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Pac-12 football has a major branding problem and it’s serious

By Dante Pryor

Dec 18, 2020; Los Angeles, California, USA;A general view as Oregon Ducks players take the field against the Southern California Trojans during the Pac-12 Championship at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 18, 2020; Los Angeles, California, USA;A general view as Oregon Ducks players take the field against the Southern California Trojans during the Pac-12 Championship at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 18, 2020; Los Angeles, California, USA; Oregon Ducks players celebrate after the Pac-12 Championship at United Airlines Field against the Southern California Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Oregon defeated USC 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 18, 2020; Los Angeles, California, USA; Oregon Ducks players celebrate after the Pac-12 Championship at United Airlines Field against the Southern California Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Oregon defeated USC 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

The Pac-12 has not been very present in the New Year’s Six

As it concerns football, the Pac-12 is an afterthought in the national conversation. There are many issues and imperfections with the playoff process as constructed, and the Pac-12’s exclusion from the national conversation further exacerbates those issues.

Since the playoff began, the Pac-12 has been the “one-loss and out” conference. Outside of the final four, the Pac-12 has been largely absent (in terms of success) from the New Year’s Six as well.

The national perception is that football on the West Coast is not up to par with the rest of the country. Since 2016, the Pac-12 has been absent from the College Football Playoff. The Pac-12 has not won a national title since USC in 2004. The conference has not played for a national title since the Oregon Ducks lost to the Auburn Tigers in the 2011 BCS Championship Game.

In the College Football Playoff era, Oregon in 2014 and Washington in 2016 have been the only Pac-12 representatives in the final four.

The Pac-12 has a 2-4 record in New Year’s Six Bowl games. Also, the Pac-12 has only played in either the national semifinal or their Pac-12 NY6 bowl tie-in. Arizona played in the Fiesta Bowl in 2014 because the Rose Bowl was a national semifinal. The Pac-12 has received zero at-large New Year’s Six bowl bids, with the SEC and the Big Ten taking the lion’s share of those bids.

The implications of a bad Pac-12

There are far-reaching implications of the Pac-12’s failure to make an impact nationally. Though the current playoff format is far from perfect, the system would work exponentially better if the Pac-12 were a stronger conference. The idea behind a four-team playoff with five elite conferences was to incite and stimulate competition.

Theoretically, the committee would be forced to decide the national semifinal between five undefeated Power Five conference champions. Not only has that not happened, but the Pac-12 also has not been a player in the National Semifinal in four years. Also, the idea was to have four comparable teams in the National Semifinal. All four teams would be evenly matched to give fans two good games.

That has not happened as both the Big 12 and the Pac-12 have fallen behind the Big Ten, SEC and ACC, with the Pac-12 falling behind even further.

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