Pac-12 still alive for Playoff slot
Of all the conference championship games, none has been as maligned as the one to decide the Pac-12 title.
For starters, it’s played on a Friday night in an NFL stadium in Santa Clara, California, with kickoff in direct competition with rush-hour traffic to get human beings in seats. Second, it hasn’t been a particularly high-stakes game in the College Football Playoff race. When Oregon got to the Playoff in 2014 and Washington did it in 2016, they punched their tickets in title game mismatches that quickly turned into coronations.
There’s a chance this year’s Pac-12 title game could be extremely consequential and a matchup worth watching.
It’s looking more likely Utah is going to finish the regular season 11-1 after clearing its biggest hurdle Saturday at Washington in a 33-28 win. Meanwhile, after a shaky start in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Oregon dominated Southern California in a 56-24 win and also has a favorable path to 11-1.
What does it mean? Maybe nothing, depending on what happens in other leagues, particularly in the Southeastern Conference, if Alabama and LSU play a great game Saturday that puts both in position to make the Playoff.
But it appears Utah and Oregon are on a course to play each other for a Pac-12 title while both being ranked well inside the Top 10, with the winner having one loss. Traditionally, that’s the résumé of a Playoff team. Will it be good enough? Who knows. It’s undeniable, though, that everything has fallen into place for the conference to give itself a chance and to put on an extremely relevant title game.
Other observations from Week 10:
❚ Memphis had a day to remember: From the break of dawn to sunset with a jam-packed Liberty Bowl, nobody won the weekend like Memphis. The Tigers capped it off with a 54-48 win over previously undefeated SMU and took control of the West division in the American Athletic Conference, which is a big accomplishment on its own. But in some ways, the game was a secondary story for the Tigers’ program, which was highlighted for a national audience on ESPN’s “College GameDay” like never before. Iconic Beale Street was packed for blocks with Memphis fans, making for a unique backdrop to GameDay, and the Tigers sold out a home game without help from a rival fan base like Tennessee or Mississippi for the first time in recent memory. Remember, it was only 10 years ago – Nov. 9, 2009 to be exact – that former coach Tommy West unleashed a rant shortly after getting fired about the school’s lack of commitment to the program. “Put somethin’ in it, or do away with it!” A decade later, the Tigers are on their way to a sixth straight bowl game at 8-1 and might be the driver’s seat to represent the Group of Five conferences in a New Year’s Six bowl game.
❚ USC has some clarity on the future: Let’s be real about the state of affairs at Southern California: This was always likely to be Clay Helton’s last season as the coach. But two events this weekend further clarified the Trojans’ future. On Friday, USC chose Cincinnati’s
Mike Bohn to be its next athletics director, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the school hadn’t made the announcement, which is expected to happen Monday. The second big development was USC’s 56-24 loss at home to Oregon, underscoring the desperate need for change in the football program. Bohn wasn’t hired by new USC president Carol Folt to maintain status quo. He was hired to make big changes and to put forth a plan to bring the Trojans back to national prominence. It’s been obvious for the last two years that USC is a mediocre program that doesn’t have a prayer of competing with the best of the best, but Helton’s massive extension after the 2017 season made it prohibitive to fire him. Now that USC is 5-4, things should start to move quickly.