PAC 12 cream of the crop in final season as conference
Over the summer, the college sports world was turned upside down when the Pac-12 all but imploded.
Ten of its teams announced plans to bolt to either the Big Ten, Big 12 or ACC, leaving only the Oregon State Beavers and Washington State Cougars, two teams that weren’t highly touted coming in to the season. More on that later.
California and Stanford are headed to the Eastern Seaboard, which makes the least sense of any of the moves.
Colorado is headed back to its old home in the Big 12, along with Arizona, Arizona State and Utah.
USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon are all Big Ten bound, orphaning the Beavers and the Cougars and ending the so-called ‘conference of champions’ as we know it at the end of the 2023-24 academic year.
But the swan song for the Pac-12 has been a helluva tune so far.
After Week 4 of the 2023 campaign, the league had six of its teams ranked in the Coaches Poll, which USC (No. 6), Washington (No. 8), Oregon (No.8) and Utah (No. 9) all rated among the nation’s elite. The Cougars were ranked 17th after they edged the Beavers in the league opener for both teams in Week 4. Oh, Oregon State sits as the No. 21 team in the country despite losing the “Pac-2” de facto title game on national television.
In the SEC, Alabama fell out of the Top-10 for the first time since 2015 after struggling and looking downright ordinary against Middle Tennessee and South Florida. Alabama also lost at home to Texas, which will join the SEC next year. It was Nick Saban’s first double-digit home loss as the Tide’s head coach. Longhorn coach Steve Sarkisian defeated his mentor in the contest, becoming only the second former Saban assistant to defeat his former boss, joining Georgia’s Kirby Smart.
Former Saban assistant Lane Kiffin failed to defeat his old boss as Alabama knocked off Ole Miss in Week 4’s conference opener for both schools and Alabama looked as if it might have righted the ship in some ways.
Things appear a bit upside down in the SEC and ACC. As of press time, Kentucky and Missouri are on top of the SEC East along with Georgia and Florida. The Bulldogs are distant favorites, but they have not looked like the teams of the recent past. While it still sits atop the polls, Georgia does not resemble the teams that won back-to-back titles and struggled against South Carolina before pulling away in the second half. Still, UGA possesses the most hope for a playoff berth.
In the SEC West, Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Auburn have already been pinned with early losses.
One positive note for Mizzou is that the Tigers picked up a recent signature win when they toppled Kansas State at home earlier this season. Tennessee struggled yet again in the swamp and has an identity crisis of sorts on the offensive side of the ball (check Wil Wright’s story on the issue at www.blank.news).
Quarterback play is down across the board in the SEC, and for that reason the rest of the country has its best chance of dethroning the conference for the first time since the playoffs began determining the champion.
In the ACC, the Miami Hurricanes appear to be back and are ranked in the Coaches Poll after knocking off the Clemson Tigers on Labor Day. In its last few marquee games, Clemson has lost to South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida State and Duke, dating back to 2022.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, have knocked off Texas A&M, meaning there could be trouble for Jimbo Fisher, Bobby Petrino and the gang in College Station. The Aggies, however, bounced back to take down Auburn on Sept. 23. The Aggies travel to Knoxville on October 14th in what could be a season-turning game for each team.
One final thought on the Pac-12, Colorado has become the national darling thanks to their new head coach Deion Sanders and his brash attitude. His approach to the game is as divisive as any in college football history and initially it looked to be working when the Buffaloes won a trio of thrillers against TCU, Nebraska and Colorado State.
It didn’t last, however, and Oregon handed the Buffalos a 42-6 loss in Eugene in the Pac-12 opener for both schools. The contest wasn’t close and things will only get tougher for Coach Prime as Colorado navigates a conference schedule that still has games against USC, UCLA, Utah, Oregon State and Washington State and the two Arizona schools to come. The Buffs avoid Washington and play Stanford, so things aren’t as difficult as they could be. Still, they find themselves in the middle of the pack in the PAC 12 after going 1-11 last season. Like it or not, Sanders’ way has made an impact on what has become the nations’ best conference.
These are only a few of the compelling early stories for the first quarter of the season.
We have three quarters left and the only certain thing is uncertainty.
Biggest win this year thus far: This one’s easy. Ohio State’s signature road comeback victory over Notre Dame at in South Bend has to be it. The Buckeyes, who rarely leave Ohio for non-conference games, left their comfort zone and came back home with a last-second 17-14 win. The Buckeyes and Irish renew acquaintances from time to time. But the Irish haven’t won in the rivalry since a 7-2 victory in 1936 when Franklin Roosevelt was president.
Most surprising wins: Missouri over K-State and Fresno State over Purdue and Duke over Clemson.
Advice for fans: Enjoy this madness while you can. It can get much crazier than this until the hoopsters take center stage in March.
And hey, we’ll probably talk again around Thanksgiving.
