The PAC-12: worst of the best?
The PAC-12 bowl season was a sight to behold. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did.
By: The Waco Kid
Bowl Season Grade: F
As multiple teams raced toward the playoffs there were a couple of Power 5 conferences that were competing for a different title, the Worst of the Best. Pre-Bowl season favorites consisted of the PAC-12, Big 12, and possibly B1G. The PAC-12 was all over the place this season and was unable to produce a top team even within the conference, while the Big 12 went 0-3 against the Sun Belt (I know this has been a point beaten to no end but there’s no justification). They also had mediocre teams across the board, Oklahoma started to hit their stride near the end of the season but by no means should have been considered a playoff-caliber team. The B1G had a few impressive squads but I cannot respect a conference with no morals or backbone that relied on voting for rule changes to allow a team to represent them in the playoff.
Now, post-bowl season was a whole different story, the competition for title of the worst became a close call between the ACC and PAC-12. The differentiating factor came down to the number of bowls participated in and the significance of those games. The ACC played in six bowl games, two of which were playoff games, and one which was a NY6 matchup. This was an impressive feat for any conference (outside of the SEC), in fact, there was only one conference represented more in top bowl games of the 2020 season, I bet you can figure it out with only one guess...Then there was the PAC-12 who played in two bowls both of which were against the Big 12. Colorado took on Texas in the Alamo Bowl, which was followed by “conference champion” Oregon playing Iowa State in the Fiesta Bowl. The PAC-12 brought their best performances for the lucrative trophy, “Worst of the Best.” Both CU and OU lost by double digits to teams that could not produce wins against Louisiana Lafayette, TCU, and Oklahoma State. It does not get much worse than that.
An impressive piece of hardware.
I have already written about these specific games while giving a grade to the Big 12 so I will not regurgitate the same facts I have already gone over. Bottom line Oregon and Colorado lost in an embarrassing fashion. The PAC-12 was bad, there's no way around it. They could not find a top team playing only five regular-season games and that showed in postseason competition. The one positive that can be taken away is that two out of the past three years the conference has signed the #1 overall high school player. So we can look forward to watching Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux and USC’s Korey Foreman for the next few years. Outside of those two up and coming stars the conference does not have much to build on or look forward to. I expect a hiatus, most likely blamed on outside circumstances, for the PAC-12 in playoff conversations. You cannot lose two out of three conference games to Texas and Iowa State and pretend you are relevant. If you lose to ISU and Louisiana-Lafayette beats them, does that mean the Ragin’ Cajuns deserve a shot at the national title?
The fact that I cannot find enough content to write about the PAC-12 bowl games is sad in and of itself. There were no impressive plays, no good teams, no nothing in these matchups and yet I am supposed to believe this is a Power 5 Conference? Please save me the arguments and throw these teams into the Sun Belt where they might have a shot at winning. Until then, the PAC-12 can be disregarded as a contender. Or they can join the Big 12 and become a super conference of mediocrity. I can see it now the Big PAC, all teams with two losses and wins only against sorry opponents arguing about how they are top programs in college football. Thank goodness for the ESPN’s of the world, they will at least give out multi-million dollar deals to teams that fall under this criteria. The northwest is irrelevant in college or pro football until proven otherwise.
Gavel slam, that's the verdict.