How Pac-12 football can return to national relevance in 2021

Let’s face it folks: in recent memory, the Pac-12 has been the bottom-dweller of a brutal college football food chain. Such an outcome has also been anticipated for this year’s rapidly approaching installment.

However, several scenarios have been set in place that could possibly alter the West Coast’s reputation for the better. Said scenarios are mostly seen over the span of weeks one through three within the college football slate.

I’m talking about notable non-conference matchups, and the Pac-12 has many. These games range from the Oregon State Beavers facing Purdue, to their in-state counterparts taking on the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus.

In the aforementioned weeks, seven Pac-12 teams play one or more opponents from another Power Five league. The Colorado Buffaloes perhaps hold the most daring stretch of them all, taking a trip away from Boulder to encounter SEC power Texas A&M, followed by hosting Minnesota of the Big Ten.

As far as some other important meetings to keep an eye on, UCLA will welcome LSU into the Rose Bowl, California will be heading to TCU, Washington will face Michigan in the Big House, and Stanford will be away from home for both Kansas State and Vanderbilt (both of which will be bordered by a field trip to USC’s LA Memorial Coliseum).

To put it lightly, the Pac-12 has a ton of obstacles to overcome in the opening weeks of their 2021 season. But such hardship can ultimately be used to their advantage. The question of the matter is how so?

Luckily, that question has a pretty simple answer: win the games. But just because the answer is easy to point out does not mean that it’s easy to fulfill.

What will most likely happen is that, of the games mentioned, the Pac-12 will be victorious in no more than a pair of them (donning a final record of 2-7).

But in the long run, predictions mean nothing when compared to the actual results. If the weakling of the Power Five wants to get its foot back in the door, quieting the scoffs of all the doubters would be an effective start to doing so.