5 things we learned in College Football Week 7

The Pac-12’s playoff hopes took a hit

The Utah-USC game was another treat for college football fans. You have to love the decision by Kyle Whittingham to go for the win.

It worked and it kept Utah’s hopes alive of repeating as Pac-12 champions. However, for the Pac-12 conference as a whole, USC losing to Utah wasn’t great for the league’s playoff hopes.

If the Trojans had won out, or if UCLA is able to win out, they will be a top-four team. Unless you have five teams go undefeated in each Power-5 league, it’s hard to see any unbeaten team being left out.

The Big Ten has Michigan and Ohio State, the SEC has Georgia, Tennessee, and Ole Miss, plus one-loss Bama is guaranteed a berth if it wins out. Clemson and Syracuse are both unbeaten in the ACC but in the Big 12 there is just TCU and in the Pac-12, it’s only UCLA.

The Bruins have to play at Oregon and also against USC. But the other four games are all winnable — Arizona State, Arizona, Cal, and Stanford. If the Bruins win this weekend, they will be the Pac-12’s best hope.

Oregon could make a case for itself if it wins out but that 49-3 disaster in Week 1 will be hard to overcome. Is the committee going to put Oregon in the No. 4 spot for a rematch? I have my doubts.

USC isn’t done yet and if they finish 12-1, UCLA would be its only impressive win (assuming they keep winning) outside of the Pac-12 title game. A best-case scenario might be a rematch against Utah and a win over that foe.

Yet, there’s no debate that the Pac-12’s playoff hopes took a hit on Saturday.