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Pac-12 deserves spot in College Football Playoff, but might not get one

By Brenton Lillie

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With the season beyond the halfway point, it is time to start thinking playoffs and whether the chaos in the Pac-12 will end with the conference being left out?

In 2014, the first run of the College Football Playoff featured the kind of controversy that only the NCAA con conjure up as two obviously deserving teams were left out of the playoffs and missed a chance to play for the championship.

Both Baylor and TCU could have made it, and at least one should have made it, but due to the ridiculous system in place, college football continued its great tradition of discriminating against teams without a long history of gridiron success. With five conferences whose champion would be worthy of a spot in the playoffs, it was decided that only four should be included. Why this was decided is unknown, but the implications are clear.

Unless you are a traditional power, a conference title means nothing.

Which brings us to the point about the Pac-12. In the 2015 season, the conference has been a ton of fun to watch, as upsets happen regularly and the non-conference schedule was unusually tough. Texas A&M, Michigan, Michigan State, Boise State, surprising Northwestern, and Notre Dame lead the list of teams that have squared off against the conference of champions.

Some of those games ended with a Pac-12 win and some with a loss, but all of them were competitive. In a world where blowouts and cupcake schedules often take precedence over close losses to tough opponents, it was a breath of fresh air to see so many good early season games. However, that slate also leaves the conference without an undefeated team after Utah’s loss to USC last Saturday.

The good slate of non-conference opponents, the near-weekly upsets, and the resurgence of downtrodden programs have lead to one of the most exciting week-to-week seasons in the conference in decades. However, does this excitement come at the cost of a coveted playoff spot?

The Pac-12 currently has zero teams in the top four, and only one team(Stanford) in the top ten in the Associated Press Top 25. There are no undefeated teams and only two teams with a single loss, Stanford which lost to Northwestern in week one, and Utah, which just lost to USC. Recent history tells us that the preseason hype of a team matter, and that a program needs to go undefeated if it has any hope of overcoming the bias toward historically great programs.

So what team has the best shot?

The team with the best chance of making the playoffs is the Cardinal. They have the recent success and the preseason hype to impress the committee. A future contest against Notre Dame will give Stanford another chance to show their pedigree, and the Pac-12 championship game also helps improve their strength of schedule.

Their one loss was the first week of the season, and we have seen that early losses mean less than defeats that happen toward the end of the year. Beat the Fighting Irish and then stomp the Pac-12 South champion and the Cardinal will probably make it in, assuming they do not slip up against any team between now and November 28th, when they host Notre Dame. Washington State, Colorado, Oregon and Cal is not exactly a cupcake schedule, and any of those teams could pull off the upset.

Utah, in the South division, also has a strong case, although they would suffer from the bias against a team without the historical success or preseason hype. The Utes started the season unranked, which is an obstacle that is often impossible to overcome without a signature win. That game appeared to be the blowout victory over last year’s championship game participant Oregon, but with the Ducks fading that game becomes less and less relevant.

The victory over Michigan, though, has looked better each week as Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines continue to play great football. The biggest factor going against the Utes, other than starting unranked, is that the rest of their schedule is relatively easy. They play Oregon State, Colorado, Washington, UCLA, and Arizona. Of those, only UCLA is ranked at No. 24. The Pac-12 championship game will definitely help, but it might not be enough.

Worse, if any team other than Stanford or Utah win the conference, then we will see a team with two losses representing the west coast before the playoff committee. Does anyone think a two loss UCLA team or a two loss Washington State squad will even be considered for the final four?

Ohio State appears on a collision course with the playoffs again, and the SEC champion is almost a defacto participant due to the media bias in favor of that conference. Baylor and TCU both missed out last year, and there will be pressure to include at least one of those teams in the mix this year. Clemson is undefeated and already has a victory over Notre Dame.

There is no way a two loss champion is going to be included from the Pac-12, even if that team would be deserving of a shot to play for the national championship. Most likely, unless Stanford runs the table or one of the other champions falters down the stretch, we will see the best of the conference of champions getting left out of the biggest party college football.

That is a shame, and it is something that needs to be fixed. Everyone is glad the BCS era is over, but the continued tradition of leaving out conference champions from the opportunity to play for a championship remains.

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