Pac-12 finished bowl season with 6-4 record

The Pac-12 had 10 bowl-eligible teams this season and carried the theme of the regular season, falling short of expectations

The conference was stacked from top to bottom this season, with every team remaining competitive. Sending 10 teams off to bowl games this season was their chance to prove the quality of the conference and rival the SEC for the best conference.

There were high expectations heading into this season and things eventually evened out, with a few disappointments along the way. High expectations were placed on the conference this bowl season given their matchups and once again, the conference fell a bit short.

Arizona kicked things off for the Pac-12 with a win over the New Mexico Wolf Pack in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. The Wildcats were powered by quarterback Anu Solomon and the return of their all-American linebacker Scooby Wright. This gave Rich Rodriguez his 4th consecutive winning season in Tucson, despite being plagued by injuries this season.

While the New Mexico Bowl was wrapping up, the Utah Utes engaged in their Holy War with BYU in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl. Utah came into this game banged up, but held on to a 35-0 first quarter lead, ending their season at 10-3, a program on the rise in the Pac-12 that was in the hunt for the College Football Playoffs.

The 6-6 Washington Huskies headed to the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and held on for a 44-31 win. For a team that was once sitting at 3-5, Chris Petersen was now advanced to 7-5 on the year with a relatively young roster that will prove to be a threat in the coming years.

Then we had the Washington State Cougars come away with a win over the Miami Hurricanes in the Sun Bowl. This was an ugly game for both teams and Miami was headstrong despite the blizzard conditions. This capped off a great season for Mike Leach, pulling off a 9-4 season that no one saw coming.

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Our attention quickly shifted to UCLA as they took on the 5-7 Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Foster’s Farm Bowl, dropping the first game for the Pac-12 with a 37-29. Many believed that Nebraska had no business being in a bowl game, but they shut the critics and UCLA up in a performance that wasn’t nearly as close as the score. Now we await the future of Jim Mora and his potential NFL options.

Jared Goff was a man on a mission out to prove that he is the No. 1 quarterback prospect. He came out with a 467-yard and six touchdown performance in a 55-36 win over the 8-6 Air Force Falcons. With Jared Goff declaring for the NFL Draft, Sonny Dykes will have to act quickly to replace his three-year starter to sustain success. Stumbling down the home stretch, this was a big win for the program.

Southern California let the Pac-12 down once again, with two heavyweights going at it in the Holiday Bowl, the USC Trojans and Wisconsin Badgers. This was two power football teams battling it out, going back-and-forth all night long. Wisconsin simply outlasted USC, and the Clay Helton era is off to an 0-2 start.

Christian McCaffrey was playing with a chip on his shoulder and torched the Iowa defense. Coming out with a blazing 35-0 start, their foot stomping on the gas pedal. The win gives them the argument for a College Football Playoff bid, with David Shaw wanted an eight-team field going forward. Their dominance over Iowa — a team that would have been granted a playoff spot had they won the Big Ten Championship Game — proved that Stanford would have been a worthy candidate for the playoffs.

Much like Stanford, Oregon came out strong and showed no signs of slowing down. That is until Vernon Adams Jr. went down after taking a huge blow to the head. Without Adams, the Ducks were clueless on offense, much like they were when he was absent in the regular season. TCU outlasted Oregon in double overtime, making Oregon the laughing stock of the Pac-12 bowl season after dropping a 31-0 lead.

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In the last regular bowl game of the season, Arizona State dropped a virtual home game to West Virginia. This was what Todd Graham called his best, fastest, smartest team he’s had in his four years at Arizona State. He’s now ending his season at 6-7. Defense was voluntary, with both teams getting torched by big plays. Some are questioning Todd Graham’s coaching and math skills now, as the decision not to go for a 2-point conversion ended up dooming the Devils.

Before Oregon and Arizona State played, the Pac-12 was primed to show their dominance in bowl season. Sitting on a 6-2 record, halfway through the Oregon game, you would have thought it would bump up to 7-2, with a chance at eight with a Sun Devil win.

A conference isn’t going to go undefeated in bowl season but to think that UCLA lost to a team that many felt didn’t deserve to be there, ASU playing in a near home game and Oregon allowing TCU to get back into the hunt, those were three very disappointing losses for the Pac-12.

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The Pac-12 North played exceptionally well, meanwhile the Pac-12 South went 2-3 with arguably the most talented of the five losing their games. Still, the conference proves to be deep and this bowl season showed that it’s hard to go unscathed in conference play. The committee might have made a mistake leaving Stanford out, especially with two quality wins to end the season.

The losses don’t carry into next season, but these games will be motivation for the losing team, and a spring board for those who won, giving this conference the potential to be one of the deepest yet again.

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Pac-12 Football: Pac-12 finishes bowl season with 6-4 record

By Gabe Encinas | Jan 3, 2016

The Pac-12 had 10 bowl-eligible teams this season and carried the theme of the regular season, falling short of expectations

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