After a bizarre weekend (and frankly the early part of the season) Pac-12 Football is in danger of missing the College Football Playoff becuase the teams continue to beat up on each other.
There is no clear leader in the Conference of Champions. We found this out the hard way this past weekend as Pac-12 Football stumbled en route to the College Football Playoffs just at the halfway point of the season.
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The very first CFB Playoff rankings will be released in just over two weeks on Tuesday, October 31. If the latest AP Polls give any indication to how those intitial rankings pan out, there could be no Pac-12 Football teams in the four-team playoff.
Current Pac-12 Football Standings
| North Division | South Division |
|---|---|
| 1. (22) Stanford 5-2, 4-1 | 1. (11) USC 6-1, 4-1 |
| 2. (12) Washington 6-1, 3-1 | 2. Arizona 4-2, 2-1 |
| 3. (15) Washington State 6-1, 3-1 | 3. Arizona State 3-3, 2-1 |
| 4. California 4-3, 1-3 | 4. Utah 4-2, 1-2 |
| 5. Oregon 4-3, 1-3 | 5. UCLA 3-3, 1-2 |
| 6. Oregon State 1-6, 0-4 | 6. Colorado 4-3, 1-3 |
Related Story: Bruins don’t have any Fight Fight Fight in loss to Arizona
As of Sunday, October 15, there was not a single Pac-12 team in the AP Top 10. The current Top 25 consists of #11 USC, #12 Washington, #15 Washington State and #22 Stanford.
After not being able to hold off a USC comeback, Utah dropped out of the Top 25. Since Kyle Whittingham tried to play hero and go for two instead of the extra point to tie the game at 28, Utah lost 28-27. That boosted USC’s standing and their chance to win the Pac-12 South, something they needed after a few sluggish games this season.
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Although two unlikely teams have replaced UCLA, Colorado and Utah as contendors to win the South: Arizona and Arizona State.
Arizona finally broke their 5-game losing streak to UCLA as they put 605 yards on the defense-less Bruins. The Wildcats’ in-state rival brought the biggest surprise of the weekend as they took down the former #5 Washington Huskies and limited them to one touchdown in a 13-7 win.
Cal had the second-biggest surprise which kicked off the wacky weekend on Friday night when they beat Wazzu. The Cougars, who average 34.4 ppg, were held to three. By Cal. That just happened. It also added insult to injury as Cal put up 37 of their own. Yes, Cal beat WSU, 37-3.
Looking at Stanford versus Oregon, it was easy to pick the winner as the Ducks are in transition, but the Cardinal made it really easy with a 49-7 win. This is going to make for an interesting UCLA-Oregon game this weekend at the Rose Bowl.
Next: Go Joe Bruin Predicts the Final Pac-12 Football Standings
The Pac-12 is eating itself. There is no veganism here. In fact, it is metaphorically PETA’s worst nightmare. It is also the nightmare of the Pac-12 and its commissioner, Larry Scott. If Pac-12 Football doesn’t get into the College Football Playoffs, the conference will garner even less respect and it will not be an East Coast Bias to blame.