So the question needs to be asked, is the year they can break through or are they destined for one final Rose Bowl bid?

We would be remiss to not mention that this is the last season for the PAC 12 as we know it. Through conference mismanagement or whatever the conference will cease to exist as it is at the end of this season. So do they have a team that can go out in a blaze of glory and capture a National Title.

The struggle is while all of these teams look really good…. they all have to play each other. That starts this weekend with #8 Oregon traveling to Seattle to play #7 Washington. I think this may be the game that truly defines the PAC 12’s best chance for title contender. Other teams have already started to pick each other off. Washington State beat Oregon State. Utah beat UCLA. Oregon State beat Utah and UCLA beat Washington State. Besides Oregon and Washington, USC is the other undefeated team in the conference but their defense has looked shaky at best. That’s why the game in Seattle I think is the most important for the conference.

Washington and Oregon have electric offenses and have both shown that they at least have some competency on the defensive side of the ball. Michael Penix Jr and Bo Nix have proven they belong at the top of the Heisman conversation along Caleb Williams. But can the winner make it through it unscathed the rest of the season. The PAC 12’s biggest fear has to be the league cannibalizing each other. If that happens the playoff prospects will dwindle. The other thing that won’t help them is the conference does not have internal divisions which means the top 2 teams will have to play each other (probably again).

Which leads us back to Saturday and Washington and Oregon. The winner stands to be the leader for the conferences hopes. USC has to play both of these teams still so they’ll have something to say about it but their defensive shortcomings still scare me.

I find myself rooting for the PAC 12 in a weird way. As they watch the conference die I think it would be fitting to see their champ make the playoffs and make a name for themselves. It’s just a shame it came too late to hold the conference together.